Wednesday, 15 June 2016 18:03

Cows happier not to see you

Written by 

Cows and robots go together: throw in face recognition software (FRS) and it's perfect for their happiness.

Why? Cows are happier when humans aren't around: they see us as predators. "No prey animal ever wants to see a predator," says David Hunt, co-founder of Cainthus, a company digitising agricultural practices. "The less cows see the happier they are. A cow doesn't know what a robot is, so isn't scared of it." Digital farms can include robots, but Cainthus has also created FRS that identifies cows so that farmers can identify potential problems early. With 1.4 billion cows on the planet, this technology can help on many farms -- the 'digital dairy' concept. Cainthus' FRS will be for sale this August or September, aimed at dairies with 2000 or more cows; it is not for small dairy famers. The 4K camera can identify any cow, solid colored or spotted, since even a solid black cow has variations in its coat.

Featured

Open Country opens butter plant

When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Trump's tariffs

President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on imports into the US is doing good things for global trade, according…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter