AI Collar Helps 2.2M Indian Dairy Farmers Boost Income

Thousands of cows across India are now wearing what looks like an ordinary collar, but hidden inside is technology that's changing lives for dairy farmers who've struggled with guesswork for generations.

The Connected Cow Collar, developed by Nagpur-based startup eVerse.AI, works just like a smartwatch for humans. It tracks body temperature, movement patterns, and behavior around the clock, then uses AI to predict when a cow might get sick before any symptoms appear.

For dairy farmers, catching illness early means the difference between a quick vet visit and watching disease spread through an entire herd. It also means less money spent on emergency treatments and more milk production throughout the year.

The collar solves another expensive problem that's plagued Indian dairy farmers forever: missed breeding windows. Cows can only be artificially inseminated during a brief heat cycle, and missing it means wasted veterinary costs and months of delayed milk production. The device sends alerts straight to a farmer's phone at exactly the right moment.

Built-in GPS tracking helps locate lost animals too, eliminating the anxiety and financial losses that come when cattle wander off. Ashish Sonkusare, who founded the company in 2022, spent 25 years working with tech giants like IBM and Amazon before bringing his expertise home to solve problems in Indian agriculture.

"I knew what was happening in advanced countries and I could see the gap in India," says Sonkusare, who grew up in Nagpur and comes from a family familiar with livestock rearing. He partnered with Shailendra Narwade and sustainability expert Vidhi Gaur to build solutions specifically for smallholder farmers.

After a year studying challenges alongside the National Dairy Development Board, the team launched in 2022. Today, more than 40,000 AI-powered collars are deployed across farms, reaching over 2.2 million farmers in multiple states.

The Ripple Effect

The technology isn't just improving individual farms. By helping farmers move from guesswork to data-driven decisions, the collars are strengthening rural livelihoods across entire regions. Gaur leads the company's climate initiative, exploring ways to bring carbon finance benefits back to farming communities so they can earn additional income beyond milk sales.

Better animal health means higher milk yields, which means more income for families who depend on dairy farming. Early disease detection prevents infections from spreading, protecting whole herds and stabilizing food supplies for communities.

These connected collars prove that cutting-edge technology can serve the farmers who need it most, turning smartphones into powerful farming tools that fit right in a pocket.