The main goal of the project was to create a product series/system that facilitates the management of farm animals, which improves animal health monitoring, animal finding and location identification, as well as animal data archiving and reporting to various parties. The second goal was to develop further internal development skills of small active (self-sending) health data collection devices. The predecessor of the project is the concept of a subcutaneous implant for cattle, created from technical hypothesis how to determine the animal’s body temperature in real time without any human intervention.
Most of the solutions on the market focus only on monitoring the cow’s period. Wisecow Health brings totally new approach and monitors the health status and well-being of the animal throughout its entire life span, from the first days to death. It uses a small implant under the skin to collect real-time health data such as body temperature, without needing any human interaction. This means illnesses can be spotted earlier, even before clinical symptoms appear, helping reduce disease and improve animal well-being. The added ability covers the calf period, off-farm transport, etc. and is important. The development of the Wisecow Find applications was guided by a logical on-farm workflow. Wisecow Find helps farmers quickly locate animals using LED collars controlled by a mobile app. This smart tool saves more than half the time normally spent finding animals and leaves more time for dealing with animals and ensuring their well-being.
The Wisecow project was implemented by the EDC and research and technology partners such as Celvia CC AS, the Estonian University of Life Sciences, Superhands from April 2022 to June 2025. The project is part of the transnational cross-border European Innovation Partnership (EIP) cooperation led by the EDC with the Finnish Oulu-Kajaani EIP working group. That cooperation is the first time that in EU when EIP working groups have collaborated trans-nationally and cross-border. An overview of the EDC EIP working group can be found on a separate website.
The project budget is 394,494.44 euros, of which 349,494.45 is support from measure 16.2 of the Estonian Rural Development Plan 2014–2020 and 44,499.99 euros is self-financing.