Futureopportuni+esforprecisiongrazingmanagement

Prof.MarkRu,erHarperAdamsUniversity

Newport,Shropshire,TF108NBInnova+onCentre

LEAFIFMConferenceYork,25May2017

Precisiongrasslandmanagement

•  Sowhataboutwhengrasslandisgrazed?

•  Canweuseaprecisionapproachtomanagegrazedgrasslands?

•  Theprecision‘arable’approachisapplicabletograsslandmanagement…

•  …butonlywhentheherbageismechanicallyharvested(i.e.whenwecanmapyield)

Grazingmanagement

• Measuretheavailableherbage(kgDMHa-1)• Matchthistotheintakerequirementoftheanimalstobegrazed• Controlaccesse.g.usingstripgrazing

Herbagemeasurement

Controlgrassaccess

Measuringgrazingand

intake

“Youcan’tmanagewhatyoucan’tmeasure”

ResidualswardheightHigh LowIntakepercow

HighLow Intakeperhectare

Requiresremovalofungrazedherbage

Willreducedailyintake

Op+mumresidualswardheight

•  Technologyisalreadyhelpingfarmerstomeasureherbagemass:

Risingplatemeter

Vehicle-based‘PastureMeter’

‘PasturesfromSpace’

Herbagemeasurement

Thedevelopmentofanosebandsensorallowedtheopeningandclosingofthejawstoberecorded

•  Thisformedthebasisofthe‘IGERBehaviourRecorder’andGrazeanalysisso]ware

Measuregrazing&intake

Chews Bitesand“chew-bites”Time

Jawm

ovem

enta

mplitu

de

15seconds

Grazingjawmovements

Noseband ‘IGER’BehaviourRecorder

Microphone Radiotransmider Radioreceiverconnectedtovideocamerai.e.thesoundyouwillhearinthevideoistransmidedfromthecowshead

Bioacous+cs

Headup

Mainlychew-bites Chews

8 12

Twochews

No.

Bioacous+cs

Headup

Mainlychew-bites Chews

8 12

Twochews

No.

Bioacous+cs

• Originallyneededthehumaneartodetectbitesandchews,butalgorithmshavebeendevelopedtodothisautoma<cally• Researchhasshowntheenergydensityofchewingsoundispropor+onaltobitemass,sohasthepoten+altomonitorintake• Hasthepoten+altodetectdifferentplantspeciesanddifferencesinherbagequality

Bioacous+cspoten+al

•  Themicrophonecanpickupthesoundofconspecificsgrazingalongsidethesubject…• …somayneedtobecombinedwithothersensorse.g.accelerometers

Bioacous+csproblem?

Highherbageavailability

Lowherbageavailability

Fewbites

Manychews: Many

bitesFewchews:

Herbageavailability

• Bioacous+csarealreadybeingusedinanon-farmmonitoringsystem

•  TheSCR‘VocalTag’usesbioacous+cstodetectrumina<onbehaviour

•  Usedtomonitorhealthandhelppredictoestrus

Commercialbioacous+cs

•  Timedreleasegatesarealreadyavailable•  Thegatetothenextpaddockcouldbeopenedautoma+callybasedonswarddeple+one.g.bite:chewra+os

Automa+creleasegates

• Moving,robo+cfenceintroducedin2007,butnolongerforsale• Costapprox.£15,000• Reducestramplingandfouling•  12%moregrassu+lized• Woulditbemoreeffec+veiffencemovementwaslinkedtoswarddeple+on?

Robo+cfence

• A‘virtualfence’systemreplacestemporaryelectricfenceswithavirtualfenceline•  i.e.aseriesofla+tudeandlongitudecoordinates

Virtualfencing

Virtualfencing

•  Theanimalisfidedwithacollarwhichcan:- Determineditsposi+on(e.g.usingGPS)-  Candeliveranacous+c‘warning’-  Candeliveranelectric‘s+mulus’

• Whentheanimalapproachesavirtualboundary…• …itreceivesawarningsound

Virtualfencing

•  Iftheanimalreachesthevirtualboundaryitreceivesanelectricshock• Animalslearntousethewarningsignalstoavoidreceivingashock

Virtualfencing

• AnAustraliancompany(AgerSens)isbringingthefirstcommercialvirtualfencesystemtomarketthisyear•  Ethicalconcernsover‘shockcollars’meansthisapproachislesslikelytobeadoptedintheUK• Analterna+veapproachistouseposi<vereinforcementtodirectanimalforaging•  e.g.useauditorycuestohelpdirectanimalstowardsarewarde.g.freshherbage• Perhapsuseboth,onlyresor+ngtonega+vereinforcementwhentheanimal’swelfareisatrisk?

Virtualfencing

Summary

• Precisiontechnologiescanimprovetheefficiencyofgrazedherbageu+liza+onandremovesomeoftherisk• Bioacous+cshasthepoten+altomeasurearangeofparametersrelevanttograzingmanagement• Avarietyoftechnologiestocontrolanimalaccesstopasturearebecomingavailable•  Thesetoolsneedtobeintegratedinto‘smart’grazingmanagementsystems•  Thesetechnologiesarenotdesignedtoreplacetheskillsoftheexpertstockperson

Anyques+ons?