Abstract
A short while ago, in fields not so far away, graziers guessed forage mass and intake of grazing livestock in pastures. Then a period ensued where only laborious, expensive methods existed to measure the same. Faced with such a galactic dilemma, researchers made one of two practical choices: 1) collect minimal amounts of pasture growth information and give up precision, or 2) ignore pasture growth and forage measures altogether. Neither approach provides the data needed to describe forage intake of grazing animals. Smart devices — now carrying 120 million times more computing power than navigation systems onboard Apollo 11 — bring a new hope to pasture researchers, managers and farmers. This paper evaluates technological advances that enable the next generation of pasture measurements (including animal intake) using sensors. The list of sensors-based tools includes platemeters, digital rules, sonic waves, stereo photography, dual-tuned ultrasound, surround sound, lasers, light bars, and satellite images. These tools — coupled with artificial intelligence systems — give creative thinkers new ways to measure, monitor and manage forage intake in pastures. It’s the future.
Keywords: Digital technology, forage, artificial intelligence, animal intake