VocalTag Test System

Company devised a test system that monitors the animal time spent on ruminating, downloads this figure to the central site computer, and compares it to normal figures for the animal, the herd, and the general population.

The system comprises of the following general parts:

- A small Tag that hangs on animal neck monitor and collects the information by sensing and counts the total time spent on ruminating.
The monitor has an RF transmitter (Frequency of 433.92Mhz) to pass remotely the information collected onto the system at least once an hour. The monitor has a battery and the whole device in encapsulated into a-proof plastic casing made by SCR.

The site operator may hang the device on the cow's neck and use it for several years uninterruptedly. Life cycle rating is 3-4 years.

- Antenna and Receiver. An RF receiver is placed in a place frequented by the cows. This may be the watering spot or the milking machines, etc.

- Infrastructure. A wire leads from environmental antenna to a receiver with data flash-memory ability. An RS232 wire connection from the receiver unit to the computer. If more than one reading spot is required, a switch box is installed to receive all wires and manage their input to the PC.

- PC and Software. The PC may be used for other farm applications, however it needs to carry dedicated program software that is part of the Rumination Monitoring Test System.
The PC also requires Windows and any Pentium processor. The test system software includes an hourly rumination data display and the option to covert data into Microsoft Excel files for additional analyzing.

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