5 ms·
”cows can be trained to navigate using the collar within 4-5 days” Umm, that sounds… labor intensive?
by Torkel 5y ago
”cows can be trained to navigate using the collar within 4-5 days”
Umm, that sounds… labor intensive?
- ska 5y agoprobably not when compared to > allows farmers to save 20-40 hours per week and increase pasture utilization by up to 10%.
- tuatoru 5y agoQuite likely you only need to train the leaders in each herd of 100 - 200. The leaders will keep the rest in line.
- jessaustin 5y agoCattle have individual personalities. Some like to stay centered within the herd, and some prefer to be hundreds of yards away. When left to find their own way in a large enclosure, my cattle typically form much smaller groups, like 15-20. This might not matter, if a particular pasture can be protected by controlling the herd's general behavior. If we had this system the first thing to do would be to stop all this shitting on the road!
- dmurray 5y ago> If we had this system the first thing to do would be to stop all this shitting on the road! To not inconvenience drivers and other road users, or to get that precious manure back fertilizing your grass?
- jessaustin 5y agoDefinitely the former, although I suppose the latter would also be an improvement...
- notatoad 5y agodepends what "training" means. it could be as simple as herding the cows as you normally would while also giving them the nagivational instructions from the collar at the same time, and then after 5 days you can start using the collar only.
- strken 5y agoIt's aimed at dairy cows, so they'd be herded in for milking twice a day anyway. Though having said that, the cows on the farms near where I grew up would line themselves up at the gate to be milked, and one farmer would just open the gate while another shooed the stragglers back towards the herd. If this thing is anything less than 100% effective it doesn't seem like it would save much work, since you'd still need someone on a quad bike to deal with the nuisances.