Is augmented reality the future of farming?
Imagine a farmer being able to tell a paddock’s pasture cover and dry matter content just by looking at it, or accessing information about a cow’s body condition score in the same way.
If you bring a drone up slowly on cattle you can observe them, but once you chase them with drones they don't forget, says Dr Temple Grandin.
You can observe cattle with drones, and you can handle them with drones, "but you're probably going to have a bad time trying to do both," she says.
"Let's say I wanted to look at cattle with drones and I also wanted to chase cattle with drones. I would need different drones with different sounds. So they might learn that one brand of drone is ok but the other brand with a different sound is bad.
"I would want to get them used to being observed with drones first before I'd start chasing them with drones. If you just get in there and start chasing first, they are going to be afraid of all drones. You aren't going to be able to observe them; they will run away from them."
Grandin says she has seen a video of a drone flown high above cattle, then moved over and slowly lowered down. The cattle just looked up at it.
"Make sure at the beginning that your cattle don't have a scary experience with a drone because then they will be scared of all drones. The initial experience should be just observing them with it; then if I wanted to chase them I'd never use the 'good' drone I initially trained them with."
A chase drone needs to look very different from the observing drone. "I'd get another one that was the 'bad' one and I might tie a flag or ribbons or something to the back of it to make it look even more different."
New Zealand dairy processors are welcoming the Government’s commitment to continuing to push for Canada to honour its trade commitments.
An educational programme, set up by Beef + Land New Zealand, to connect farmers virtually with primary and intermediate school students has reported the successful completion of its second year.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has welcomed a resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to declare 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer.
Waikato herd health veterinarian Katrina Roberts is the 2024 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.