A message from NAIT Applied Research:
Bison, as a matter of best practice, are beasts best avoided. While the average mature cow weighs about 1,100 pounds, a bison bull approaches 2,000. Despite that mass, they’re fast, clocking in at nearly 50 kph when motivated. Caution and respect – at a distance – are key.
Just the same, bison are big business in Alberta. The province is home to almost half of Canada’s bison farms, and hosts 44% of the total massive, woolly headcount. With healthy animals and growing demand for the lean, nutritious meat, the venture can be profitable.
But how do you ensure the health and growth of an animal that you shouldn’t get too close to, and that will likely avoid you anyway, by wandering the far reaches of the range? The answer may lie in novel technology that has emerged from a partnership between Lakeland College and the applied research Centre for Sensors and System Integration at NAIT.
“This is … perhaps the very first time that we are designing a system where we can monitor the health condition of a bison herd from a remote location,” says Dr. Quamrul Huda, JR Shaw Applied Research Chair in Industrial Automation and principal investigator in the project.
Ultimately, that care from afar could mean a safer industry and more productive farms.
Dr. Yuri Montanholi, research scientist and instructor at Lakeland College, calls the invention BisonSense, and sees it filling a major challenge in the industry: data collection.
Currently, bison are monitored only for weight, says Montanholi. Animals are measured once when they are weaned as calves and once again upon shipping for slaughter (before they turn two years old).
“The collection of only two weight records (over) the life of the animals provides limited information (about) their performance,” Montanholi adds. This affects a rancher’s ability to make informed decisions about the welfare and progress of an animal.
Developed between August 2022 and November 2023 with funding from Alberta Innovates, and first deployed for testing in June, BisonSense offers a boost. The device resides in the field, designed to withstand the extremes of Alberta’s weather, and powered by solar and wind. It includes a scale over which animals may walk several times a day, and is equipped with sensors to monitor fat and muscle development, and spot fever or inflammation.
Read the rest of the story in techlifetoday to find out how better data leads to better animals, which in turn brings value to the bison industry.