July 8, 2026 • 11 mins
Want to hear something weird about cow surveillance?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey Tagan, Hey Ray, do you want to hear something
weird about technology that utilizes something called the colgarithm?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oh yes, colgarithm as in cows.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah. So the way that you said it, I heard
it as like cowgirl rhythm? Is it cowgirls? Do they
have rhythm? No? So cows but with algorithms?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yes, cow algorithm contracted into calgarithm. There's this company called Halter.
They're a New Zealand agrotech company, which, on.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
One second, is this going to be anything to do
with like every few years, it's like, oh, cow farts
and this start up in New Zealand? Okay, no, no.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
No, this has nothing to do with anything coming out
of cowsbuts okay, at some point it may be, but
not yet.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Agrotech company, which is a rabbit hole I find myself
going down sometimes.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
It's entire thing is putting smart collars on cattle.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yes, I've seen this.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Farmers can basically create invisible fences and move entire herds
using an app.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, I think desperately want to try out.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I think that's cool because I was always wondering where
this would go because I know a number of years ago.
I can't remember if I was still at Gears or
maybe just at Smart Company, where I definitely remember writing
a fitbit for cows. Yes at the point, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
This incorporates that technology into a whole bunch of other stuff,
because obviously we've come.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
A long way since then.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Absolutely we have officially reached the point where cows are
getting software updates.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Which is something I love.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I also am particularly interested by the aspect of there
being no physical fences with this tech, because I think
of ways this may be able to be utilized. I'm
not sure with being able to do things like stopping
wildlife running onto roads. I think at this stage it
may require them to be wearing collars. But I feel
(02:09):
like there's something in there that I'm.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Going to have to do some more research.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I mean, I know that that sort of technology has
been around for a very long time, like decades, but
very rudimentary. So what I'm thinking is, I don't know
if they ever had it in Australia, but they definitely
did in the US where it would be invisible fences
for say dogs, but it would like shock them if
they ran into it. That kind of thing. But that's
been around for a long time.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, so what you're describing is more along the lines
of what the calgarithm does.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Okay, but it's not shocking them good because I didn't
like that.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
No, it's mean.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So in this one, you've got the farmers can draw
virtual boundaries on a map in the app, and then
the cows learn where those boundaries exist through audio and
vibration cues from the collar.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh cool.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, and this is what they're calling the intelligence behind
the way these callers communicate with the cows.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
That's what they call the colgarithm, which that I love you.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
That's also reminds me so much of an episode that
we did, I think last year when I was telling
you about so that headgear for want of a better word,
but there was that startup lumen that was for people
that were visually impaired or blind, and so it would
give you those little signals as well of where to turn,
and I was able to fully walk through a very
(03:29):
crowded Las Vegas convention center.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
It was cool.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
This is exactly what the cows are being trained to
do as well. So the colgorithm is being trained to
understand animal behavior and then teach the cattle to respond
to directional sounds, So the cows, they're effectively learning a
new language that says things physically says things like move left, move.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Right, wander over the left.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Right. What I love about this as well is that
people have been spending years trying to convince us that
artificial intelligence can write decent novels and take over office jobs.
