What Do Satellite GPS Cattle Tags Cost?
A Line-by-Line Pricing Breakdown
Short answer: Less than $10/hd per month. Or about $100/head per year.
This is broken up into three separate costs. The tag, the satellite connection and the software.
Here is a breakdown of each piece, what it does, and what it costs.
Why it is three costs and not one
A GPS ear tag does three separate jobs, and each one is priced on its own.
The tag is the hardware in the ear.
The satellite connection carries what it reports back down to the ground.
The software turns those reports into a map, a herd list and an alert.
Three functions, three costs.
The two tags we currently offer
| Tag | Price | What it reports |
|---|---|---|
| Ceres Gen 5 | $34.99 | Location, and daily behavior — grazing, rumination, walking and resting |
| Ceres Gen 6 | $39.99 | Location, daily behavior, heat detection and calving alerts, with improved GPS positioning |
Both last about three years in the ear and run off a small solar panel.
The satellite connection
The tags operate direct to satellite which means they work where there is no cell service and you don’t need special infrastructure installed.
$4.49 a month for a Gen 5. $4.99 for a Gen 6. That is $53.88 or $59.88 a year for each tag.
For that you get four positions a day, the tag’s daily behavior packet, and any real time alerts.
Learn more about how satellite ear tags work here.
The software
$29.99 a month, plus 50 cents for every tag you link. You can also save 17% if you choose to pay annually.
Draw your pastures and allotments on top of satellite imagery. Get every tagged animal’s last reported position and animal trails showing where they have been as well as pasture heat maps.
The tag also reports animal behavior data and delivers:
- Calving alerts (Gen 6 only)
- Estrus Signals (Gen 6 only)
- Performance drop alerts (Gen 5 and Gen 6)
- Geofence exit alerts (Gen 5 and Gen 6)
What 50 tags would cost (20% of a 250 head herd)
| First year | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tags | 50 × $34.99 | $1,749.50 |
| Satellite connection | 50 × $4.49 × 12 | $2,694.00 |
| Software | $29.99 × 12, plus 50¢ × 50 × 12 | $659.88 |
| Total | $5,103.38 |
That is $102.07 a head for the year, or $8.51 a month.
The second year costs less, because the tags are already yours. Satellite and software come to $3,353.88 — $67.08 a head, or $5.59 a month.
Over the three years a tag should last, 50 tags would run $11,811.14. That averages out to $78.74 a head a year.
Does it pay for itself?
Here is what one outfit in eastern Oregon did with theirs last summer.
“We put tags in all our bulls before turning out this summer. With the help of Terra Optics, we were able to recover a stray bull who had wandered off our allotment. He was 2 ridges over from where he should have been and we probably would have lost him without this system. We’re planning on more deployments next season.”
— Tor S Ranch, Eastern Oregon
South Dakota State University Extension puts bulls at a value of $7,000 and up. One bull saved covers the cost of around 70 tags in the first year.
South Dakota State University Extension also found that bulls sharing a pasture often graze in different parts of it, so a tagged bull will usually tell you where a bunch of cows are. That particular customer found another bull and a handful of cows later in the season as well.
Run it for your own herd
Our ROI calculator on the pricing page takes your herd size, works out the cost of tagging 20 percent of it, and gives you an estimate of what that might bring back to your bottom line.
You do not have to tag the whole herd
A 250 head outfit doesn’t usually buy 250 tags.
Folks are putting tags on Bulls, high valued cows, and/or replacement heifers. Rule of thumb, these tags are a great insurance tool for your highest value animals.
To Recap
Three costs. The tag is $34.99 and you buy it once. The satellite connection is $4.49 a month for each tag. The software is $29.99 a month plus 50 cents a tag.
Fifty tags for a 250 head herd: $5,103.38 the first year, $3,353.88 every year after.
The full pricing and the calculator can also be found on our pricing page.
Common questions
What does a satellite GPS cattle tag cost?
About $100 a head a year, under $10 a month. That breaks into three costs: the tag at $34.99, bought once; the satellite connection at $4.49 a month per tag; and the software at $29.99 a month plus 50 cents per linked tag. Fifty tags for a full year comes to $5,103.38 — $102.07 a head.
Why is there a monthly fee?
Two of the three costs are ongoing. The tag reports over a satellite network rather than cell service, and that connection is $4.49 a month per tag for a Gen 5 or $4.99 for a Gen 6. The software that turns the satellite data and positions into maps, records and alerts is $29.99 a month plus 50 cents per linked tag, or $299.88 paid for the year.
What is the difference between the Gen 5 and the Gen 6?
The Gen 5 reports location and daily behavior — grazing, rumination, walking and resting. The Gen 6 reports all of that plus heat detection and calving alerts, on a more accurate GPS position. The Gen 5 is $34.99 and the Gen 6 is $39.99.
What does it cost after the first year?
Less, because the tags are already yours. For 50 Ceres Gen 5 tags the second year is $3,353.88 — $67.08 a head, or $5.59 a month. Over the three years a tag lasts, 50 tags run $11,811.14, an average of $78.74 a head a year.
Do I have to tag every animal?
No. A 250 head outfit doesn't usually buy 250 tags. Bulls and first-year calvers usually go first, as they are typically the most valuable animals on the operation. South Dakota State University Extension found that bulls sharing a pasture often graze in different parts of it, so a tagged bull will usually tell you where a bunch of cows are. The calculator starts at 20 percent of the herd.