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Extensive livestock farming is the new frontier for drones

Due to the innovation of the drones’ properties, including long-distance range, obstacle sensors and high-definition cameras, daily use of the drones in the cattle farm management has increased.

Facilitating the work of the farmers with remote UAV farming 

Extensive livestock farming is a new frontier for the drones. In places like Australia and the United States, farmers are using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), e.g. drones, to monitor sheep and/or cattle herds. Drones embedded with the thermal cameras can spot animals from miles away and thereby help farmers perform routine herd checks faster. Farmers also use drones to perform inspection on their holdings by, for example, checking the fences remotely or by checking the feed supplies for their animals. Substituting traditional helicopters and the land vehicles with the drones allows farmers to make their work cost effective by saving both time and money.

At the moment, true trailblazers are taking the use of drones to the next level by even using them to move cattle from one place to another. The main difficulty here lays in getting animals acquainted with the presence of drones. The aspect of intimidation and the noise help in getting the herd to move. However, cattle and sheep may be too scared of the drones, and therefore in a need of a training on how to react properly.

Automated herding

What is there to expect in the future? Some experts are even eyeing a full automation. In the distant future, they envision autonomous flights, tracking  and object avoiding technologies that will enable the drones to herd the cattle and the sheep autonomously, e.g. without a human control.

Click here to learn more about how farmers are using drones to guide their herds!

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