SPOTLIGHT
BARNTALK BarnTools’ wireless system BarnTalk is making monitoring the barn’s environment 24/7 possible for every owner WORDS: APRIL BILODEAU
THE SAFET Y OF THE HORSE is the number one priority
for every horse owner. In 2021, Michael Hansen and Jim Ryken, the founders of BarnTools, created the BarnTalk system, a wireless barn monitoring platform that allows users to monitor the barn 24/7. The system was originally created due to the challenges that Hansen and Ryken faced in the swine industry. Most of the alarm systems they came across relied on landlines not designed to work in rural areas. Since the majority of farms were set in more desolate areas, they needed a system that would reliably operate no matter where the farm was located. “The technology is designed to work in rural areas,” Maddy McGarry, product marketing manager at BarnTools, tells The Plaid Horse. “It can connect to the strongest cell signal no matter where you live or what the carrier is.” After seeing success in the swine and poultry business, BarnTools has started to break into the equine world, where many of their features have been found to meet the needs of horse owners.
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THE PLAID HORSE
December 2023/January 2024
With the BarnTalk app, horse owners can monitor real-time barn conditions at their fingertips, including temps, water, power, and more