But meanwhile, one of the most practical uses is politely
asking cows to.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Head towards another parthic if you don't mind, excuse me, buddy, Hey,
do you want to gently head over there? And they go, oh, no, worries,
no worries.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Does this involve generative or applied AI?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
This is applied yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
That's why it's better.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Absolutely, yeah, No, there's no hallucinations involved in this. That
there is a lot of data that goes into it,
which I will get to in a moment. I think
it's worth noting. First up, though, is that the collar
is just the visible part of this tech. This is
a giant connected system. It's made up of solar powered hardware, networking, infrastructure,
(04:59):
machine models, satellite data, behavioral science. There's a whole lot
that goes into this and I think when we look
at technology that needs to be able to work in
rural and remote areas, connectivity is one of the biggest
issues you're going to come across because you don't want
to be trying to herd your cattle. You've lost reception,
(05:21):
and your cows are offline now wandering in someone else's paddic.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
The idea of cows getting software updates and being offline
is just the best, right.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So Halter, the company behind this, they're installing solar powered
towers on the farms that connect the collars across the property,
and the tower doesn't need any mains power and there's
no reliance on mobile reception. So it's basically like a
big Internet of Things system with cows.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I just I'm waiting for an if this, then that
for the colgorithm.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
If the cow wanders over here, tell them to come back.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
There's basically what's going on, and every single collar is
just constantly collecting information about where the animal is, what
it's doing, how it's behaving as well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So each collar is generating.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I have learned more than six thousand data points every minute.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
That's so cool. I think that maybe back when I'd
reported on this before, but I imagine this would be so
much better now. Is that One of the drawer cards
was that if you have, especially in more remote properties
that is huge, like thousands and thousands of acres like
rural Queensland or something like that, where farmer doesn't have
eyes on his herds all the time, being able to
(06:40):
have a data point that tells it if the cow
seems to be behaving like it's sick, for example.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Absolutely important. Absolutely So.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
They've collected more than seven billion hours of animal behavior
data over the years that they've been operating as well.
So we've accidentally built one of the largest behavioral data
sets on Earth and it belongs to cows.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
That seems way more ethical than.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Data.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, and like you were saying, there's big advantages to
knowing this much about cows. You can identify changes in
movement behavior patterns. It can show up things like illness
or stress, other health issues. Some of the places that
I've traveled for work, it's six hours you're still driving
on the same property. It's staggering the size of a
(07:29):
lot of cattle stations, especially in the Northern Territory in
South Australia. Yeah, it's just enormous. You could drive across
five European countries and you're still on the same cattle station.
To be able to check in on all those cows,
they're having to jump into helicopters, which are expensive flylight
planes all the time. Being able to receive data and
(07:49):
knowing where to go check on your cows. Like this
sort of stuff saves so much time.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Knowing if there's predators as well, Like you've be able
to all that off, you just know from the data.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Absolutely, I think this is one of the things that
I love about technology stories that benefit people in regional
and rural and very very remote areas as well, because
the engineering challenges in these places are very different from
what most people imagine when they think about innovation. You know,
it's very city centric when you hear innovation, and here
(08:23):
you've got the challenge of how do we reliably connect
hundreds and thousands of animals across this massive rural property
in all weather conditions as well, because you can't jump
in a chopper or a light plane if it's pouring
down rain. And I think that that's a genuinely interesting
tech problem that can be applied to many other things
(08:43):
that we learn throughout tech, and I love it for farmers.
I love that they can move their herds remotely and
adjust paddocks without having to build physical fences and monitor
all their livestock and just spend less time doing those repetitive,
really intense of tasks. I also just think that it's
it's pretty deeply funny that we're looking at a future
(09:07):
where the Internet of Things includes thousands of highly connected cows.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
It's so beautiful. It's times like this that I actually
love the future, and it makes me love tech again.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
But you're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Like one of the things I've gotten to benefit from
from the last few years of reporting is getting more
ingrained in the ag tech world and what really cool
startups are doing outside of cities and things like that,
like like this make me really happy. There's this one
or so which I actually imagine might be useful for
something like this, especially on massive properties where you know,
(09:45):
all of those colors need access to our internet, I imagine,
so the cows don't go offline. I remember there was this.
I think it might be gosh a woggle woggle startup
called Zetiphi, where their whole thing is like Wi Fi
extension products for farmers, specifically, things like that, it's just.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Very cool, super cool, super important, and you know we
all love a steak. Why not help out the people
that are making.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Them for us.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, Like it's a hard job, like honestly.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Really really tough.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So if tech can solve some problems, then you know,
it benefits everyone absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And that's it for this episode of Weird Tech. If
you have any weird tech that you would like us
to cover, or if some of your tech is being
weird we want to hear about it. You can hit
us up on all social media platforms at weird Tech Media.
