GNSS Tracking of Livestock: Towards Variable Fertilizer Strategies for the Grazing Industry

Abstract

This study reveals the potential for GPS tracking in the grazing industry. By monitoring the locations and movement of livestock, times of peak grazing activity can be identified and these can in turn produce maps of preferred grazing areas, and by examining residency times provide an indication of spatial variability in grazing pressure. A comparison of grazing preference can be made to similarly inferred camping areas to understand the potential redistribution of nutrients within a paddock. This paper examines how simple GPS position records of livestock may be used to create a link in each of the aforementioned concepts with a view to using the data to produce maps of pasture utilisation and provide site specific fertilizer recommendations for livestock farmers.