Using specialist ear tags to alert farmers to increases in calf body temperature has been shown to enable pneumonia to be picked up early, allowing prompt treatment, improved growth and less antibiotics use.
An innovative ear tag designed by Richard Crider, a Texan cattle rancher’s son, detects a raised temperature pattern and alerts the stockperson up to 72 hours before the animal shows signs of respiratory disease.
It's a continuous monitoring temperature device which has a thermometer probe that sits inside the cows ear canal. Every 15 minutes it checks the animal's temperature and starts looking for patterns.