C-Lock
C-Lock Inc. builds precision livestock measurement hardware (GreenFeed emissions systems and SmartLine performance systems) that quantify individual animal methane, feed intake, water intake, and weight on-farm and in research settings, serving livestock producers, academic and government researchers, and food and agriculture corporations across 50+ countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersRapid City, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What C-Lock does
C-Lock Inc. is a privately held precision livestock technology company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota. The company builds and sells hardware systems that measure individual animal emissions, feed intake, water consumption, and body weight on-farm and in research settings. Its two product families are GreenFeed, which uses a proprietary mass flux methodology to capture methane (CH4), CO2, H2, and O2 at the individual animal level, and the SmartLine family (SmartFeed, SmartFeed Pro, SmartScale, SmartWater, SmartWater Pro, and SmartFeed Ultra 4) for performance monitoring. GreenFeed has been validated against respiration chambers at r > 0.95 and underpins more than 800 peer-reviewed publications across 50+ countries.
C-Lock monetizes primarily through quote-based hardware sales, supported by installation, training, maintenance, parts, and a Data Insight Services team that helps customers interpret measurement data. The company serves three customer segments: livestock producers (dairy, beef, cow-calf, feedlot, seedstock) seeking feed efficiency and genetic selection gains, academic and government researchers requiring publication-grade emissions and intake data, and food and agriculture corporations needing primary measured data for Scope 3 and ESG reporting. GTM combines direct enterprise field sales, an inside sales/quote-request channel, and active participation in industry events such as LambEx, WCGALP, BeefEx, and EuroTier. C-Lock operates a regional subsidiary, C-Lock Australia (Gatton, Queensland, launched April 2026), to serve Oceania with local sales, service, and inventory, and is founder-controlled by the Zimmerman family with no disclosed external funding.
C-Lock firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- C-Lock
- Legal name
- C-Lock Inc.
- Website
- https://c-lockinc.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- C-Lock Inc. builds precision livestock measurement hardware (GreenFeed emissions systems and SmartLine performance systems) that quantify individual animal methane, feed intake, water intake, and weight on-farm and in research settings, serving livestock producers, academic and government researchers, and food and agriculture corporations across 50+ countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
C-Lock industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Precision Livestock Monitoring Equipment
- SIC
- Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823), Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Livestock Precision Monitoring Software (Herd/Flock Analytics, Health Alerts) (AFAAAFAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Dairy Farm Data, Monitoring & Precision Dairy Operations (AFAEACAO), Livestock Monitoring & Wearables (Activity, Rumination, Health Sensors) (AFAAAIAG)
Keywords
Where C-Lock is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Rapid City
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
C-Lock business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Hardware Sales - GreenFeed Systems: Sale of GreenFeed emissions monitoring units that measure individual animal methane, CO2, and other gas emissions. Units are deployed on-farm for continuous measurement.
- Hardware Sales - SmartLine Products: Sale of SmartFeed, SmartScale, SmartWater, and Pro variants that measure individual animal feed intake, body weight, and water consumption. Equipment sales for pen-level animal performance monitoring.
- Service and Support: On-site service, installation, training, maintenance programs, and parts sales. C-Lock Australia manages service operations for Oceania region.
- Data Insight Services: Data insights team provides analysis support for research and corporate customers, helping interpret measurement data for sustainability reporting and herd management decisions.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
C-Lock product offering
Product offeringCore offering
C-Lock designs, manufactures, and sells precision livestock measurement hardware systems that monitor individual animal methane (CH4), CO2, H2, and O2 emissions (GreenFeed) and individual animal feed intake, body weight, and water consumption (SmartLine family). The systems use mass flux methodology validated against respiration chambers (r > 0.95) and are deployed on-farm and at research institutions globally across 50+ countries.
Product overview
C-Lock offers two integrated product families: GreenFeed for emissions monitoring and SmartLine for performance monitoring. GreenFeed uses mass-flux methodology to measure methane, CO2, H2, and O2 at the individual animal level. The SmartLine family includes SmartFeed, SmartFeed Pro, SmartScale, SmartWater, SmartWater Pro, and SmartFeed Ultra 4 for measuring feed intake, body weight, and water consumption. Together, these systems provide complete individual animal data for feed efficiency optimization, genetic selection, and sustainability reporting.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- GreenFeed: Global standard emissions monitoring system for measuring individual animal methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen (H2), and oxygen (O2) emissions using mass flux methodology
- SmartLine
- SmartFeed
- SmartFeed Pro
- SmartScale
- SmartWater
- SmartWater Pro
- SmartFeed Ultra 4
Products and services
- GreenFeed
Quantifiable outcome
- Profitability gap of $1,356/cow/year between top and bottom quartile dairy animals at $18.50/cwt
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use C-Lock
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
C-Lock technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature7 records
C-Lock partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- BBC StoryWorks Commercial ProductionsflagshipBBC StoryWorks produced commercial video content for C-Lock including 'The Innovation Story' (USA) and 'Australia Producer Story' series. These documentary-style advertisements explore how C-Lock technology helps producers drive profitability and sustainability through genetic selection and feed efficiency.
- Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)coreNatural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) conducted research comparing GreenFeed with respiration chambers to measure feed efficiency in dairy cows. Study published in Journal of Dairy Science demonstrated that gas exchange data can reliably estimate feed efficiency, validating C-Lock's technology for on-farm feed efficiency measurement.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
C-Lock competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Lely: Lely is a leading dairy automation incumbent with milking robots and a growing portfolio of sensor-based herd management. It is a broader incumbent in the same on-farm dairy automation category where C-Lock's performance monitoring competes for budget and barn integration.
- BouMatic: BouMatic is a global dairy equipment and automation incumbent with an expanding sensor and herd-management portfolio. As a broad incumbent in milking and on-farm dairy, it competes for the same producer capital and barn-integration footprint C-Lock depends on.
- GEA Farm Technologies: GEA is a broad incumbent in dairy process and farm technology, including milking and herd management systems with sensor integration. It competes with C-Lock for the integrated dairy producer budget and is a potential channel or competitive threat in performance monitoring.
- DeLaval: DeLaval is a global dairy equipment incumbent offering milking systems and herd management sensors. As a broad incumbent, it overlaps with C-Lock on producer-facing monitoring and represents both a channel and a competitive threat.
Direct peers
- Allflex Livestock Intelligence (Merck Animal Health): Allflex, owned by Merck Animal Health, is the dominant global provider of individual animal identification and behavior/health monitoring sensors for cattle. It overlaps directly with C-Lock in the precision livestock monitoring category and has far deeper commercial reach via Merck's animal-health distribution.
- Afimilk: Afimilk is an established dairy cow monitoring and management platform with sensors for activity, rumination, feed behavior, and milk yield. It competes for the same dairy producer budget that funds C-Lock SmartFeed and GreenFeed deployments.
- Vytelle: Vytelle runs an integrated feed efficiency and reproductive genetics program, including in-pen intake measurement technology used for genetic evaluation. It competes most directly with C-Lock's feed-efficiency and genetic-index value proposition for beef and dairy breeders.
- IceRobotics: IceRobotics develops cattle behavior and lameness sensors used by researchers and commercial dairy and beef operations. Comparable to C-Lock in individual-animal data acquisition and adjacent in cattle performance measurement.
- SCR Dairy (Allflex): SCR Dairy, now part of Allflex/Merck, supplies heat-detection, rumination, and feed-intake monitoring for dairy herds. It overlaps with C-Lock's SmartLine individual-animal monitoring value proposition on commercial dairy operations.
- Smaxtec: Smaxtec provides intraruminal bolus sensors for cattle that continuously measure core body temperature, activity, and pH, with feed-intake and health analytics. It is a direct emerging competitor in individual animal monitoring, especially to C-Lock's SmartWater/SmartFeed health use cases.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
C-Lock social profiles
Digital presenceC-Lock financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
C-Lock leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
C-Lock subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
C-Lock funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
C-Lock M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about C-Lock
What does C-Lock do?
C-Lock designs, manufactures, and sells precision livestock measurement hardware systems that monitor individual animal methane (CH4), CO2, H2, and O2 emissions (GreenFeed) and individual animal feed intake, body weight, and water consumption (SmartLine family). The systems use mass flux methodology validated against respiration chambers (r > 0.95) and are deployed on-farm and at research institutions globally across 50+ countries.
Is C-Lock a public or private company?
C-Lock is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was C-Lock founded?
C-Lock was founded in 2005. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is C-Lock based?
C-Lock is headquartered in Rapid City, United States, in the North America region.
How does C-Lock make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Hardware Sales - GreenFeed Systems are the primary driver. The others are hardware Sales - SmartLine Products, service and Support and data Insight Services.
Who are C-Lock's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Lely, BouMatic, GEA Farm Technologies and DeLaval. Direct peers are Allflex Livestock Intelligence (Merck Animal Health), Afimilk, Vytelle, IceRobotics, SCR Dairy (Allflex) and Smaxtec.
Does C-Lock have an API?
No public API is recorded for C-Lock.
What industry is C-Lock in?
C-Lock's product category is Precision Livestock Monitoring Equipment. Its primary akta.pro industry code is AFAAAFAM, Livestock Precision Monitoring Software (Herd/Flock Analytics, Health Alerts), with a secondary code of AFAEACAO, Dairy Farm Data, Monitoring & Precision Dairy Operations. Its SIC code is 3823.