Use of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle — Mounted Video Camera to Assess Feeding Behavior of Raramuri Criollo Cows☆

ABSTRACT We determined the feasibility of using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) video monitoring to predict intake of discrete food items of rangeland-raised Raramuri Criollo non-nursing beef cows. Thirty-five cows were released into a 405-m2 rectangular dry lot, either in pairs (pilot tests) or individually (experiment tests), that contained 12 food bowls arranged in an open semicircle and placed approximately 1 m apart. Four bowls containing either long alfalfa hay (AH, 200 g), long Sudangrass hay (SH, 200 g), or cottonseed cake (CC, 50 g) were alternated (CC, AH, SH) using the same sequence in all tests. Video footage of all arena tests was acquired with a three dimensional Robotics Y6 Multi-copter fitted with a two-axis brushless gimbal and a GoPro Hero 3 Silver Digital Camera. Video files were processed to extract a total of 4 893 two-second-interval still images that were viewed to determine cow feeding activity. Cows that were naïve to the sound of the UAV fed as frequently (P > 0.05) as their adapted counterparts during 12-min pilot tests. Significant positive correlations (r=0.68-0.91; P < 0.05) between video-derived feeding frequency estimates and amount of AH, SH, and CC consumed per bowl were observed during the individual 4-min experiment tests. Our results suggest that UAV video monitoring could be a useful tool to monitor feeding behavior of rangeland cows.

[1]  GEORGE PIERCE JONES,et al.  An Assessment of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Wildlife Research , 2006 .

[2]  Paul A. Iaizzo,et al.  Bears Show a Physiological but Limited Behavioral Response to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles , 2015, Current Biology.

[3]  N. T. Hobbs,et al.  Gain functions for large herbivores: tests of alternative models , 2005 .

[4]  Srikanth Saripalli,et al.  Ecohydrology with unmanned aerial vehicles , 2014 .

[5]  P. Lancaster,et al.  Relationship between feeding behavior and residual feed intake in growing Brangus heifers. , 2009, Journal of animal science.

[6]  S. Wilson,et al.  Behavioral sampling techniques for feedlot cattle. , 2001, Journal of animal science.

[7]  Emma Marris,et al.  Drones in science: Fly, and bring me data , 2013, Nature.

[8]  J Morrow-Tesch,et al.  A video data base system for studying animal behavior. , 1998 .

[9]  C. Gortázar,et al.  Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Studying Spatial Abundance of Ungulates: Relevance to Spatial Epidemiology , 2014, PloS one.

[10]  David Grémillet,et al.  Approaching birds with drones: first experiments and ethical guidelines , 2015, Biology Letters.

[11]  Mark A. Ditmer,et al.  Barriers to adding UAVs to the ecologist's toolbox , 2015 .

[12]  Albert Rango,et al.  The Utilization of Historical Data and Geospatial Technology Advances at the Jornada Experimental Range to Support Western America Ranching Culture , 2011, Remote. Sens..

[13]  A. Rango,et al.  UAS remote sensing missions for rangeland applications , 2011 .

[14]  L O Tedeschi,et al.  Validation of a system for monitoring feeding behavior in beef cattle. , 2011, Journal of animal science.

[15]  Philippe Bouché,et al.  Unmanned Aerial Survey of Elephants , 2013, PloS one.

[16]  Karen Anderson,et al.  Lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles will revolutionize spatial ecology , 2013 .

[17]  M. Mulero-Pázmány,et al.  Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems as a Rhinoceros Anti-Poaching Tool in Africa , 2014, PloS one.

[18]  James P. S. Neel,et al.  Original papers: Acoustic monitoring system to quantify ingestive behavior of free-grazing cattle , 2011 .

[19]  Albert Rango,et al.  Multispectral Remote Sensing from Unmanned Aircraft: Image Processing Workflows and Applications for Rangeland Environments , 2011, Remote. Sens..

[20]  Christine Laney,et al.  Emerging technological and cultural shifts advancing drylands research and management , 2015 .

[21]  P. Enderlein,et al.  A protocol for the aerial survey of penguin colonies using UAVs1 , 2015 .

[22]  Amots Hetzroni,et al.  Automatic recognition of jaw movements in free-ranging cattle, goats and sheep, using acoustic monitoring ☆ , 2013 .