Why did the farmer fit his cow with a pedometer? To see how much it’s moooving.
BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today presenter Caz Graeme couldn’t resist milking a few bad jokes in the interview with farmer Richard that was broadcast this morning. The cows have been sporting ankle bracelets containing pedometers since 2008 but the technology is still quite unusual so Caz came along to the farm to find out more.
A microchip in the bracelet stores up information about a cow’s movement. If she starts putting in the steps she’s in heat and ready for insemination (we don’t have a bull on the farm). The data is uploaded when the cow's ankle passes a scanner at milking time. Cows exhibit this heat behaviour at night, and since farmer Richard doesn't get up until 4.00am to milk, the technology bypasses the need for midnight inspections of the herd.
You can listen to the full interview here:
This story also featured on Radio 2, Radio 5, BBC websites and the Daily Mail online. Moira Stuart even used it to secure victory in the Head to Headlines on the Chris Evans Breakfast show. Have a listen here and see how many puns Moira and Chris manage to fit into 1 minute of cow pedometer discussions:
Unless marked as optional, all fields are required