Precision Agriculture in Grazing Systems

Key Findings: 1) Precision Agriculture in grazing systems is a rapidly evolving field of research and development with significant investments being made from both research agencies and commercial entities. 2) One of the key technologies, the ability to monitor the location and behaviour of livestock is becoming a commercial reality with several real-time monitoring systems currently being trialled. This technology is essentially the "yield monitor" of the grazing industry. 3) The integration of information from soil, plant and animal sensors could lead to a number of potential benefits including the monitoring and management of spatial variability in grazing pressure, site specific nutrient management strategies, more precise timing of grazing rotations and better understanding of the impacts of livestock in mixed farming systems. 4) The benefits of PA in grazing systems will be limited by the capacity to deal with the large volumes of data being generated by the sensors. Research is required into data management and analysis techniques that will enable producers to glean meaningful information from these systems.