We knew it would come to this.  It was just a matter of time.  Yes, that’s right.  Facial recognition is now being used on cows.  Which means cows can now unlock their phones without a passcode.

Okay. It’s not quite that crazy, but it’s still kind of crazy.

“What the hell are you looking at?”

The massive agricultural distributor Cargill Inc., is backing an Irish startup called Cainthus, which has created facial recognition software to identify cows and monitor their behavior.   

Using digital cameras, the software will be able to identify and keep track of a specific animal using hide patterns and facial recognition. 

The technology tracks both dairy and beef cow’s individual behavioral pattern: this includes food and water intake, lameness detection and movement patterns, and other livestock activity.  Essentially, any warning sign of illness that could effect production, reproduction, or overall health. Just like with any business, the quicker farmers learn of a problem, the sooner they can find a solution before it effects overall profit.  If a problem does arise, the system will alert the farmer through the computer or an app on their phone.

From Cainthus website:

“Using predictive imaging analysis, we monitor the health and well-being of crops and livestock, providing the information to make better decisions, solving problems before they occur. We provide high frequency and cost effective high resolution imaging. We are dedicated to providing an accurate, efficient, and affordable service to our clients.”

Though similar technology does exist, this will provide more information and the cattle isn’t required to wear digital monitors.  Right now, the company also offers a similar technology for crops—for example, rate of growth, ripeness of fruit, and general plant health amongst other things.  And in the future they plan to monitor swine, poultry, and aquatic farming.


Cover Photo by Jahoo Clouseau

Cow 1 Photo by Ryan Song

Cow 2 Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel