Happy Monday ranchers,
This year’s NCBA CattleCon wasn’t just bigger, it was fundamentally different.
Attendance hit record highs, but the bigger story was how deeply technology has moved into the mainstream of the beef industry. AI, sensors, software platforms, and satellite tags weren’t tucked away in startup corners. They were front and center on the trade show floor, pitched not as futuristic experiments but as essential tools for running a modern cattle operation.
This is our second post in our series highlighting some of the most consequential companies shaping the future of cattle production—from feedyard software and satellite tracking to objective carcass grading and supply-chain data platforms.
It’s an exciting time to be in the beef business—and a pivotal one.
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BEST LINKS
Our Favorite Finds
Most Relevant for Ranchers
Virtual Fencing Company Surpasses 200,000 Collars Amid Welfare Debate | Agtech Innovator
Sweden, arguing research shows minimal welfare impacts. The scale signals virtual fencing is moving from pilot tech to mainstream infrastructure.
Rumen Bolus Sensors Track Cattle Health From Inside the Cow | ABP Daily
The “Wandering Shepherd” rumen bolus monitors temperature and activity to detect illness or stress early, helping producers intervene before visible symptoms appear. It’s another step toward real-time, inside-the-animal monitoring.
AI Evaluates Beef Hearts to Improve Health Screening | Farm Talk
Researchers are using AI to assess beef cattle hearts for disease indicators, potentially improving early detection and genetic selection for healthier herds. This could automate a task that’s currently slow and subjective.
New Tool Helps Handlers “See Like Livestock” | Farms.com
A visualization tool simulates how animals perceive their environment, helping handlers reduce stress and improve facility design and animal flow. It’s a practical welfare and productivity upgrade for working facilities.
Drone Tech Transforms Grazing and Pasture Management | Sioux County Radio
Drones are increasingly used to monitor cattle, pasture conditions, and infrastructure, reducing labor and improving decision-making. Adoption is expanding as hardware costs fall and software improves.
Market & Tech Trends
AI Won’t Replace Farm Jobs, But It Shifts Who Bears Risk | Beef Central
AI tools are changing farm labor and management structures, shifting financial and operational risks toward producers and tech providers in new ways. The piece highlights how automation reshapes decision-making and accountability.
Can We Breed Cattle That Rarely Get Sick? | Technology Networks
Advances in genetics and breeding technology aim to produce disease-resistant cattle, reducing antibiotic use and improving productivity. Researchers are combining genomics and AI to accelerate selection.
Drone-Smart Grazing Tools Roll Out In Western Australia | Meat & Livestock Australia
MLA-backed research shows drones can guide grazing decisions, monitor forage, and integrate with digital farm management systems. It’s part of a broader push toward fully digital grazing management.
New Research on Livestock Behavior and Tech Monitoring | EurekAlert
A new scientific study explores animal behavior and sensing technologies, contributing to the growing research base behind precision livestock systems. Expect commercial tools to follow as validation improves.
Women in Ag-Tech Research Spotlight | The Story Exchange
A profile of a leading scientist highlights emerging research directions in agriculture and livestock technology. It’s a reminder that the innovation pipeline is being driven by interdisciplinary talent.
IN SIMPLE TERMS
What You Need to Know—Without the Jargon
Cattler is building a “digital operating system” for feedyards, replacing spreadsheets, whiteboards, and disconnected tools with one platform that manages feeding, health, inventory, and risk management.
MEQ Solutions has created the first new USDA-certified video carcass grading system in over 15 years, bringing objective, real-time meat quality measurement to packing plants.
LoneStar Tracking makes GPS ear tags that work in remote country with no cell service—and their new low-cost tag could make whole-herd tracking affordable.
Breedr tracks cattle from conception to carcass and sends performance data back to producers, helping them get paid for genetics and management, not averages.
Datamars Livestock is the infrastructure company behind many of the tags, readers, and scales ranchers already use, and is well-positioned for the USDA’s electronic ID mandate.
The big takeaway: cattle tech isn’t just about gadgets. It’s about turning animals into data and data into dollars.
DEEP DIVE
The Digital Backbone of Modern Cattle Production
The beef industry has historically been slow to digitize. Not because producers aren’t innovative, but because cattle operations are complex, margins are thin, and new tech has to work in dust, mud, heat, and remote environments.
