HOW DRONE TECH IS CHANGING THE FUTURE OF LIVESTOCK FARMING?

Growing annually at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31% from 2019, the commercial value of drones in agriculture is expected to reach $5bn by 2025 according to a report released by Meticulous Research.

Globally, usage of drones in agriculture production is exploding, particularly in North America, Europe & Asia Pacific as farmers contend with high labour costs & a demand for high quality crops that also increase yield. Coupled with increased automation & favourable legislation, this environment has resulted in new farming methods, or what is in reality an entirely new sub-sector of agriculture, precision farming. We now have applications being developed & focused on day-to-day crop monitoring, soil & field analysis, field mapping, as well as crop spraying & health assessment.

Livestock Monitoring

Growth in precision farming has fuelled developments across the agriculture sector with new innovations being developed for livestock monitoring, smart greenhouses, irrigation & fish farming, with farmers using a multitude of drone types (fixed-wing & rotor) as well as passive & active sensors to achieve results.

From a livestock perspective, early adopters are operating low-cost consumer drones with basic passive RGB camera sensor drones for monitoring & tracking purposes, which produce usable stills & video footage.

The ease of utilising an elevated point of view to locate individual livestock to observe movement, behaviour of larger groups, as well as daily infrastructure management related to water, fencing & other assets has improved productivity & reduced labour costs for farmers.

Much of these routine & daily tasks, are undertaken via a simple video stream to a mobile device, while stills could later be studied on a desktop application for analysis, if you’re looking for more detailed data on the health of your pasture for example for signs of overgrazing. While these applications save time & resources for a farmer, they are not smart, but limited, & there is a whole new field of applications being developed for livestock farming, especially around their health & wellbeing through the use of thermal camera imaging.

Thermal Imaging

More than 60% of cattle losses in the US are health related, a statistic which can be reduced & understood by incorporating a thermal imaging solution, AI & machine learning in the future. (2017, North American Meat Institute)

One of the most reliable & traditional indicators of ill health & the presence of an infectious disease is body surface temperature screening. Observed temperature elevations can also be used to detect heat stress in livestock, as well as changes in blood flow patterns which can be attributed to identifying inflammation areas.

The challenge is that a diagnosis requires labour & time, & results in a loss of productivity, as well as increased stress on the animal, & a high probability of transmitting the disease to new livestock herds.

By using lightweight thermal cameras mounted on drones, farmers can examine livestock remotely & without having to restrain the animals; thereby saving time, & reducing stress & the risk of transmission. Typically, thermographic sensors are able to detect infrared radiation from animals in the wavelength of between 8-12 μm. While, the method is effective, it is primarily a strategy best suited to filtering large groups & a confirmed diagnosis will still need to be achieved by a ground level inspection of the animal.

Challenges & Controls in Body Temperature Readings

Despite the successes, elevated temperature readings can be misleading & proper controls should be implemented, which consider differences between skin & body temperature, environmental conditions, & the required thermal resolution & spatial resolution of the thermographic data. Typically, farmers will look for a 1-degree temperature differentiation between animals that are exhibiting fever symptoms & those that are not.

However, skin surface temperatures are naturally affected by absorption of sunlight & environmental factors. Best practice would be to conduct inspections during twilight periods before sunrise & during periods of overcast weather. Scanning of the thorax dorsal or rump are the best locations for thermographic scanning as an actionable data set requires a sufficient number of pixels (10 in a line) across the area of interest. Screening efficiency is also dependent on the size of the sensor as it determines the size of the image footprint that can be used. Choosing a correct altitude to fly at depends on the size of the herd, pixel sensor density, & the focal length of the lens; however, the most effective altitudes range between 20 & 100m.

More applications

While identifying & screening animals efficiently is arguably one of the most effective & promising methods for thermal imaging, utilizing thermal for day-to-day farm management is can also be more efficient & valuable than basic RGB camera sensor drones. Especially for tasks such as locating lost animals in dense bush, trespassers, pasture health & overgrazing, electric fence line breaks & more.

Future Applications

One of the most ground-breaking current studies, a 3-year research project in the UK set to end in 2021, involves the use of autonomously controlled drones, AI & machine learning. In the pilot project, drones will be eventually used to locate, identify via facial recognition & then measure for vital information like weight, size & physical activity all remotely. Essentially, the team uses one observer drone at a 100m elevation, which identifies the cow & position with a stereo camera & sends the data to three worker drones. These worker drones will then conduct the inspection & transmit the data back to the farmer & his computer station.

As food demand continues to increase & land shrinks, farmers increasingly not only have to mechanise their farms, but automate & digitize their operations to remain competitive & resilient while balancing the need for ecological harmony & diversity. In light of these modern demands, drone-based solutions can provide the most effective tools & platforms, which can be introduced into the food chain & operational toolbox for tomorrow’s farmer.

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