A 'Fitbit' for cows is here to help farmers get more milk out of their cattle

A cow wearing a smart collar.
A cow wearing a smart collar.

Dairy farming is one of the biggest industries in Pakistan, with an estimated 42 billion liters of milk production per year. With approximately 63 million animals producing milk and over eight million households involved in the trade, the country ranks as the fourth-highest milk producing nation globally.

Despite these rosy numbers, average milk yields per cow are abysmally low  estimated at only four to five liters per day during the lactation cycle. This pales in comparison to the United States  incidentally the world’s highest milk producing country  where cows yield on average 32 liters per day.

The startup makes a tracking wearable for cows and buffaloes

The reason behind low yields boils down to primitive agricultural practices. Farmers rely on techniques that are several decades-old and the concept of large, monitored dairy farms is almost non-existent. They also fail to utilize technology, which is commonly done in the West.

That’s the problem Cowlar wishes to solve. The startup makes a tracking wearable for cows and buffaloes that helps farmers increase milk yields by up to 15 percent, it claims.


Drink more milk

Cowlar’s wearable constantly monitors the temperature and behavior of the animal through motion-sensing trackers. Umer claims it can determine when the cow is eating, sleeping, mating and any other significant activity. The data is then fed back into an algorithm which determines things like the health of the cow, its predicted heat cycle and any irregularities in behavior.



Umer’s background is in mechatronics and electrical engineering, while his co-founder is trained in robotics. He says the size of the global market opportunity is “approximately $400 billion,” and they’re building solutions for both small-scale and advanced dairy farms.The wearable itself is developed by e4 technologies, the startup’s parent company. Among other things, the company also develops products for wireless crop monitoring, energy optimization and motion tracking for sports.

Cowlar’s trials in Pakistan have been fairly successful. Umer says they’ve managed to increase milk yields between eight and 14 percent.

“Even if you increase the average yield by five percent, it can add $1 billion to Pakistan’s economy every year. I don’t anticipate that everyone will buy our product, but there’s a lot of scope for value addition,” says Umer.

Boon for farmers

Cowlar costs $69 as well as a $3 monthly subscription fee after the first three months. The product is still in beta, but Umer says they’ve sold about 1,000 devices so far.

On average it can help small farmers earn up to $500 extra each month per cow.



Since most of the startup’s customers are poor, uneducated farmers, it doesn’t send them a fancy SaaS dashboard or inundate them with data. It analyzes the behavior itself and sends farmers text message alerts giving them recommendations on how to manage their cows.

These can include warnings that the cow is unwell and needs medicine or that the heat cycle is scheduled to begin soon.

“Farmers don’t find the change instantly  this is about working with them and changing their behavior,” explains Umer. “If they follow our advice they’ll see changes after a month or so.”



However, Umer admits that it isn’t possible for them, at this stage, to determine the exact disease afflicting the animal.



The startup has applied for three patents and narrowly missed out on winning the Future Agro Challenge held earlier this month. It’s also been incubated at Blackbox.

Umer is very upbeat about the future of his company. He says he’s received significant interest from 10 markets, including Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria and Ireland. The plan is to strengthen the product locally and then roll it out globally. “We’re obsessed with solving big problems,” he adds.

This article originally published at Tech in Asia here