R&D update
Electronic sheep farming
Farmers may soon be able to select out animals based on weight, age, sex or wool thickness, using automated gates, all at the touch of a button, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.
New technology announced at the Australian ‘Wool Meets Meat’ Conference, organised by the Sheep Co-operative Research Centre, may revolutionise the way sheep are handled – significantly reducing the workload of farmers and enhancing the welfare of sheep.
The technology works through a scanner and scales which sheep walk over.
The measurements taken provide daily information about the condition of each animal. It shows which animals are losing condition, and can let a farmer know which lambs are fat enough to go to market, or if a water trough is running low. At shearing time it can assist in grouping sheep according to wool quality. It can also indicate which sheep have wool fine enough to be protected by jackets.
It may even be possible in the future to use an ‘e-nose’ to detect flystrike.
Research leader Dr Kevin Atkins, from the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries is positive about this new form of ‘e-farming’. He believes e-sheep technology will lift farm productivity because farmers will be able to cater to every animal individually and avoid having to go out into the paddocks every day to inspect the flock.
A sheep farmer called Tony Thompson has been trialling e-sheep for 15 months.
“I think it can significantly reduce the amount of work farmers have got to do. We are looking at completely changing the way we manage stock — going from subjective to objective management,” Mr Thompson said.
E-sheep trials at more than 25 properties across Australia involve about 60,000 sheep with electronic ear tags. The tags cost about $2 each and the other equipment such as scanners and scales about $15,000.