For many livestock breeders in the US state of Kentuck.
But providing feed, verifying the presence of water in the tanks, identifying the whereabouts of the herd, and evaluating the health of each cow are difficult tasks, and their difficulty increases after sunset, and the newly sick or mother cowIsolated.
Therefore, it is time to use drone services.
A team of researchers at Kentucky University is testing the feasibility of using drones, and the extent of their usefulness in carrying out these tasks for small herd breeders of livestock.
"The idea is to facilitate the livestock of their second work, which provides them with additional income, by converting part of the missions into automatic work, and helping to monitor their livestock in the pastures without the need to be there throughoutthe time".
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Livestock breeding is the "most important agricultural industry" in the United States, and its participation in the country's economy is 66 billion dollars, according to the US Department of Agriculture..But it faces challenges due to climate changes, a lack of manpower, land development and construction.However, the use of smart technology that makes livestock raising more efficiently can contribute to overcoming many of these difficulties.
The possibility of monitoring pastures and determining livestock sites with accuracy and speed, and ensuring their authenticity and safety, can provide a lot of the time of the busy livestock breeders, which has important economic effects.Every year, you spend more than 2.5 million cows in the United States for health reasons, which costs the livestock industry about 1.5 billion dollars.Also, sick livestock eat and move less, and this hinders the growth of young people, affects their ability to reproduce, and reduces their value over time.
Hug and his team received a three -year grant of approximately 900 thousand dollars from the National Food and Agriculture Institute of the US Department of Agriculture in February 2018 in order to follow their research on the drone project project.There is hope that these multidisciplinary efforts will solve many of the problems that livestock breeders suffer, such as carrying out patrols in the pastures to determine livestock sites, and monitor them healthy by following certain indicators such as weight or the presence of manifestations indicating diseases such as the pink eye.
In order for this to be possible, the team must find a way to determine and track certain cows in itself, and this is what made Hug think about a new technology that allows to identify the faces of the cow..
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The team is conducting tests on computer algorithms to make this idea to be implemented. The current technique for face recognition is designed to determine the faces of humans, not cows.While certain landmarks in the face of the cows can serve as a special imprint, a simple matter such as pollution of the face with some dirt can hinder the efficiency of the program.
"A group of drones will take many pictures of livestock, and from different angles at once," says Hug..Aircraft also take videos to monitor the levels of cows activity..
ولا يمكن الاعتماد على علامات الأذن (Episodes التي توضع في أذني بعض الماشية)، إذ من الممكن أن تسقط، إلا أن الفريق يعتبرها وسيلة احتياطية.The other option is to determine the identity of each cow through the electromagnetic waves, but it is a costly solution, and it may require the approaching drones to the animals in a way that exceeds the limits of the permissible distance.The current regulations related to the operation of these aircraft require that the person who occupies the plane is able to see the plane tracks lines to direct them, but the technology that the Kentucky University team works will allow these aircraft to work independentCows, then transport their sites to a number of "operating" aircraft.
These "operating" aircraft are equipped with cameras that collect photos and data while flying.The plan aims that the planes work to analyze the information they collect, and send alerts directly to the cows breeders when they find something that requires intervention, such as the discovery of a sick cow or a demolished fence.
To ensure that this system is safe for livestock (as strange scenes or unusual noise can cause tension and distraction from grazing), researchers study the responses of physiological and behavioral animals because of the presence of drones by testing different flight patterns and heights within the university farm with an area of 1484 acres(6 square kilometers).The goal is to take pictures of the highest quality and without disturbing the livestock, so the team uses devices to monitor the heart rate and collars that depend on the GPS system (GPS) to measure animal responses to these aircraft depending on their locations.
Michael Sama, professor of biological systems engineering at Kentucky University, describes the results of the tests as "largely promising"."We can approach more than I expected, so we can be 20 or 30 feet without affecting the cows in any way.".It also seems that the animals began over time adapting to the presence of planes flying at these altitudes, but when the height of the aircraft is less than 8 and 12 feet, they force the cows to move, which can be used to collect and drive them, and it is another side that the team started studying.
