Livestock eye monitor can predict illness

Glacier FarmMedia – A Calgary company aims to bring remote monitoring to cattle to help detect illness.

HerdWhistle has new products coming out in 2024 focused on reducing labour for producers and increasing illness detection capacity.

The CEO of HerdWhistle, Jack Behan, says their new product, known as the BigEye, could tell a producer or feedlot workers up to six days in advance if an animal is sick.

“The idea of pen riders in feedlots… often the poor guys have got 15,000 animals, or whatever it is, 300 a pen,” Behan said. “They probably see animals far too late to make a difference if those animals are sick. Now (we have) a system that identifies an animal as sick and tells the pen rider which pen it’s in.”

The BigEye is a multispectral camera with infrared thermographic imaging capability with built-in UHF tag readers.

BigEye focuses on the eye of the animal because it is the most sensitive area to hot temperatures in the body, explained Behan.

“When you have a cold, what generally happens is your eyes water, you get a stuffy nose,” he said. “That’s because the heat is being generated in your head. Exactly the same with cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, whatever. Then (the BigEye) says, this animal is outside the normal range; it’s at risk.”

Braden Bjornson, HerdWhistle’s chief experience officer, said BigEye already has preorders and is in the production stage for release in early 2024.

BigEye costs $1500, with a $700 subscription fee per month.

“They’ve (producers) got access to their own data coming back to them in real-time,” Behan explained. “And as we add further applications, they’ll pay more depending on what they want to see.”

Producers will realize a rapid return on investment by saving by treating only the animals identified as sick instead of a more general herd approach.

“Instead of spending $40 or whatever it is on an antibody cocktail, you spend on average four dollars because you’ve only got one in 10 that is sick,” Behan said. “And you start to do things that are adding up.”

LittleEye, a small producer option, is already in the works as a follow-up to BigEye.

Bjornson said LittleEye is a handheld unit the producer holds up to livestock’s eye and could work for cats and dogs.

“So essentially, if you’re wondering if your animal’s getting sick or getting older and you want to check on it,” said Bjornson. “You just put the phone up to its eye, and the LittleEye will tell you six days in advance if it’s sick.”

LittleEye can identify eight species, including humans, to tell if they are sick. Behan said it could give people peace of mind regarding pet health.

“(When) we live in rural communities, we want to know whether or not we should go into town and take the dog because there’s something wrong,” he shared. “But the idea of being able to give a bio-surveillance check on your animals before you spend that money can be very comforting.”

The LittleEye production is scheduled for some time in 2024.