Cows had been notified earlier
ABILENE, Texas — A rancher's smart water trough sent him an urgent low-water alert Tuesday at the precise moment he reached town, having spent the previous hour within easy walking distance of the trough.
The rancher opened the app in the feed-store parking lot. It showed a red icon, a nearly empty tank and a timestamp from forty-three minutes earlier. He called his daughter and asked whether the system had waited for him to get somewhere he could buy more diesel.
She checked the gateway logs. The sensor had recorded the drop, but the message had taken its time getting out of the pasture.
"So it knew," he said.
"It knew."
"And the cows knew."
"Probably."
He put the truck in gear. "Good to know everybody had a meeting."
Remote Water Monitoring for Cattle: The Float Valve Has No Password
Back at the tank, they found a float valve stuck partly closed. The cows had been drinking faster than the inlet could refill it. The rancher shut off the supply, cleared the obstruction and watched the water rise. His daughter stayed long enough to confirm the valve was cycling again.
The gateway log, which she pulled up on her phone, shows the sensor reading falling steadily for an hour. At the forty-three minute mark, the log records the alert as "queued." At the fifty-one minute mark, it records the alert as "sent." The rancher noted that the entry sat in the log, as he put it, "like a man waiting on a bus that already left."
They liked the idea of remote monitoring. Checking water across scattered pastures could put a lot of miles on a pickup, and an alert that came through promptly could prevent a serious problem. Their first month with the sensor had also established that a full signal at the kitchen table proved remarkably little about conditions behind a limestone ridge.
The rancher called support. A patient representative asked whether he could move the trough closer to the gateway.
"I can," he said. "How close can you move the cows to your office?"
The representative suggested moving the gateway instead. That idea had merit. The daughter picked out a higher spot and checked whether it would still reach the other tank.
The rancher's daughter said the company had since offered a credit on the next month's service. The credit, she said, equaled the price of about a gallon and a half of diesel, which she took as a gesture of solidarity. It arrived by email, after a delay. The rancher said he would put it toward the next trip to town, assuming the next alert arrived before he did.
Rural Broadband and Farm Technology: The Oldest Sensor Comes With Hooves
USDA tracks cellular and broadband access on farms, but those figures describe the kinds of connections operations use. The NASS report on farm computer usage and ownership shows how many farms rely on a cellular data plan. A rancher still has to see whether an alert can make it out of a particular pasture quickly enough to matter.
A hand who works cattle on the ranch next door said he stopped trusting an alert as the only warning years ago. "I look at the cows first," he said. "If they're standing around the tank looking at it, that's your alert. They've never once been delayed."
Father and daughter tested the new gateway location with one of them at the tank and the other down the road. The next alert came through promptly. They kept their regular physical checks and added a reminder to look at the age of the last reading before trusting the number on the screen.
The following morning, the rancher opened the app before leaving the house. It showed a full trough. He drove over anyway and found a cow standing in it.
His daughter asked whether the sensor had registered her.
"Sure did," he said. "It says we're running two hundred gallons and one thousand pounds above normal."
Five Humorous Observations
- The trough sent the alert the minute he got to town. That's not a smart trough. That's a guy who waits until you leave to tell you the thing you needed to hear an hour ago.
- "So it knew." "It knew." "And the cows knew." Everybody in the pasture had the information. The only one who didn't was the guy paying for it.
- The log says "queued." Queued is just a polite word for "we saw it and we're thinking about it." My ex used to do that.
- Support says move the trough closer to the gateway. Sure. I'll ask the cows to line up next to the router and let me know how it goes.
- The sensor says the trough has a cow in it and the weight is up a thousand pounds. That's the first alert in history that worked, and it came with a cow. https://farm.fm/?p=41346
ABILENE, Texas — A rancher's smart water trough sent him an urgent low-water alert Tuesday at the precise moment he reached town, having spent the previous hour within easy walking distance of the trough.
The rancher opened the app in the feed-store parking lot. It showed a red icon, a nearly empty tank and a timestamp from forty-three minutes earlier. He called his daughter and asked whether the system had waited for him to get somewhere he could buy more diesel.
She checked the gateway logs. The sensor had recorded the drop, but the message had taken its time getting out of the pasture.
"So it knew," he said.
"It knew."
"And the cows knew."
"Probably."
He put the truck in gear. "Good to know everybody had a meeting."
Remote Water Monitoring for Cattle: The Float Valve Has No Password
Back at the tank, they found a float valve stuck partly closed. The cows had been drinking faster than the inlet could refill it. The rancher shut off the supply, cleared the obstruction and watched the water rise. His daughter stayed long enough to confirm the valve was cycling again.
The gateway log, which she pulled up on her phone, shows the sensor reading falling steadily for an hour. At the forty-three minute mark, the log records the alert as "queued." At the fifty-one minute mark, it records the alert as "sent." The rancher noted that the entry sat in the log, as he put it, "like a man waiting on a bus that already left."
They liked the idea of remote monitoring. Checking water across scattered pastures could put a lot of miles on a pickup, and an alert that came through promptly could prevent a serious problem. Their first month with the sensor had also established that a full signal at the kitchen table proved remarkably little about conditions behind a limestone ridge.
The rancher called support. A patient representative asked whether he could move the trough closer to the gateway.
"I can," he said. "How close can you move the cows to your office?"
The representative suggested moving the gateway instead. That idea had merit. The daughter picked out a higher spot and checked whether it would still reach the other tank.
The rancher's daughter said the company had since offered a credit on the next month's service. The credit, she said, equaled the price of about a gallon and a half of diesel, which she took as a gesture of solidarity. It arrived by email, after a delay. The rancher said he would put it toward the next trip to town, assuming the next alert arrived before he did.
Rural Broadband and Farm Technology: The Oldest Sensor Comes With Hooves
USDA tracks cellular and broadband access on farms, but those figures describe the kinds of connections operations use. The NASS report on farm computer usage and ownership shows how many farms rely on a cellular data plan. A rancher still has to see whether an alert can make it out of a particular pasture quickly enough to matter.
A hand who works cattle on the ranch next door said he stopped trusting an alert as the only warning years ago. "I look at the cows first," he said. "If they're standing around the tank looking at it, that's your alert. They've never once been delayed."
Father and daughter tested the new gateway location with one of them at the tank and the other down the road. The next alert came through promptly. They kept their regular physical checks and added a reminder to look at the age of the last reading before trusting the number on the screen.
The following morning, the rancher opened the app before leaving the house. It showed a full trough. He drove over anyway and found a cow standing in it.
His daughter asked whether the sensor had registered her.
"Sure did," he said. "It says we're running two hundred gallons and one thousand pounds above normal."
Five Humorous Observations
- The trough sent the alert the minute he got to town. That's not a smart trough. That's a guy who waits until you leave to tell you the thing you needed to hear an hour ago.
- "So it knew." "It knew." "And the cows knew." Everybody in the pasture had the information. The only one who didn't was the guy paying for it.
- The log says "queued." Queued is just a polite word for "we saw it and we're thinking about it." My ex used to do that.
- Support says move the trough closer to the gateway. Sure. I'll ask the cows to line up next to the router and let me know how it goes.
- The sensor says the trough has a cow in it and the weight is up a thousand pounds. That's the first alert in history that worked, and it came with a cow. https://farm.fm/?p=41346
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