Satellite-Connected Cows? Starlink Mobile Now Used for Livestock Tracking

SpaceX’s Starlink Mobile helps people stay connected in cellular dead zones, but it has another unique use: tracking cows.

New Zealand-based Halter is integrating SpaceX’s cellular Starlink service to help ranchers wirelessly track and manage their herds via solar-powered GPS collars. Until now, Halter has tracked these collars via $4,500 custom radio towers with a range of about 5 miles. However, the Starlink integration means the collars can connect using SpaceX’s orbiting satellites; no need to install the radio towers. Cows can then engage in unconstrained grazing. 

(Credit: Halter)

“Using Starlink, the new technology enables ranchers to manage cattle anywhere they can see the sky,” according to Halter, which says its “internal modeling estimates direct-to-satellite capability expands coverage of the US beef cattle market by 2.5x.”

The New Zealand Herald reports that each Starlink-enabled collar will cost $9 (likely New Zealand dollars) per animal per month, compared with $8 per cow per month for the tower-based system.

Halter’s direct-to-satellite is available to beef operations in the US and New Zealand, and is coming soon to Australia and Canada

Halter’s technology lets ranchers create a “virtual fence” for their cow herds. In addition to the location tracking, each collar can emit audio commands to direct the cow away from a location; if the cow ignores the command, then the collar can deliver “a safe, low-level pulse that is significantly weaker than an electric fence (about one-tenth the strength of traditional hot wire),” the company says. “Once trained, most cattle respond to sound alone. In fact, the guidance cues that a typical cow receives each day are almost entirely sound and vibration.”

The Halter partnership shows how Starlink Mobile could go beyond smartphone connectivity in dead zones to serve a wide range of IoT devices in rural and remote areas. SpaceX’s director for global partners, Jeff Ahmet, noted: “This is the exact kind of Starlink Mobile innovation that changes industries. We’re moving past the era of ‘dead zones’ and into an era of total connectivity for every acre on Earth.”

Last year, SpaceX’s carrier partner in New Zealand, One NZ, also discussed using satellite connectivity for beehive monitoring equipment.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

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Experience

I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.

Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

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