In order to accomplish this ambitious work, the researchers need a lot of data that is difficult to collect."You cannot connect to the Internet and ask to search for 'a million pictures of cows', so we have to create this data collection.".To create this illustrated guide, the researchers collected pictures of the faces of many cows, and they fixed dozens of cameras on a university farm that can take up to 100 pictures of each cow that passes near..
"We can take pictures of livestock from all directions and at the same time," he explains..He adds: "It helps us in programming algorithm, which will rebuild a three -dimensional model of the cow from a relatively few pictures.".
At Colorado State University, Melt Thomas, a professor of animal education, faced a similar problem in collecting cows data, and in turn, he also tried to take advantage of the capabilities provided by drones..
Researchers in the American mountainous states have spent years studying whether the genes affect the patterns of cattle (brief answer: yes, it affects that) and whether genetic selection can help distribute animals better across the vast area where there are pasturesThe American West.
"There are some lazy cows that lie next to the water and sponsor the grass around it, and there are other cows that love to wake up in the morning and go directly in a long path, and the rise of mountains.".The first group is known as the inhabitants.
The grazing patterns are usually determined by using the GPS hoops, which is a long time and requires an intense effort, especially in the distant pastures that are difficult to reach..But the completion of genetic studies also requires researchers to be able to distinguish between cows individually."If we are able to reach a way to calculate the number of all cows that are found in the pasture at the same time and get to know each of themThis will improve our ability to determine the real genetic signs.For this reason we are very interested in drones..
Billy used to wander around Montana pastures on horse, and he and two other people needed about two hours to track only 80 percent of the herd that includes 180 cows, while the drone can fly over the same area several times a day and collect more data in a wayFaster.
Unjust grazing can lead to soil erosion, the spread of harmful weeds, poor water quality, and bring parasites, while the lack of grazing leads to the accumulation of dry grass that becomes fuel for forest fires."This technology will improve the sustainability of pastures, especially in the high mountains, which are the weakest and most sensitive areas.It is a very important issue in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and all over the American West..
The grazing patterns also affect the animals themselves, which improve their nutrition by eating more varied feed.And if farm owners can spread their livestock and encourage them to graze within larger areas, they can include more cows without harming the land.
Nick Wesli, assistant director of the "Silver Sport" pasture in Wyoming, says the cows that move in the pasture in search of a more diverse food "are always staying in our flock for a longer period of cows that do not do it..
The Colorado State University team has placed the GPS cows for some cows in the "Silver Sport" flock to collect data on its grazing patterns.And Wasli adds: "Here in the arid West, the matter depends on moisture, the extent of rain, and the type of food, so it cannot be determined.In the ideal state we will have cows that can go out and move, find different food sources, and do so efficiently ".
The Colorado State University team seeks to "develop a tool that allows educators to produce more adaptive cows with the environment", or that its impact is less harmful to the land and the environment, says Mark Inns, a professor of animal science at Colorado University, who adds: "It is something we do for manyAmong the reasons, such as the quality and amount of meat, the extent of animal growth, and their ability to reproduce ".
Enens and his colleagues are planning to complete part of this work within the next two years.The Kentucky University team also works according to a similar timetable.But there are still questions regarding the paths of aircraft, approaching cows, flying formations, and optimum angles to take pictures.
Josh Jackson, who raises a herd composed of about 70 heads of cows and works as an expert on the livestock system at Kentucky University, expects that a large part of this research will be published within the next two or three years..But this technology may not be commercially marketed.Part of this is due to the current operating regulations for drones, the costs of this process, and the speed of the livestock breeders to use this technology.
But this research remains loaded with promises, and the long -term horizons appear to be encouraged, as livestock will be able, and with a button only a "large red button that has been written on it", as Jackson says, knowing their cows and receiving urgent warnings that are sent directly to their mobile phones or their devicesTablet, which allows small herd breeders, who are still practicing two jobs together, doing the tasks of taking care of their livestock in a much easier way.