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C-Lock Inc. and CERES TAG Partner to Expand Individual Animal Performance Insights
C-Lock Inc. is pleased to announce a new partnership with CERES TAG, bringing together complementary livestock technologies to provide producers with…
C-Lock Inc. is pleased to announce a new partnership with CERES TAG, bringing together complementary livestock technologies to provide producers with a more complete view of individual animal performance and feed efficiency.
Through the partnership, C-Lock will serve as a distributor, software partner, and technology partner with CERES TAG, connecting C-Lock’s precision livestock measurement technologies with CERES TAG’s direct-to-satellite smart ear tag technology.
Together, the technologies provide producers with greater insight into individual animal performance across pasture and managed feeding environments, including weight gain, feed utilisation, pasture feed intake, and other key performance metrics. This more complete picture can help producers identify high-performing animals, make better breeding and nutritional decisions, and improve overall productivity and profitability.
“Bringing C-Lock and CERES TAG technologies together opens the door to some exciting opportunities. Combining our technologies will give us new ways to understand individual animal efficiency, pasture utilization, and performance across different production environments. This partnership turns pasture data into real answers about animal performance, helping producers manage with confidence, not guesswork.”
Scott Zimmerman, President of C-Lock Inc.
About C-Lock Inc.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota, C-Lock Inc. designs and manufactures field-hardened equipment that measures what individual animals actually consume and produce. The company’s systems are used by commercial producers and animal-science researchers in more than 48 countries.
C-Lock’s SmartLine portfolio measures daily individual feed intake with SmartFeed, delivers controlled supplement with SmartFeed Pro, captures automatic body weights at the water source with SmartScale, and tracks individual water intake with SmartWater. The research-grade GreenFeed system measures methane and carbon dioxide flux and is the peer-reviewed standard for livestock emissions work. Every unit reports to the C-Lock cloud portal over Wi-Fi or cellular, so intake, weight, and emissions data are available in real time and as a historical record for each animal.
About CERES TAG
CERES TAG provides direct-to-satellite livestock monitoring technology. Its smart ear tag transmits without base stations, towers, or gateways, which means it keeps reporting from country where conventional connectivity does not reach.
The tag delivers insights into animal location, behaviour, health, reproduction, and pasture feed intake — the part of the production cycle that has historically been the hardest to measure, because the animal is out on grass and out of sight.
Where the two technologies meet
Most efficiency data stops at the fence line. C-Lock equipment measures intake, weight, and emissions with precision wherever a unit is installed. CERES TAG follows the same animal out to pasture and reports on where it grazes, how it behaves, and how much it eats there.
Linking the two closes the gap. An animal ranked on feed efficiency at the bunk can now be evaluated on how it converts grass as well, and the pasture record travels with it through backgrounding and finishing. That continuity is what turns a set of point measurements into a lifetime performance profile:
- Grazing behaviour, location, pasture feed intake, and health signals from the CERES TAG smart ear tag, reported by satellite
- Individual feed and water intake, automatic body weight, and emissions flux from C-Lock SmartLine and GreenFeed systems
- Both data streams tied to the same animal ID, so efficiency can be compared across environments and over the animal’s life
What it means for producers
The practical value shows up in decisions producers already make every year — which heifers to retain, which bulls to use, when to move cattle, and how to spend a feed budget.
- Rank replacements on more than one environment. An animal that performs at the bunk and on grass is a different selection candidate than one that only performs at the bunk.
- Match nutrition to what cattle are actually eating. Pasture intake data alongside supplement records shows where a program is working and where it is being wasted.
- Catch problems earlier. Behaviour and location changes on pasture, combined with water and weight trends at the unit, surface health and heat-stress issues sooner.
- Manage grazing with evidence. Knowing where cattle graze and how much they consume supports better paddock rotation and stocking decisions.
- Report with data, not estimates. Measured intake and emissions per animal support sustainability and supply-chain reporting requirements.
“Partnerships like this provide CERES TAG and C-Lock with the opportunity to deliver a more complete feed efficiency solution for producers. By combining individual animal data from pasture environments with precise weighing and productivity measurements, we can help producers better understand performance, make smarter management decisions, and ultimately improve profitability.”
David Smith, Founder & CEO of CERES TAG
Looking ahead
As distributor, software partner, and technology partner, C-Lock will make CERES TAG technology available to its customer base and work with the CERES TAG team on connecting the two data sets. Both companies will continue to work with research institutions and industry partners to validate what the combined measurement makes possible.
Producers and researchers interested in how the combined systems could fit their operation can contact the C-Lock team to talk through a setup. Learn more at www.c-lockinc.com and www.cerestag.com.