That’s changing fast. A new generation of platforms is turning cattle operations into data-driven systems, and the companies we’ve highlighted represent different layers of that digital stack—from feedyard management to genetics and traceability.
Cattler: The Operating System for the Feedyard
Cattler positions itself as the “digital operating system” for cattle feeding operations, and that framing is accurate. Instead of juggling spreadsheets, pen rider notes, chute-side software, and risk management tools, Cattler consolidates everything into one mobile-first platform.
What makes Cattler particularly compelling is that it’s hardware-agnostic. Feedyards don’t have to rip out existing scales, EID readers, or feed systems to go digital because the platform integrates with what’s already on-site. That’s a critical adoption lever in an industry where capital expenditures are scrutinized.
Cattler has tripled revenue, partnered with Elanco on data services, and expanded across seven countries, signaling real traciton beyond pilot projects.
Why it matters: The feedyard is where data density is highest and margins are razor-thin. A unified system that ties feed protocols, health data, inventory, and risk management together could materially improve performance and decision-making at scale.
MEQ Solutions: Objective Grading Comes to the U.S.
For decades, the industry has talked about objective carcass grading. MEQ Solutions is one of the first companies to make it real at chain speed.
Their MEQ Camera V2 became the first USDA-certified video grading technology in more than 15 years—a major regulatory and technical milestone. he system uses spectral imaging and AI models to measure intramuscular fat, marbling, ribeye area, and tenderness in real time, delivering lab-like precision while carcasses are still on the rail.
The commercial deployment at Sustainable Beef in Nebraska and a recent A$23 million funding round suggest this isn’t just a research project, it’s scaling.
Why it matters: Objective grading could fundamentally change how cattle are valued. When producers get precise feedback on carcass performance, genetic selection, feeding strategies, and marketing decisions can be driven by real data, not averages or assumptions.
LoneStar Tracking: GPS for Big Country
LoneStar Tracking solves one of ranching’s hardest problems: visibility in remote environments.
Their flagship satellite ear tag communicates via low-earth-orbit satellites, delivering location updates without cellular coverage. In 2025, the company launched a sub-$20 BLE tag paired with solar gateways, cutting tracking costs by more than 90% and making whole-herd monitoring economically viable.
Beyond convenience, the technology has real-world stakes. One rancher credited the system with saving half his herd during a wildfire by showing where animals were clustered when minutes mattered.
Why it matters: As operations scale and labor gets tighter, knowing where cattle are—and when something is wrong—becomes mission-critical. Affordable tracking could shift herd management from periodic checks to continuous monitoring.
Breedr: Conception-to-Carcass Data
Breedr is building what amounts to a digital nervous system for the beef supply chain.
The platform tracks individual animals from conception through harvest, pushing carcass data back upstream so cow-calf producers can make informed breeding, culling, and marketing decisions.
Breedr’s Full Circle Beef model connects producers across the supply chain with verified data, preferential grids, calf buy-back programs, and retained ownership options, including Breeder’s own fund. The Red Angus Association partnership underscores growing institutional adoption.
Why it matters: Historically, cow-calf producers sell on averages and rarely see carcass outcomes. Closing that feedback loop could unlock genetic and management gains that compound over generations.
Datamars Livestock: the Infrastructure Layer
Datamars isn’t flashy, but it’s foundational.
The company owns Tru-Test scales, Speedrite fencing, Z Tags, Temple Tag, and a wide portfolio of RFID readers and monitoring tools feeding into a cloud platform. With the USDA’s electronic ID mandate taking effect, Datamars is positioned as a one-stop provider for EID compliance and integrated data capture.
Why it matters: Every digital system needs hardware. As the industry moves toward individual-animal management, companies like Datamars are the plumbing that everything else runs on.
The Bigger Picture: From Cows to Data Assets
Taken together, these companies illustrate a structural shift in beef production:
Cattle are becoming data-generating assets.
Operations are becoming software-managed systems.
Value is shifting toward information, traceability, and verified performance.
In a world of tightening labor, regulatory pressure on traceability, and growing consumer demands for transparency, data is no longer optional—it’s strategic.
WRAPPING UP
This is just the beginning.
Over the next few issues, we’ll continue breaking down the companies, technologies, and trends that are reshaping the beef industry, from AI grading and virtual fencing to genetics platforms and autonomous monitoring.
The beef business has always been about managing biological systems. Now, it’s also about managing data systems. The producers who master both will be the ones who capture the most value in the decade ahead.
Stay tuned.
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