We're a Weird Tech Media production and a proud member
of the iHeartRadio Network. This episode was edited by the
podcast Butler. Please remember to subscribe on your favorite podcast
(10:52):
platforms so you don't miss the next episode, and until
next time, stay weird
Hey Tagan, Hey Ray, do you want to hear something
weird about technology that utilizes something called the colgarithm?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oh yes, colgarithm as in cows.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah. So the way that you said it, I heard
it as like cowgirl rhythm? Is it cowgirls? Do they
have rhythm? No? So cows but with algorithms?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yes, cow algorithm contracted into calgarithm. There's this company called Halter.
They're a New Zealand agrotech company, which, on.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
One second, is this going to be anything to do
with like every few years, it's like, oh, cow farts
and this start up in New Zealand? Okay, no, no.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
No, this has nothing to do with anything coming out
of cowsbuts okay, at some point it may be, but
not yet.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Agrotech company, which is a rabbit hole I find myself
going down sometimes.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
It's entire thing is putting smart collars on cattle.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yes, I've seen this.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Farmers can basically create invisible fences and move entire herds
using an app.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, I think desperately want to try out.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I think that's cool because I was always wondering where
this would go because I know a number of years ago.
I can't remember if I was still at Gears or
maybe just at Smart Company, where I definitely remember writing
a fitbit for cows. Yes at the point, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
This incorporates that technology into a whole bunch of other stuff,
because obviously we've come.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
A long way since then.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Absolutely we have officially reached the point where cows are
getting software updates.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Which is something I love.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I also am particularly interested by the aspect of there
being no physical fences with this tech, because I think
of ways this may be able to be utilized. I'm
not sure with being able to do things like stopping
wildlife running onto roads. I think at this stage it
may require them to be wearing collars. But I feel
(02:09):
like there's something in there that I'm.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Going to have to do some more research.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I mean, I know that that sort of technology has
been around for a very long time, like decades, but
very rudimentary. So what I'm thinking is, I don't know
if they ever had it in Australia, but they definitely
did in the US where it would be invisible fences
for say dogs, but it would like shock them if
they ran into it. That kind of thing. But that's
been around for a long time.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, so what you're describing is more along the lines
of what the calgarithm does.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Okay, but it's not shocking them good because I didn't
like that.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
No, it's mean.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So in this one, you've got the farmers can draw
virtual boundaries on a map in the app, and then
the cows learn where those boundaries exist through audio and
vibration cues from the collar.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh cool.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, and this is what they're calling the intelligence behind
the way these callers communicate with the cows.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
That's what they call the colgarithm, which that I love you.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
That's also reminds me so much of an episode that
we did, I think last year when I was telling
you about so that headgear for want of a better word,
but there was that startup lumen that was for people
that were visually impaired or blind, and so it would
give you those little signals as well of where to turn,
and I was able to fully walk through a very
(03:29):
crowded Las Vegas convention center.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
It was cool.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
This is exactly what the cows are being trained to
do as well. So the colgorithm is being trained to
understand animal behavior and then teach the cattle to respond
to directional sounds, So the cows, they're effectively learning a
new language that says things physically says things like move left, move.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Right, wander over the left.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Right. What I love about this as well is that
people have been spending years trying to convince us that
artificial intelligence can write decent novels and take over office jobs.
