Desert pastoral stations are spread over large
areas, which means that the distance between infrastructure (such
as the station house and the cattle yards) can be large. The size
of the properties also means that animals can graze widely across
the landscape, making it difficult to know where they are or to
manage them. The time invested in travelling around a station to
check infrastructure and to muster animals is substantial, yet it
provides no real economic return.
This project has investigated, evaluated and developed technologies
that may help pastoralists overcome the problems of distance. This
research is in line with the 21st Century Pastoralism
project aim of reducing the cost of production or lifting
production.
Early work in the Utilising Technology project investigated how
pastoralists can reduce the cost of monitoring stock water by using
telemetry systems on their stations. This work was fully developed
under the WaterSmart
Pastoralism™ project.
The Utilising Technology project has investigated remote animal
management technologies that try to improve the accuracy and
precision of animal management on pastoral stations. Initially,
commercially available products were tested, but it was found that
they were unsuitable for remote operations in the harsh desert
conditions.
This led to the development of a Remote Livestock Management System
for cattle, capable of collecting data from individual animals,
even in cattle yards a long way from where the station manager is
working. The system uses the electronic animal identification ear
tag which is part of the Australian National Livestock
Identification System (
http://www.mla.com.au/TopicHierarchy/IndustryPrograms/NationalLivestockIdentificationSystem/About+NLIS.htm).
The diagram below outlines the components of the Remote Livestock
Management system.
As the animal leaves the cattle yards it walks over a platform
that collects its weight. This information is used to make a
management decision; an automated gate instantly drafts the animal
into a pen with other animals of the same weight. For the first
time, the pastoralist can now manage individual animals -
it’s an intensive management system in an extensive
production system.
