28 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN March 2026 THE OTHER AI How Your Nebraska Neighbors Are Actually Implementing Artificial Intelligence Part 3 TRESSA LAWRENCE | CONTRIBUTING WRITER Over the last two months, we have covered what artificial intelligence (AI) is and some of the different ways it could benefit your operation. The world is on the precipice of change regarding technology, and the beef industry is not an exception to that. “We are looking at the age of the internet, the industrial revolution,” says Meg Scales, owner of ELK Angus, a seedstock operation. “Artificial intelligence is going to have that same sort of impact just in our overall behaviors and our interactions with data and, frankly, with workflows.” For many producers, AI still seems a little far-fetched – something that is happening in other parts of the world, but not necessarily in the beef industry. However, even within the last six months, AI has been making leaps and bounds within the beef sector. Hooves on the Ground Darr Feedlot outside of Cozad has a one-time capacity of 48,000 head , with pen sizes varying from 60 to 250 head. With animal health and feeding efficiency a top priority, the feedlot took the dive into two different artificial intelligence programs over the last few years and hasn’t looked back. “While the transition has had its challenges, using AI has been extremely beneficial,” says Reece Krueger, cattle foreman at Darr Feedlot who has been there for five years. The feedlot started using HerdDogg ear tags a few years ago. The Bluetooth-enabled smart tags collect biometrics from cattle by continuously monitoring animal temperature and movement. Artificial intelligence uses that data to write algorithms specific to different animal behaviors, which generate health alerts in real-time. These alerts allow users to address health issues potentially days ahead of physical symptoms. The algorithm learns your herd’s baseline movements and temperature levels. When the tags indicate a change in temperature or movement patterns, it notifies you by giving you a list of animals that need to be checked, and users can make those animals’ ear tags flash green lights, making them easier to notice. “We schedule the lights on the ear tags of the sick animals to go off every day, and that has saved our pen riders a lot of time,” Krueger explains. “Tracking their activity and being able to identify some of those animals quicker than if we were just visually checking on them has been huge as far as getting ahead of them on their health and being able to make them better before they get too bad.” In an industry where time is money, the ear tags are quickly paying off the investment of purchasing them. The ear tags last three years and can be used on multiple animals as they transition in and out of the feedlot. HerdDogg tags can also be used to monitor patterns to indicate estrus and calving. “If you just think about the doctoring alone, it has the potential to save us hours every week,” Krueger says. “We don’t have to ride through a pen for 30 minutes trying to find a little number on a tag; we can just light up the tag that we need, and it makes it a much quicker process. “Since the tags track their activity, there are plenty of times when it catches something a little quicker than our cowboys might have. Before the animal starts to show typical signs of sickness, it can catch them being a little less active than the rest of the group, and catching some a bit earlier, which is always beneficial, so we can get an antibiotic into them a couple of days before we normally would.” The program that Darr Feedlot implemented last year is called Cattlytx, which can be used on top of your already-exPRODUCTION
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