Communications of the ACM
New Zealand Farmers Have New Tool for Herding Sheep: Drones That Bark Like Dogs
In New Zealand, farmers are using drones to herd and monitor livestock.
Credit: Keith Bedford/Bloomberg News
New Zealand farmers are using drones to herd livestock, with some capable of emitting barks like dogs.
One drone, the DJI Mavic Enterprise, can record sounds and play them over a loudspeaker, allowing the machine to mimic its canine counterparts.
Shepherd Corey Lambeth said cows are less resistant to drones than to actual dogs, which means the machines move livestock faster, with less stress.
The drones also let farmers monitor their land remotely, tracking water and feed levels, and checking on livestock health without upsetting the animals.
Said farmer Jason Rentoul, "Being a hilly farm where a lot of stuff is done on foot, the drones really saved a lot of man-hours. The drone does the higher bits that you can't see [from the ground], and you would [otherwise] have to walk half an hour to go and have a look and then go, 'Oh, there was no sheep there.'"
From The Washington Post
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Abstracts Copyright © 2019 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
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