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Agriculture · head to head

Nedap Livestock Management vs Soil Scout

Nedap Livestock Management logo

Nedap Livestock Management

Agriculture

CowControl and Velos sensor platform sold almost entirely through OEM partners rather than direct

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Soil Scout logo

Soil Scout

Agriculture

Buried wireless soil sensors with a ten to twenty year battery and no cables to the surface

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Nedap Livestock Management nedap publishes no pricing whatsoever and sells through dealers, so two comparable farms routinely pay materially different amounts for the same sensors and there is no rate card to argue against.; Soil Scout sensors are unserviceable once buried, so a failed or drifting unit means excavation and the confidence you place in a single reading has no easy verification.
  • They diverge on capability: Nedap Livestock Management covers Smarttag Neck and Leg, Soil Scout covers Fully buried sensors.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Nedap Livestock Management and Soil Scout actually diverge.

Attributes where Nedap Livestock Management and Soil Scout differ
AttributeNedap Livestock ManagementSoil Scout
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, WindowsWeb

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Nedap Livestock Management

  • Smarttag Neck and Leg
  • Heat detection
  • Health monitoring
  • RealTime positioning
  • Velos sow feeding
  • Automatic sorting
  • Nedap Now
  • Open OEM platform

Only in Soil Scout

  • Fully buried sensors
  • Ten to twenty year battery
  • Underground radio
  • Dual depth sensing
  • Moisture, temperature and salinity
  • Soil Scout Hub
  • Web service API
  • Long base station range

What people use each for

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

Nedap Livestock Management

  • A 500-cow loose-housed dairy where finding a single flagged cow by eye wastes twenty minutes a timenot Soil Scout
  • A sow unit moving to group gestation housing that needs electronic feeding to comply with welfare rulesnot Soil Scout
  • A farm that wants heat detection independent of the milking parlour manufacturernot Soil Scout
  • An equipment maker embedding proven animal monitoring rather than developing sensors in-housenot Soil Scout

Soil Scout

  • A golf course monitoring greens moisture where a surface-mounted probe would be hit by mowers and playnot Nedap Livestock Management
  • A stadium pitch under a closed roof where hand-held probing is impractical during the seasonnot Nedap Livestock Management
  • A research plot needing consistent multi-year soil data below cultivation depthnot Nedap Livestock Management
  • An irrigated field where a surface logger would not survive tillage or a spray boomnot Nedap Livestock Management

Where each one falls short

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

Nedap Livestock Management

  • Nedap publishes no pricing whatsoever and sells through dealers, so two comparable farms routinely pay materially different amounts for the same sensors and there is no rate card to argue against.
  • A large share of the technology ships inside other manufacturers' branded systems, which means the support you get, the firmware version you run and whether you can access the raw data depend on the badge on the box rather than on Nedap.
  • The system needs in-barn antennas, readers and a processing unit installed and commissioned, so the sensor price per cow understates the project cost and retrofitting an existing shed adds cabling work.
  • Adding RealTime positioning generally requires more antenna infrastructure than basic heat detection, so a farm that starts cheap and wants positioning later faces a second installation rather than a software toggle.
  • Nedap N.V. is a listed company with several unrelated divisions and livestock is one segment among retail, healthcare and security, so roadmap priority for agriculture competes with businesses that have nothing to do with farming.

Soil Scout

  • Sensors are unserviceable once buried, so a failed or drifting unit means excavation and the confidence you place in a single reading has no easy verification.
  • No pricing is published at all, which makes it hard to justify against commodity probes that quote openly, and per-sensor cost is well above the alternatives.
  • It measures but does not control, so tying moisture readings to actual irrigation decisions requires either manual interpretation or a separate integration project with the control system.
  • Underground radio range depends on soil type and moisture; heavy wet clay attenuates the signal and can force more base stations than the headline kilometre figure suggests.
  • The company is small and Finland-based, so outside its established golf and sports turf distribution the support, spares and installation expertise depend entirely on whether a competent local distributor exists.

Pricing, plan by plan

Nedap Livestock Management

On request
  • Nedap CowControl$undefined/year
    • Smarttag Neck or Leg sensors per animal
    • Barn antennas, readers and processor unit
    • Heat, health and rumination applications
  • Nedap Velos$undefined/year
    • Electronic sow feeding and separation
    • Heat detection for group housing
    • Nedap Now cloud access

Soil Scout

On request
  • Soil Scout$undefined/year
    • Sensors and base station quoted per site
    • Hub subscription terms quoted with the hardware
    • No individual sensor data plans required

Which should you pick?

Choose Nedap Livestock Management if

  • You need smarttag neck and leg.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
  • You also want heat detection.
Nedap Livestock Management review

Choose Soil Scout if

  • You need fully buried sensors.
  • You also want ten to twenty year battery.
Soil Scout review

Questions people ask

Is Nedap Livestock Management or Soil Scout better?
Neither clearly leads. Nedap Livestock Management starts at On request and Soil Scout at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Nedap Livestock Management or Soil Scout?
Nedap Livestock Management starts at On request and Soil Scout at On request.
Does Nedap Livestock Management or Soil Scout run on more platforms?
Nedap Livestock Management runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows. Soil Scout runs on Web.
What is Nedap Livestock Management best used for?
Nedap Livestock Management is most often used for a 500-cow loose-housed dairy where finding a single flagged cow by eye wastes twenty minutes a time, a sow unit moving to group gestation housing that needs electronic feeding to comply with welfare rules, a farm that wants heat detection independent of the milking parlour manufacturer, an equipment maker embedding proven animal monitoring rather than developing sensors in-house. Of those, a 500-cow loose-housed dairy where finding a single flagged cow by eye wastes twenty minutes a time and a sow unit moving to group gestation housing that needs electronic feeding to comply with welfare rules are not what Soil Scout is typically brought in for.
What can Nedap Livestock Management do that Soil Scout cannot?
Nedap Livestock Management covers Smarttag Neck and Leg, Heat detection, Health monitoring, RealTime positioning. Soil Scout covers Fully buried sensors, Ten to twenty year battery, Underground radio, Dual depth sensing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Nedap Livestock Management: Can I buy Nedap direct?

Usually not. It sells through regional dealers and through OEM partners who rebadge the technology, so your quote and your support both come from an intermediary.

Soil Scout: How long do the sensors last?

Up to ten years for the Happi100 and up to twenty for the Hydra100, buried, with no battery replacement.

Nedap Livestock Management: Am I already using Nedap without knowing?

Possibly. Several dairy equipment manufacturers embed Nedap sensing under their own brand names, so check what the tags in your barn actually are before buying a second system.

Soil Scout: Do the sensors need mobile data plans?

No. Sensors transmit to a base station through the soil, and only the base station uses a cellular modem.

Nedap Livestock Management: What does RealTime positioning need?

Additional in-barn antenna coverage beyond what basic heat detection requires, which is why it is cheaper to specify at installation than to add later.

Soil Scout: Can it control irrigation directly?

No. It is a measurement and alerting system; controlling valves needs an integration with your irrigation controller through the API.

Nedap Livestock Management: Does it work with my milking parlour?

It integrates with several major parlour and herd management systems, but the depth varies by partner, so confirm the specific combination before ordering.

Soil Scout: What happens if a buried sensor fails?

You dig it up. There is no remote service option, which is the trade-off for having nothing above ground to damage.

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