Farmer sets up Livestock Lookout text alert system
This is a most innovative approach to one of the key challenges facing farmers and signals the ongoing innovation we have come to expect from the most long sighted members of the farming community. It tells us:
A text alert system to warn farmers about livestock in danger has been developed.
Farmer Tim Rogers set up the Livestock Lookout system on the Isle of Wight after cattle escaped on his land.
The technology, being offered to farms across the UK, lets passers-by warn farmers if livestock is the loose or distressed.
Mr Rogers said it was an “effective early warning system” for the rural community.
He came up with the idea after cows escaped from a field on his land, knocked someone over and damaged a car.
He said he only found out when concerned passers-by posted about it on social media but had no way of informing him.
Putting up a sign with his mobile number only encouraged nuisance calls, he added.
Instead, he used intelligent technology to allow farmers to be contacted quickly but anonymously.
Farmers display a sign with a central text number and a unique location number.
The farmer then receives an text, via a central exchange directory, to alert them to any incidents, while the system gathers more information from the informant