Tech help to make right grass decisions
Two sensors for monitoring cow grazing have worked well in Teagasc trials at Moorepark, in comparison to visual observation.
The MooMonitor+ collar, developed for commercial use on farms, uses an accelerometer to measure grazing behaviour.
The RumiWatch halter, designed primarily for research purposes, records jaw movements using a noseband pressure sensor.
Both devices showed a high degree of accuracy, and a high feasibility for monitoring accurate feeding behaviour.
They are part of a range of technologies for grass measurement and monitoring cows that could improve grassland management.
At the recent Moorepark dairy open day, Teagasc researchers said the potential to use the latest information and communication technology for grass measurement is dramatic, and it is frequent measurement of grass that facilitates the optimum herbage production and utilisation, which in turn largely drives profitability in grass-based production.
They explained how the Grasshopper tool for very accurate and precise grass height measurement can be used to automatically define the appropriate area to allocate daily to the grazing herd.
Teagasc are involved with research organisations in Denmark, Finland and Switzerland, and TrueNorth Technologies (the company which makes the Grasshopper) to develop an automated tool , for even better decisions on grass allocation to the cow herd. Such a tool could also be utilised for targeted fertiliser application and yield mapping.
Into the mix also comes technology to monitor cow location, which is installed at a dairy farm at Moorepark.
By monitoring the daily schedule of cows, their presence and grazing patterns at different locations, it can help decision making on grass intake and thus, profitability.
The technology under study is a product of Smartbow (Austria). It includes an ear-tag, 37 aerials distributed over the grazing paddocks, four transmitters, and a data server in the farm office.
Knowledge of cow location is very important to inform grazing management decisions, as well as providing key information in automatic milking systems, where milking frequency depends on the voluntary grazing movements of the cow.
If the range of technologies for grass measurement and monitoring cows proves reliable, the next step could see the farmer moving animals to their allocated grazing by drawing a virtual fence on an electronic map of the farm.
In this way, the farmer can contain animals which wear a virtual fencing collar within a defined area.
However, in the intensive grazing systems commonly operated on dairy farms in Ireland, the success of virtual fencing in a welfare friendly manner would depend on ability to train the cows.
