![CQUniversity PhD researcher Don Menzies. CQUniversity PhD researcher Don Menzies.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-agfeed/2063964.jpg/r0_0_1024_682_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
IT won't be long before love affairs between young cows and bulls will be revealed via a phone network.
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When a cow gives birth, its sudden weight loss will also be transmitted thanks to walk-over-weighing (WoW) technology.
And the same WoW technology will indicate maternal parentage as a cow and calf are likely to walk to water together.
CQUniversity PhD researcher Don Menzies explains that the northern beef industry has previously been focused on improving genetics for better animal growth.
However, technology is now available to improve the understanding of fertility and reproductive efficiency.
Thanks to $75,000 in support by Telstra, Mr Menzies will evaluate the viability of Taggle ear tags and walk-over-weighing to select the best cattle for the reproductive success of the Northern Australia beef herd.
With on-farm radio antenna grids able to cover up to 15,000 hectares, cattle wearing Taggle ear tags can be monitored and the onset of puberty can be inferred when heifers mingle with teaser steers.
Early puberty allows more calves in the cow's lifetime and Telstra Next G modems will enable this puberty evidence to be collected.
Following each pregnancy and birth, regular walk-over-weighing provides the related data on reproductive success and maternal parentage.
Mr Menzies has almost two decades of experience working in the northern beef industry and he will be supervised by cattle telemetry and behaviour specialists Professor Dave Swain and Dr Kym Patison.
Professor Swain says CQUniversity is hoping to combine emerging wireless sensor network technology with animal behaviour research to boost the reproductive efficiency of Northern Australia's beef cattle production systems.
"The challenge for cattle producers is to be able to measure data that can be used to improve cattle reproductive performance," Dr Swain said.
"This PhD project will address a significant industry problem."