As demand for sustainable farming practices rises, pasture-based dairy herds are expanding globally. Precision dairy technologies are increasingly valuable to grazing dairy farms, providing critical data on animal welfare and improving operational efficiency while reducing costs. These technologies, including wearable monitors, capture details on activity, rumination, and grazing behavior in pasture settings, showing strong correlations with visual observations for rumination and eating behaviors. However, recording activity precisely remains challenging.
Wearable devices can reliably detect when cows are grazing, yet determining pasture intake—such as bite rate and size—remains complex due to variations in grass height. Accurate tracking of grazing behavior is essential to pasture-based systems, as healthy, productive pastures depend on well-measured forage biomass. Yet, few farms currently utilize technology to measure available forage. Tools like satellite-based vegetation indexes and electronic rising plate meters offer promising solutions for gauging forage biomass, allowing farmers to optimize grazing practices.
Future advancements could further transform pasture management with virtual fencing, drones to monitor animal health and forage availability, and autonomous vehicles for herding and weed control. For more information, read the full article here.
