Smart Cow Start-Up Halter Has Raised $85 Million In Capital

Smart cow start-up Halter has raised $85 million in capital. Halter manufactures wireless collars that are solar-powered and GPS-enabled, and can be controlled via a smartphone app or PC. Often described as fenceless farming, the collars use audio cues to herd cattle, or train them to stay within a defined area and sensors mean a farmer can remotely monitor a herd’s movement and temperature, and identify which animals have health issues or are on their reproductive cycle. Last year Halter added or trained 100,000 cows. NZ’s dairy herd is just under six million, and four million for beef across 49,000 farms according to Stats NZ figures. Halter now has 180 employees and has widened the rollout of its smart collars nationwide, with plans to push overseas. The firm, founded by ex-Rocket Lab engineer Craig Piggott and originally bankrolled, in part, by his former boss Peter Beck.