Big Brother for Baby Horses: Crowdsourcing Animal Care With Webcams

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That’s the thought behind Mare Stare, a website that runs live camera feeds from barns around the world. If your cow is about to give birth in Iowa, it may be a stranger in Australia who picks up the phone to let you know.

The company was founded after owner, South Carolina farmer Heather Troglauer, got Vicki, her family’s first miniature horse. Vicki came with a surprise — she was pregnant. “I had never birthed any kind of horse, never mind a miniature,” Troglauer says. “We put up a camera to keep an eye on things.”

Of course, a camera only works if someone is watching it. What happens if you’re working a day job, or sleeping? Mare Stare harnesses the power of the Internet, putting thousands of eyes on Bessie even if yours are closed.

After you connect a basic camera to the Mare Stare network and pay a $30 monthly fee (the owners make a modest amount of money, which supplements their farming). When your animal nears its due date, you post on a message board. This alerts the global community to keep an eye on your feed. If anyone sees something amiss, they call the farmer directly; each camera feed includes a phone number. The methods are grassroots, but highly effective — Troglauer says they’ve yet to miss a birth, in nearly a decade of operations.

A camera was recently placed on two chicken eggs, a baffling prospect. “At least a horse will swish its tail,” Troglauer says.

If anything, the community can veer towards too helpful; false alarms abound.

“I don’t think anyone minds getting too many calls,” says Mare Stare President Perry Turner. “It’s certainly better than the reverse problem.”

Over time, Mare Stare has evolved to tackle other problems. People have used the services to deter livestock theft (recently, masked bandits were found stealing chicken eggs: raccoons!) And in a couple of grisly cases, people were arrested for allegedly molesting horses under Mare Stare’s watchful eye.

Mare Stare has even saved human lives — a vigilant watcher noticed an animal owner didn’t turn on their camera one day. They notified a Mare Stare moderator (one of 12 worldwide), who contacted authorities. As it turns out, the farmer had fallen into a diabetic coma!

It’s not all action and excitement, though. Many hours are spent watching livestock stand around, or sleep. A camera was recently placed on two chicken eggs, a baffling prospect. “At least a horse will swish its tail,” Troglauer says. “Can you imagine sitting and watching something inanimate?”

When boredom sets in, things can get a little goofy. Sometimes watchers keep themselves occupied with little games, like counting the number of times a horse moves, or looking for shapes in poop (somewhat less charming than cloud formations). So what’s the reward for these around-the-clock barn-watchers, besides a warm feeling in their hearts? Troglauer says animal owners typically leave the camera on during births.

“For many of our viewers, that’s the payoff right there,” she says.

(Above: A a livestream of three pregnant mares at Pacific Pintos miniature horse farm in Fort Bragg, California. Camera #2 is Clementine, 310 days pregnant. Camera #3 is Eve, 308 days pregnant. Camera #4 is Lady, 303 days pregnant. If you don’t see them onscreen, just wait a around — they’ll be back!)