POTENTIAL FOR REMOTE MONITORING OF CATTLE MOVEMENT TO INDICATE AVAILABLE BIOMASS A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of New England by Jessica Jane Roberts Bachelor of Rural Science (Hons 1) University of New England September 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge and thank the following people for their guidance, support and assistance during my candidature: o My supervisors: Prof David Lamb; Dr Mark Trotter; Prof Geoff Hinch; Dr Greg Falzon; Dr Robin Dobos. Thank you all for the time and effort you contributed to my development. I appreciate and value all that I have learnt in this process. o The PARG, Physics and Rural Properties teams including Claire Edwards, Simon Jasper and Pat Littlefield. Special thanks to Derek Schneider, for your patience and contribution to both field work and assisting me with data analysis. My favourite PhD days were spent in the field and chilling in PARG HQ. o My best PhD Buddy – Amy. Thanks for everything! I would not have made it without you (or Rowdy). o My fellow PhD candidates, especially Rachelle and Amanda. Thank you for your support, guidance, shared commiserations and good times. o My friends (you all know who are), thanks for not giving up on me and reminding me of a life outside of Uni. o My family, thank you for your support, patience, welcome distractions and most of all believing in me. Mum, I am grateful and appreciative of your love and support. Aunty Marian and Uncle Bill, thank you for your support and words of wisdom, both spoken and written. Grandma, thank you for always being there. Dad, thanks for your constant encouragement. o The staff at Lincoln Agritech. Thank you for allowing me the chance to grow in a new environment and supporting me while I completed my thesis. A special thanks to Scott and Armin for keeping me motivated. o The Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information, established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre’s program, for in-kind support through technical assistance. o Meat and Livestock Australia for a technical assistance grant. o Australian Federal Government for an Australian Postgraduate Award. o University of New England for the Strategic Research top-up scholarship. Jessica Roberts i ABSTRACT There is a call for sustainable intensification of agricultural industries to cope with impending challenges to future food demand and production. Beef and sheep meat production in Australia is dominated by grazing production systems, and equates to the largest land use of the country. Pasture utilisation by livestock can be a major limiting factor in grazing production systems, through under- or over-grazing. This thesis aims to identify if spatio-temporal information from livestock tracking devices can be used to understand livestock-biomass interactions in a rotational grazing system. The specific goal was to determine if this spatio-temporal data might be related to pasture characteristics (particularly biomass quantity) and potentially used as an indicator of the state of the pastures being grazed. Cattle were tracked with GPS for detection and monitoring of specific behaviours including, distance moved, time spent grazing, stationary or travelling, spatial dispersion and social dispersion. Behaviours were compared with declining pasture availability, monitored with an active optical sensor. This thesis explores the behaviour of cattle in three grazing situations. In all experiments distance moved and grazing time results were considered normal, although behavioural changes observed in relation to pasture biomass did not always follow the same pattern. Large daily variation was observed in most results, potentially problematic for detecting a response to biomass. Considering only how the monitored behaviours relate to biomass, the most appropriate behaviour metrics investigated in this research were time spent grazing or moving and the proportion of the paddock utilised. In most cases these metrics exhibited simple, quadratic relationships with biomass. In combination with real-time monitoring systems these metrics might easily be monitored and key thresholds could be determined, resulting in management trigger points from the steepness of an incline or decline, or occurrence of a maxima or minima. There is potential to continue this research in a commercial context to determine if these behavioural metrics can be related to the pasture biomass characteristics that are important to producers. If successful, these behaviour metrics could be used to develop an autonomous spatial livestock monitoring (ASLM) systems to assist graziers make decisions that will substantially contribute to the sustainable intensification of red-meat industries across the globe. Jessica Roberts ii DECLARATION I certify that the substance of this thesis has not already been submitted for any degree and is not currently being submitted for any other degree or qualification. I certify that any help received in preparing this thesis and all sources used have been acknowledged in this thesis. Signature Jessica Roberts iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. i Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... ii Declaration ......................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .....................................................................................................................................xiv List of Acronyms ................................................................................................................................xvi CHAPTER 1 – Introduction and Literature Review ................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Grazing Livestock Production Systems.......................................................................................... 3 1.3 The Plant System ........................................................................................................................... 5 1.3.1 Managing Pasture .................................................................................................................. 5 1.3.2 Measuring Pasture ................................................................................................................. 7 1.4 The Animal System ........................................................................................................................ 9 1.4.1 Cattle Behaviour ..................................................................................................................... 9 1.4.2 Observing Livestock Behaviour in Fields .............................................................................. 14 1.4.3 The Use of Spatial Livestock Behavioural Monitoring Tools ................................................ 18 1.5 Summary and Scope of Thesis .................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 2 – Monitoring Cattle Movement and Pasture Biomass Decline: Preliminary Study ... 31 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 31 2.2 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................................... 32 2.2.1 Field Site and Events ............................................................................................................ 32 2.2.2 Weather ............................................................................................................................... 32 2.2.3 The Plant System .................................................................................................................. 32 2.2.4 The Animal System ............................................................................................................... 34 2.3 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 37 2.3.1 The Plant System .................................................................................................................. 37 2.3.2 The Animal System ............................................................................................................... 39 2.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 44 2.4.1 The Plant System .................................................................................................................. 44 2.4.2 The Animal System ............................................................................................................... 45 2.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 48 CHAPTER 3 – Cattle Behaviour in Relation to