Jessica Roberts is letting grazing cattle tell her when they need to be moved to fresh pasture. In a major grazing experiment being undertaken from spring 2011 until autumn 2012, at the university’s “Clark’s Farm”, Jessica has attached GPS collars (UNE Tracker), accelerometers and Taggle® ear tags to monitor changes in cattle movement behaviour as available feed declines.
UNE Tracker is a GPS device which stores location data at regular intervals. Taggle® ear tags also records this type of data, however it is relayed in real time, and the positions of the animals can be displayed quickly and easily online as they occur. The accelerometers are used as motion sensors; again the data is stored on the device and provides detailed behavioural information such as when an animal is eating or walking. These technologies combined, provide an extensive insight into livestock behaviour.
Jessica is utilising this information to determine signatures associated with behavioural changes occurring as a result of declining forage availability. This information could indicate when livestock, particularly cattle, need to be moved in a rotational grazing situation. Knowledge of one or more specific behavioural changes then have the potential to be modelled and observed through just one commercial device, such as the Taggle® ear tag. This project has received strong industry support with funding provided from the University of New England, Meat & Livestock Australia, Australian Wool Innovation, the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information and the AW Howard Memorial Trust.
On Jessica Roberts’ trial site at “Clark’s Farm” UNE 18 steers have been fitted with several spatio-temporal behavioural monitoring devices. Two steers fitted with the UNE Tracker (top of the collar), accelerometer (bottom of the collar), and Taggle® tag (orange ear tag)