SaskTel combining efforts with Smart Paddock to bring Australian agtech to Canada’s livestock industry

November 8, 2021

Today SaskTel announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Smart Paddock, a leader in Australia’s agtech sector specializing in advanced livestock monitoring and GPS tracking solutions. Through the MOU, SaskTel and Smart Paddock will explore opportunities to advance the deployment of smart technologies in Canada’s livestock industry.

“The livestock industry is a critical component to the overall success of our province, contributing billions of dollars to our economy,” said Don Morgan, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. “I am pleased to see SaskTel working to drive innovation in this sector by forming strategic partnerships with companies like Smart Paddock.”

The primary focus of this partnership will be to introduce Smart Paddock’s smart ear tag solution to the Canadian livestock industry. Already deployed on livestock herds across Australia, Smart Paddock’s solar powered smart ear tags come equipped with GPS tracking, accelerometer, and temperature sensors providing livestock farmers with real-time location tracking and biometric data.

“Data collection and analytics are just as important in the livestock industry as any other. With the data captured by our ear tags, livestock farmers can track the location of all members of their herd and monitor for biometric anomalies that may indicate if a cow is sick or calving,” said Darren Wolchyn, Smart Paddock Founder and CEO. “We’re looking forward to working with SaskTel to deploy our smart GPS ear tag solution across the Canadian Prairies to improve livestock producers’ daily lives as well as the care and wellbeing of their animals.”

“Connectivity is essential to the deployment of smart IoT (Internet of Things) technologies and as Saskatchewan’s leading communications provider we have the networks and expertise to facilitate those connections,” said Doug Burnett, SaskTel President and CEO. “We’re excited to be working with Smart Paddock to bring their unique solution to the Canadian market and to play a key role in fostering innovation in the agtech space.”

This newly announced relationship builds on others SaskTel has developed in the agtech space. In September last year, SaskTel and the University of Saskatchewan (USask) announced plans to launch a “living laboratory” at the university’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence (LFCE) to test, develop, and demonstrate world-class agriculture technologies.

For more information about Smart Paddock please visit www.smartpaddock.com.

For more information on SaskTel’s approach to Innovation & Collaboration visit www.sasktel.com/innovation.

About SaskTel

SaskTel is the leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) provider in Saskatchewan, with over $1.3 billion in annual revenue and approximately 1.4 million customer connections including 639,000 wireless accesses, 289,000 wireline network accesses, 289,000 internet accesses, 114,000 maxTV subscribers, and 81,000 security monitoring customers. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries offer a wide range of ICT products and services including competitive voice, data and Internet services, wireless data services, maxTV services, data centre services, cloud-based services, security monitoring services, advertising services, and international software and consulting services. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce of approximately 3,400 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). Visit SaskTel at www.sasktel.com.