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Agriculture · head to head

Conservis vs SMARTBOW

Conservis logo

Conservis

Agriculture

Comprehensive farm management for row crops

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SMARTBOW logo

SMARTBOW

Agriculture

Ear tag cow monitoring with real-time indoor location, from Zoetis

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Conservis acquired by TELUS Agriculture and Rabobank in July 2021, so it is now part of a larger agriculture portfolio; SMARTBOW real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
  • They diverge on capability: Conservis covers Field & crop planning, SMARTBOW covers Real-time location.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Conservis and SMARTBOW actually diverge.

Attributes where Conservis and SMARTBOW differ
AttributeConservisSMARTBOW
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiWindows, Web, iOS, Android
Founded2009Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Agriculture).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Conservis

  • Field & crop planning
  • Input management
  • Activity tracking
  • Financial management
  • Inventory control
  • Equipment tracking
  • Harvest tracking
  • Custom reporting

Only in SMARTBOW

  • Real-time location
  • Heat detection
  • Rumination monitoring
  • Health alerts
  • On-farm server
  • Individual baselines
  • Herd software integration

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Conservis

  • Farm ERP covering the business rather than the agronomynot SMARTBOW
  • Grain contract managementnot SMARTBOW
  • Crop planning and budgeting against actualsnot SMARTBOW
  • Work order management across an operationnot SMARTBOW
  • Reporting plans versus actuals for lenders and partnersnot SMARTBOW

SMARTBOW

  • A 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutesnot Conservis
  • A dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervalsnot Conservis
  • A herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritisnot Conservis
  • A vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herdsnot Conservis

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Conservis

  • Acquired by TELUS Agriculture and Rabobank in July 2021, so it is now part of a larger agriculture portfolio

SMARTBOW

  • Real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
  • It is an indoor system; a grazing or partly grazed herd loses the location capability that is the main reason to choose it over cheaper monitoring.
  • Ear tags are consumable and go missing with the tag, so the running cost includes replacements at a rate that depends on how rough your handling facilities are.
  • Zoetis ownership means a pharmaceutical company holds continuous behavioural data on every animal alongside your treatment records, and the integration roadmap favours other Zoetis products.
  • Nothing is published on price, and sales run through veterinary and dealer channels, so comparing it against DeLaval, Nedap or CowManager requires several quotes and there is no reference list price.

Pricing, plan by plan

Conservis

On request
  • Standard$undefined/year
    • Field management
    • Activity tracking
    • Basic reporting
  • Professional$undefined/year
    • Everything in Standard
    • Financial management
    • Inventory control
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Everything in Professional
    • Multi-entity management
    • API access

SMARTBOW

On request
  • SMARTBOW$undefined/year
    • Ear tags priced per animal
    • Barn receiver infrastructure and on-farm server quoted per building
    • Installation and commissioning quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Conservis if

  • You need field & crop planning.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want input management.
Conservis review

Choose SMARTBOW if

  • You need real-time location.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want heat detection.
SMARTBOW review

Questions people ask

Is Conservis or SMARTBOW better?
Neither clearly leads. Conservis starts at On request and SMARTBOW at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Conservis or SMARTBOW?
Conservis starts at On request and SMARTBOW at On request.
Does Conservis or SMARTBOW run on more platforms?
Conservis runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. SMARTBOW runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
What is Conservis best used for?
Conservis is most often used for farm erp covering the business rather than the agronomy, grain contract management, crop planning and budgeting against actuals, work order management across an operation. Of those, farm erp covering the business rather than the agronomy and grain contract management are not what SMARTBOW is typically brought in for.
What can Conservis do that SMARTBOW cannot?
Conservis covers Field & crop planning, Input management, Activity tracking, Financial management. SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

SMARTBOW: What does SMARTBOW do that other activity monitors do not?

Real-time indoor location. It tells you where the flagged cow physically is, not just that she is behaving abnormally.

SMARTBOW: Does it work on grazing herds?

Poorly. Location depends on barn-mounted receivers, so animals out at pasture fall outside the system's coverage.

SMARTBOW: Who owns it?

Zoetis, which also owns Valley Agricultural Software and DairyComp. The technology came from Smartbow GmbH in Austria.

SMARTBOW: Is it cloud based?

Analysis runs on an on-farm server rather than in the cloud, which keeps it working during an internet outage but makes the server your responsibility.

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