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Company addresses needs of livestock producers

by Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Laramie – On April 14, the University of Wyoming (UW) Ranch Management and Ag Leadership Program hosted several presenters to discuss a range of topics designed to create real-world learning opportunities and discussions for UW students.

During the event, HerdDogg Founder and CEO Melissa Brandão talked about her company and its focus – giving producers data they need to make more money from every animal they raise.

Addressing producers’ needs with technology

Brandão, a Laramie native and former Apple computer technologist, saw a need to get data out of the field for producers.

Prior to HerdDogg, reading ear tags was difficult when cattle were out in the field, she notes.

“This was really the problem we were trying to solve,” she says. “HerdDogg stands for herd, data, generator and gatherer. The idea was to generate the data on the tag in the field and then figure out the easiest, most efficient and cheapest way of getting it out of the field.”

Today, the company is the only avail- able Bluetooth system for livestock producers, she says.

“The Bluetooth DoggTag communicates with our DoggBone, which is a Blue- tooth-to-cellular reader – as long as the tags are within range of the DoggBone, data will be collected.”

“What’s awesome about Bluetooth is in the last two years the distance in readability has gone from 30 feet to 250-750 feet, which is pretty good for pasture and barn raised animals,” she adds.

Types of DoggTags

There are three types of DoggTaggs currently available for producers. There is a white YardTag, a yellow TraceTag and an orange WelfareTag.

Each tag offers a variety of benefits and can be used for different purposes. All of the tags are Blue- tooth enabled, are a light-emitting diode, reusable and offer remote identification and behavior tracking, shares their webpage.

In addition to these benefits, the white YardTag offers a rapid connection, and the orange WelfareTag offers estrus and illness detection.

“The yellow TraceTag is intended to be similar to a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID),” she says. “It’s what I like to call an RFID tag on steroids, with longer readability. Produc- ers can know where the ani- mal is at any given time.”

Data from DoggTaggs are then made available for producers to view, she explains.

Types of DoggBones

In addition to DogTaggs, there are three types of DoggBones. There is a DoggBone handheld reader, which is a Bluetooth five-to-cellular bridge which can operate remotely, fit in the pocket of a saddle bag and read tags from 300 feet distances.


The DoggHouse is a solar collector for the DoggBone, allowing the DoggBone to operate in the field 24/7. It is lightweight and portable.

The SkyDogg is a DoggBone-on-a-drone solution, allowing producers to fly drones over their herd for remote location track- ing, inventory management and simple herd counts. It is ideal for large ranches or leased lands, explains their webpage.

“The DoggTagg is attached to the animal’s ear, the tag is paired to the animal digitally using a QR code on the back of the tag and the animal is then associated with the DoggTagg,” Brandão explains. “Tags can be changed and multiple tags can be on different animals. HerdDogg is a very flexible system.”

Producers are then able to check the data on their phone or computer, she says.

Other services

In addition to the devices, HerdDogg also offers producers livestock data and insights; specialty livestock products and services; and digital auditing and program compliance.

“What we focus on is a superior range system, enabling producers to start collecting data from animals in the field and doing so in an economical way,” she shares. “HerdDogg’s primary focus is on health and estrus detection in the field.”

“What is fundamental to our system is we look at individualized animal data,” she says. “Some animals are more motion prone than others, so establishing this baseline with individual animals helps us understand when animals are going to estrus. It’s aggregated time and motion, and as a result we can indicate clearly when a cow is in estrus.”

For more information, visit herddogg.com.

Brittany Gunn is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

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