DairyNZ is working with farmers to shape a three-year research project on wearable technology, focusing on how data can drive better decisions, improve performance, and lift profitability.
Inside Dairy
2 min read
Cow wearables are becoming increasingly common, potentially offering farmers greater efficiency and decision-making opportunities.
A growing range of cow-wearable technologies have become available to New Zealand farmers in recent years, and more are adopting it to pursue potential gains in efficiency and productivity.
DairyNZ senior scientist Dr Callum Eastwood says the technology is a hot topic among farmers, and there are many questions about how to get the most out of their investment.
He and senior scientist Dr Susanne Meier set out to capture these unanswered questions by directly asking farmers and rural professionals.
“This gap needed to be filled, so we’ve worked with farmers using a range of tech to find out how to support them best to get more out of their data, ” Susanne said.
“We ran a workshop with farmers experienced with wearables, particularly those with ideas about what the technology could do for them in the future.”
Rural professionals were also involved, sharing what they saw as knowledge gaps that DairyNZ research could help address.
“We wanted farmer-endorsed research questions that are practical and credible, and would deliver real value on-farm.”
The outcome was exciting, Susanne said, with 12 potential research questions narrowed down to five priorities (see breakout box below) for a three-year project.
1. Data access for benchmarking
How can we share data safely so farmers benefit from industry-wide insight?
2. Understanding behaviours
What does ‘normal’ look like for cows across different farms and regions?
3. Maximising the value of data
What are wearable data-based KPIs at different times of the season?
4. Better decisions
How can wearable data at key times of the season guide feeding, transition and reproductive decisions that lift productivity and profitability?
5. Selecting resilient animals
Can behaviour data help us identify cows with high performance and longevity?
“Benchmarking was a key area of interest — farmers wanted to be able to compare animal health and reproduction metrics for their farm system and also in their region, to see what high performance really looks like and find opportunities for improvement.”
Farmers also wanted to understand new key performance indicators (KPIs) from wearable data and how they link to the established KPIs that already drive farm performance. For example, exploring how rumination and activity levels might relate to in-calf rates and profitability.
The next step for DairyNZ researchers is turning the priorities into research workstreams.
“We are developing a three-year plan based on farmers’ priorities,” Susanne says.
“We will start with benchmarking, then build a dataset linked to farm KPIs. Farmers and rural professionals will stay involved with annual feedback sessions.”
Farmer input helps shape priorities for a new three-year wearable technology research project.
This article was originally published in Inside Dairy February-April 2026.
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