Cattle surveillance drones
With the advent of technology, it has greatly revolutionized the way we do things. The invention of drones otherwise more formally known us unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has been associated with the military for quite a long time.
More recently, unmanned aircraft have been considered for a number of commercial applications such as search and rescue, surveillance, livestock monitoring among others. Many people are not yet aware of the fact that using camera drones for monitoring dairy cattle is real; it may sound like science fiction but more recently UAVs can now be used for this application.
Certain large farms have equipped themselves with high-end camera drones to help the farmers to keep an eye on their livestock and hence UAV has the potential of replacing dogs as herders.
Advantages of cattle monitoring drones
Tracking livestock
Keeping track of livestock in large agricultural farms can be a daunting task, therefore, use of drones is a novel way of monitoring dairy cattle as this comes with lots of advantages. This system is able to cover large areas, provide precise GPS location of your animals as well as visual information.
The drone can be equipped with different types of cameras as well as thermal sensors for precise information hence lowering livestock control time as well as cost.
Use of drones can also help farmers to keep an eye on their animals and ensuring none gets lost.
The unmanned aerial vehicle can go around the farm relaying back information on every cow and the farmer receives this information at the comfort of his room.
Moreover, drones equipped with infrared thermography cameras can be very useful as they can detect thermal energy produced by objects directed to them.
This technology allows ranchers to find cattle in the ranch more easily even when they are under tree canopies.
Ensures cattle safety
Another application that a UAV can help farmers in managing their dairy cattle is going around the ranch and checking fences to ensure that they are not broken into and hence let your animals to wander away from the ranch.
It can also be used to visually inspect troughs for the availability of water and food for your animals. Using them for this kind of activities will save the farmer the tedious work and a lot of time that he would have otherwise used to drive around and doing it in person.
Keep thieves away
The drone tracking technology can help farmers to keep away thieves within the ranch. The drone can be regularly used to keep count of the animals in a given area and send back the information. Whenever an intruder trespasses through an area, he is able to me monitored remotely and appropriate action was taken. The advantage of this gadget is that an intruder can be sported long before he even becomes aware that he has been noticed.
Health checkups
Drones that are equipped with thermal sensors can also be used to check on the health conditions of the animal. This sensor sends back data as bands of color, for instance, when all the animals look green with only one looking dark purple then it means the particular cow has a high temperature. This variance in temperature could mean that the cow is not in good health and needs a vet attention.
Apart from a UAV being used to count cattle, it can also be utilized by the farmer for pest control. This is achieved by the drones disturbing the pests that are aggravating your livestock and driving them away.
It can also be used to administer pesticides on an animal and this reduces the laborious tasks of using manpower for such tasks. It is worth noting that drones can also be used for surveillance even in the dark when fitted with infrared enabled cameras.
Using drones for monitoring dairy cattle is much more ecologically friendly as they do not emit any pollutants into the environment. Moreover, this is done at a much lower cost than the traditional methods of herding. all that a drone requires for it to energize is a source of power via batteries which can be replaced regularly as required.
There are testimonies from farmers who have used this technology. They have reported that they have saved a lot of manpower and can track their animals from the comfort of their rooms.
Although this upcoming technology plays a great role when it comes down to monitoring livestock, it is also worthwhile to note that laws and regulations for the use of UAV vary by countries. Clearer rules need to be established to guide the use of unmanned aerial vehicles.
