Hello Homestead, WABI highlight GPS Cows program
Hello Homestead, whose parent company is the Bangor Daily News, and WABI (Channel 5) featured GPS Cows, a collaborative project involving the University of Maine, in which high school students build cow collars with built-in global positioning systems, then collect, analyze and present data about grazing ruminants. “Large-scale farming is increasingly digital,” said Colt Knight, assistant professor and livestock specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and co-founder of GPS Cows. “These skills transfer. The point is to improve digital literacy, not just to make a GPS collar for cows.” Knight said tracking cows allows ranchers to determine which cows are most self-sufficient so they can breed them and build a better herd. “There’s a perception that, ‘Hey, I’m gonna be a farmer, I’m going into a more rural trade, I don’t need to learn how to use more modern technology, especially computers, softwares and things.’ And we want folks to understand that’s not necessarily true,” Knight told WABI. A pilot of the GPS Cows program was held last year in Maine, according to the story. Participants presented their findings to the general public during a poster competition; the winner expanded his project and took second place at the Maine State Science Fair, according to the story. The program is in hundreds of schools in Australia. Knight has room in this year’s GPS Cows class. For information or to sign up: 207.581.2953, colt.knight@maine.edu.