AI around neck: How a smart sensor is transforming dairy farming

Hyderabad: A necklace is usually a piece of jewellery. For dairy farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kashmir, it may soon become a lifeline- a wearable AI sensor that monitors cattle health in real time and alerts farmers before problems spiral into costly losses.

Developed by Hanumayamma Innovations and Technologies, a California-based agri-tech firm with India operations headquartered in Hyderabad, the Cow Necklace Sensor is a wearable veterinary device fitted around a cow or buffalo's neck.

It continuously tracks rumination patterns, body temperature, activity levels, feeding behaviour, and environmental conditions transmitting all of it wirelessly to the Hanumayamma Dairy Analytics platform, where artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms convert raw livestock data into actionable health insights.

The platform goes further than farm-level monitoring. It integrates sensor data with global datasets including climate indicators, agricultural commodity markets, and macroeconomic signals to enable predictive veterinary care, improved milk productivity, and even reduced methane emissions. Each deployed sensor is paired with a dedicated AI monitoring agent, enabling individualised health tracking for every animal in the herd.

The practical result is that farmers and veterinarians can detect early signs of disease, stress, or productivity decline far sooner than conventional observation allows — reducing veterinary costs and improving herd outcomes at scale.

"Artificial intelligence is transforming agriculture from the ground up," said Jayashankar Vuppalapati, Founder and CTO of Hanumayamma Innovations and Technology.

"With the Hanumayamma Cow Necklace sensors, farmers can continuously monitor livestock health, detect diseases earlier, and improve productivity through data-driven insights. Our mission is to democratise advanced AI technology so that even small and marginal farmers benefit from intelligent agriculture and sustainable dairy farming," Jayashankar told DH.

Since its launch recently, approximately 10,000 sensors have been deployed worldwide. In India, 100 sensors are active in Hyderabad, Telangana, and another 100 in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh covering both cows and buffaloes. The technology has also gained traction internationally, with deployments in California and the Philippines.

The innovation recently earned formal recognition from the Government of India. At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the Cow Necklace Sensor was included in the "AI in Agriculture Sectoral Compendium" released under the IndiaAI Mission of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

A case study documenting a deployment in Kashmir offers a glimpse of what that looks like on the ground.

During a monitoring period in May 2024 in Srinagar, Jayashankar said that sensors recorded cattle contact temperatures ranging between 11 degrees Celsius and 31 degrees Celsius across multiple days.

The analytics system flagged events requiring farmer attention whenever unusual temperature fluctuations were detected, enabling timely veterinary intervention.

“This highlights how AI-powered wearables can deliver meaningful outcomes even in geographically challenging regions with limited veterinary infrastructure. With India's dairy sector supporting the livelihoods of millions of small and marginal farmers, technology that makes precision livestock monitoring affordable and accessible could prove transformative. These necklace sensors suggest that the future of animal health may not lie in the veterinary clinic but quietly around a cow's neck, transmitting data that no human eye could catch in time,” he added.