After growing up on a dairy farm, this Peter Thiel–backed founder is using AI to save cattle ranching

Growing up on a dairy farm in the rolling green hills of New Zealand’s Waikato region in the upper northwest of the country, Craig Piggott’s days began before dawn. But even as daybreak crept across the fields, he was never alone in those early hours. Running a dairy farm was a full family effort: shifting stock, monitoring for health issues and pregnancy, maintaining fences—everyday tasks that, while essential, are incredibly tedious and time-consuming.

But those tireless days lent him the discipline required to pursue a career in tech, and motivated him to improve the agricultural business. In 2017, Piggott, then age 23, founded agricultural tech firm Halter. Using AI, which Halter dubbed the “cowgorithm,” the company tracks an extensive amount of biological data. Halter then takes this data and offers solar-powered “smart collars” for cattle, a technology capable of tracking everything from a cow’s eating patterns and movement, to monitoring calving recovery. Piggott has transformed Halter into a mammoth global operation. Last month, the company raised $220 million in Series E funding, led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund at a $2 billion valuation.

“I just felt that ag[riculture] was underserved by technology, and there was a lot of opportunity to help farming and ranches with tech,” Piggott told Fortune. “No one was really playing in that space, and so that was kind of the initial thesis.”

As AI stretches its tendrils across the global economy, even industries seemingly far removed from modern technology are undergoing their........

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