But meanwhile, one of the most practical uses is politely
asking cows to.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Head towards another parthic if you don't mind, excuse me, buddy, Hey,
do you want to gently head over there? And they go, oh, no, worries,
no worries.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Does this involve generative or applied AI?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
This is applied yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
That's why it's better.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Absolutely, yeah, No, there's no hallucinations involved in this. That
there is a lot of data that goes into it,
which I will get to in a moment. I think
it's worth noting. First up, though, is that the collar
is just the visible part of this tech. This is
a giant connected system. It's made up of solar powered hardware, networking, infrastructure,
(04:59):
machine models, satellite data, behavioral science. There's a whole lot
that goes into this and I think when we look
at technology that needs to be able to work in
rural and remote areas, connectivity is one of the biggest
issues you're going to come across because you don't want
to be trying to herd your cattle. You've lost reception,
(05:21):
and your cows are offline now wandering in someone else's paddic.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
The idea of cows getting software updates and being offline
is just the best, right.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So Halter, the company behind this, they're installing solar powered
towers on the farms that connect the collars across the property,
and the tower doesn't need any mains power and there's
no reliance on mobile reception. So it's basically like a
big Internet of Things system with cows.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I just I'm waiting for an if this, then that
for the colgorithm.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
If the cow wanders over here, tell them to come back.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
There's basically what's going on, and every single collar is
just constantly collecting information about where the animal is, what
it's doing, how it's behaving as well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So each collar is generating.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I have learned more than six thousand data points every minute.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
That's so cool. I think that maybe back when I'd
reported on this before, but I imagine this would be so
much better now. Is that One of the drawer cards
was that if you have, especially in more remote properties
that is huge, like thousands and thousands of acres like
rural Queensland or something like that, where farmer doesn't have
eyes on his herds all the time, being able to
(06:40):
have a data point that tells it if the cow
seems to be behaving like it's sick, for example.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Absolutely important. Absolutely So.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
They've collected more than seven billion hours of animal behavior
data over the years that they've been operating as well.
So we've accidentally built one of the largest behavioral data
sets on Earth and it belongs to cows.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
That seems way more ethical than.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Data.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, and like you were saying, there's big advantages to
knowing this much about cows. You can identify changes in
movement behavior patterns. It can show up things like illness
or stress, other health issues. Some of the places that
I've traveled for work, it's six hours you're still driving
on the same property. It's staggering the size of a
(07:29):
lot of cattle stations, especially in the Northern Territory in
South Australia. Yeah, it's just enormous. You could drive across
five European countries and you're still on the same cattle station.
To be able to check in on all those cows,
they're having to jump into helicopters, which are expensive flylight
planes all the time. Being able to receive data and
(07:49):
knowing where to go check on your cows. Like this
sort of stuff saves so much time.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Knowing if there's predators as well, Like you've be able
to all that off, you just know from the data.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Absolutely, I think this is one of the things that
I love about technology stories that benefit people in regional
and rural and very very remote areas as well, because
the engineering challenges in these places are very different from
what most people imagine when they think about innovation. You know,
it's very city centric when you hear innovation, and here
(08:23):
you've got the challenge of how do we reliably connect
hundreds and thousands of animals across this massive rural property
in all weather conditions as well, because you can't jump
in a chopper or a light plane if it's pouring
down rain. And I think that that's a genuinely interesting
tech problem that can be applied to many other things
(08:43):
that we learn throughout tech, and I love it for farmers.
I love that they can move their herds remotely and
adjust paddocks without having to build physical fences and monitor
all their livestock and just spend less time doing those repetitive,
really intense of tasks. I also just think that it's
it's pretty deeply funny that we're looking at a future
(09:07):
where the Internet of Things includes thousands of highly connected cows.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
It's so beautiful. It's times like this that I actually
love the future, and it makes me love tech again.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
But you're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Like one of the things I've gotten to benefit from
from the last few years of reporting is getting more
ingrained in the ag tech world and what really cool
startups are doing outside of cities and things like that,
like like this make me really happy. There's this one
or so which I actually imagine might be useful for
something like this, especially on massive properties where you know,
(09:45):
all of those colors need access to our internet, I imagine,
so the cows don't go offline. I remember there was this.
I think it might be gosh a woggle woggle startup
called Zetiphi, where their whole thing is like Wi Fi
extension products for farmers, specifically, things like that, it's just.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Very cool, super cool, super important, and you know we
all love a steak. Why not help out the people
that are making.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Them for us.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, Like it's a hard job, like honestly.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Really really tough.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So if tech can solve some problems, then you know,
it benefits everyone absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And that's it for this episode of Weird Tech. If
you have any weird tech that you would like us
to cover, or if some of your tech is being
weird we want to hear about it. You can hit
us up on all social media platforms at weird Tech Media.
We're a Weird Tech Media production and a proud member
of the iHeartRadio Network. This episode was edited by the
podcast Butler. Please remember to subscribe on your favorite podcast
(10:52):
platforms so you don't miss the next episode, and until
next time, stay weird
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