Assess

the drone and camera models adapted to different grassland-based cattle and sheep systems.

Create

an inventory of different routines and uses of drones according to the systems and technologies and provide appropriate guidelines.

Assess

the impact of using drones for livestock monitoring, such as time-saving, labour decrease, decision planning, etc.

Assess

other socio-economic and environmental impacts.

Livestock monitoring

The scope of this UC3 is to evaluate the risks and the advantages to exploit drones for cattle and sheep monitoring in grassland-based systems, leading to the improvement of the life quality of the farmers. Based on existing and recent UAVs technologies, they will be deployed in 2 pilot areas (farms) including 2 species and 3 types of grasslands. Specifically, the first pilot area concerns a beef cattle herd in pastures low-lands, whereas the second pilot area involves a sheep flock in a pastoral system within 3 types of grasslands (low-lands pastures, woody rangelands, summer mountain rangelands). The UAVs (drones) will be deployed as an “eye-in-the-sky” service, allowing farmers and sheepherders to monitor their livestock with less effort. Furthermore, the available information obtained with the deployment of drones provide a significantly larger variety of parameters for the livestock, in comparison with the conventional ground inspections, such as the precise detection of the number and position of animals, their access to water and their health and welfare levels. The main target of UC3 is not the replacement of farmers with UAVs, but to facilitate the livestock monitoring, decreasing the required effort from the farmers and enhancing the efficiency of the overall livestock activity.

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Technical Requirements

Pilot & Test Area Farm A

Area: Château, France

46.404181038319415, 4.653059606837395

Three groups of plots (from top to bottom: 70 ha, 39 ha, 39 ha)

Pilot & Test Area Farm B

Area: Le Chaffaut-Saint-Jurson, France

44.031218 , 6.135893

2 main areas for daily monitoring cattle in winter

  • MAVIC 3 Enterprise from DJI ; MAVIC 3 Thermal from DJI ; Mini 3 Pro from DJI
  • RGB camera
  • RGB camera with powerful zoom (x56)
  • Thermal caméra

Methodology

All methodologies involved in UC3 are mainly related to the evaluation of farmers’ activities while monitoring the livestock in grasslands. Initially, a detailed record of farmers’ tasks will be assessed, in order to extract necessary information about their specific requirements during the livestock monitoring. The outcomes of this procedure will be updated during the year, adjusting to each season, and used as a standard reference for the farmers’ typical activities. Finally, drones will be deployed to perform these reference activities and the advantages of their usage for livestock monitoring will be evaluated.