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KAESER HP_Food Tech NZ_Mar 18.indd 1 31/01/2018 2:50:12 PM
FT448
Cutting-edge new technology that brings the
human factor back into farming will see Australian
cows and sheep fitted with Fitbit-like wearable
motion sensors to monitor their health, wellbeing
and behaviours. La Trobe University’s Centre for
Technology Infusion has developed the sensors
to enable farmers to understand and act on an
individual animal’s behaviour, even on very largescale
farms, and lead to significant economic
benefit. La Trobe’s director Dr Aniruddha Desai
says in the past, farmers got to know the habits
of their animals, but that care is now impossible
with large-scale farming, and current systems
such as video monitoring are highly inaccurate.
“The next generation of low cost and low weight
sensors, and the data they provide, can bring the
human factor back into farming,” Desai says. A
study has been conducted in the past three years
on three farms in Victoria, and the next step will
be to bring the new technology to market for a
broader application in the farming industry, project
science leader Dr Markandeya Jois says. “Our
work has shown the potential of such technology
to address important industry problems in
Australia such as high lamb mortality rate in
sheep and improving feed efficiency and pasture
utilisation in both dairy and beef industries,” he
says. Farmer response has been unanimously
positive and the university is now seeking
commercial partners to make the technology real.
INFORMATION PANEL…SHEEP
• Up to 30% of lambs die within 48 hours of birth
in Australia
• Lamb mortality is particularly high in lambs born
to Merino ewes, known for their poor mothering
• Not only are premature deaths a preventative
cost and animal welfare issue, they also disturb
breeding programmes – the new technology
will allow farmers to breed on wool quality and
mothering instincts
• The technology will show farmers how physically
close together ewes and offspring are, so they
can choose to breed top mothers
• Farmers can also identify quickly which lamb
belongs to which ewe.
INFORMATION PANEL…COWS
• Victoria has one million cows producing six billion
litres of raw milk annually, and 3.5 million beef
cattle
• Analysing cows with sensors shows their behaviours
such as biting, chewing and ruminating,
and can correlate with growth and health metrics
• Poor growth of beef cattle during winter can give
farmers the chance to intervene
• Smart sensors can enable farmers to optimise
the amount of grain fed to individual cows eating
grass in paddocks, lowering costs.
AUSSIE ANIMAL FITBIT
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