BETSY is a computer-linked nanny who keeps track of cattle, which can be especially important for detecting heat and knowing when a cow is calving.
BETSY relies on cameras and artificial intelligence that can use cow’s faces for identification. It’s better than ear tags because individuals can be idenfitied from the comfort of the home office or mobile phone.
OneCup AI is the creator of Bovine Expert Tracking and Surveillance, or BETSY. Mokah Shmigelsky, the chief executive officer, said the technology has been on the market since 2022, and there are now 140 setups across Canada.
“So far our producers have been very excited about our system, and offering consistent feedback so that we can improve their user experience,” she said.
Shmigelsky, said the idea for BETSY came about when she and her husband were sitting around a campfire at a family reunion in Saskatchewan, discussing the “pain points” in the cattle industry.
She said a cousin talked about wanting to identify cows without having to use tags and asked if it could be done using computers and cameras.
Shmigelsky’s husband, Geoff, who she said is the brains behind OneCup AI, responded that with artificial intelligence it would be no problem. That’s when they developed the system and tested it on their relatives’ cattle.
When BETSY sees an animal that’s calving, she’ll send a text message to the producer.
Ashley Perepelkin, who was a city girl when she married a grain farmer and then decided she’d like to have cattle, said a lot of what farmers and ranchers do comes down to experience and time.
“As everybody knows, time costs money, right?”
Now she relies on BETSY when it’s calving time for her 100 cows. She brings them to a pen and “at that point, (the cameras) will visually see their bedding packs, where I put straw out for the cows to sleep.”
Instead of getting up every three or four hours to check if her cows are calving, she receives text messages, and can view the cameras through her phone or computer. The cameras watch for signs such as contractions to determine if a cow is about to give birth.
Perepelkin said cows make a certain shape to their tail when they are contracting, but it’s similar to when they’re urinating or defecating.
“That has probably been the hardest jump for (OneCup AI) to get past, is to identify the difference from to the other,” she said.
In November, BETSY won OneCup AI the business of the year honour at the Animal AgTech Awards at the Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.
Shmigelsky says dairy farmers are not only interested in calving alerts, but alerts when cows are in heat and are ready to breed.
“You want to get those animals bred in an optimal window, essentially.”
She says there should be enough camera coverage for where the animals are located, and that most places have four to six cameras depending on how many animals and pens they own.
This report is based on an article by Jamin Mike that was provided by Canadian Press.
