CowCams: Technology makes its way into the barn

Calving season can be difficult for both ranchers and heifers. Day and night, ranchers need to check on their heifers every two hours to make sure the young cows are not having difficulty giving birth. All this activity can make a cow in labor nervous and disrupt the birthing process. Rancher and self-proclaimed computer nerd Michael Delaney has come up with a solution: CowCams. Last year, Delaney installed wireless cameras in the calving barn on his family-run 44 Ranch northeast of Grass Range. This livestock monitoring system was so successful, he turned it into a business called CowCams. According to Delaney, the monitoring system allows a rancher to watch cows on a computer monitor or smart phone from a wireless system between the house and the barn or outdoor lot. “It’s nice not to have to go check on the heifers,” he said. “It’s not a matter of being lazy; every time you check on a heifer, you disturb her, she gets nervous, and it takes her longer to calve.” “I have cameras that pan and tilt and can be controlled from a computer or smart phone,” he said. “I try to set the system up so all areas can be seen and controlled from inside the house.” An Internet connection is not required for CowCams to work, according to Delaney. However, ranches that are equipped with high speed Internet will be able to monitor the cameras from a computer or smart phone wherever Internet is available...Delaney has a degree in animal science from MSU Bozeman and likes to experiment with ways of using technology in ranching. “The next project I want to work on is developing a long-range wireless water tank monitoring system,” he said. “My goal is to have solar powered cameras set up at water tanks several miles away that send wireless video feeds back to the house. With water tanks being so critical to every ranch, I feel that a system like this would be invaluable.”...more

Readers of The Westerner know I've written about DuBois Drone Detectors, but I think Delaney may have solved the technological riddle.  Just get yourself 4 CowCams, point one in each direction and you'll have your defense mechanism against the BLM, Forest Service, USFWS, EPA, etc.

Ok, ok, we'll call them Delaney-DuBois Drone Detectors.