Keeping tabs on cattle ranging over enormous ranches in rural Canada is a serious challenge. “Ranching operates outdoors, in all weather, in remote locations where there is no power or data connectivity,” explains Flokk founder and CEO Mark Olson. Record-keeping has traditionally been done using pocket notebooks, which are easily lost, damaged or trampled underfoot while the rancher struggles to check on each animal’s health and well-being. It’s the sort of task that hapless TV vets might have nightmares about. Nonetheless, detailed and fully up-to-date information about each cow is mandatory in the highly regulated world of animal husbandry.



Computer scientist and farmer Mark Olson applied his knowledge of data collection to address the issue, coming up with a ruggedised scanner that has a Raspberry Pi Zero W at its heart and which automates much of the record collection process.





...read more at raspberrypi.com