32
Drones, drones on the range TRU awarded grant to further studies on drones and ranching
by TOM WALKER
KAMLOOPS – You’ve heard it before. “If god had wanted me to walk, he wouldn’t have created horses.” Well, ranchers might not be flying themselves but they may be flying unmanned aerial vehicles or drones across their range, thanks to the work of BC and Alberta researchers. Dr. John Church of
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops, in partnership with Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Kingsclere Ranch in Golden, has been awarded a $664,000 grant to continue his research into using drones in the cattle ranching industry.
“As Innovation Chair in Cattle Industry Sustainability, my job is to find ways to help
ranchers save time and money,” says Church. “If I can help ranchers better manage their two biggest assets – their herd and their rangeland – that will go a long way.” “The idea came to me in 2013 watching some kids flying a drone on campus. The drone had a camera and the kids could see what the drone could see. I asked myself, ‘How could we use that in ranching?’”
The answer is that drones can be used in a variety of ways. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) grant will allow the group to expand the drone techniques they have been developing over the last three years. “The drone is simply an aerial platform,” Church points out. “When we put a camera on that platform, we can do a multitude of common ranch work quickly and from a central point.” Church says ranchers can easily use a drone to check fence lines or irrigation equipment.
Drone vs quad 2003 JOHN DEERE 8120 POWERSHIFT, 540/1000 PTO $65,000
“One of my student researchers had a fun race recently between a drone and a quad to go to the end of the field and check a watering trough,” Church chuckles. “At
80 km an hour, the drone was back at the operator’s feet before the quad rider had made it to the trough.” Church has helped his ranching partner, Jeff Braisher at Kingsclere Ranch, use a drone to herd up to 200 cow calf pairs 10 kilometers. “They don’t like the wind that the props kick out,” he explains. “And the drone can go back and forth across the field so quickly, it can easily nudge the stragglers along. The ranch dogs might be facing retirement.”
Line of sight regs
Even with the three kilometer range allowed under “line of sight” regulations from Transport Canada, drones can be used to check on stock in less accessible terrain. “Some ranchers use
helicopters to go out and find those cows that don’t come off the range in the fall, but that can cost $1,500 an hour so they can’t fly for very long,” Church says. “For $1,600, they can buy a Phantom 4 drone at Best Buy that comes with a camera.”
Having an “eye in the sky” to extend the producer’s vision is one thing, Church points out, but the real expansion of the technology comes when you add more
HARVEST GREAT VALUE! 2004 JOHN DEERE 6715
116 HP, FRESH PAINT, DUAL PTO $27,500
CASE 2290 1980, 128 HP, CAB, NO 3 PT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,500 CASE 2090 1982, 108 HP, CAB, 3PT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,500 NH 3045 45 HP, 4X4, CAB, LDR, LIKE NEW ONLY 215 HOURS . . . . . . 36,500 MF 5613 2015, 100 PTO HP, CAB, 4X4, 16X16 POWERSHIFT TRANS, MF946 LDR, ONLY 345 HRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107,500 JD 6420 2005, 90 HP, CAB, 4X4, SHUTTLE, ONLY 1530 HRS
. . . . . . 63,500 1999 JOHN DEERE 6410
W/ JD 640 LOADER, POWER QUAD W/ REVERSER $25,300
JD 4650 1985, 165 HP, CAB, 4X4, 3PT, POWERSHIFT . . . . . . . . . . . . 47,500 JD 3130 80 HP, 2X4, CANOPY, JD 148 LOADER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13,500 NH 1412 1999, 10’4” CUT, FLAIL CONDITIONER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,900 CASE IH DC102 2010, 10’4” CUT, ONLY 80 ACRES USE . . . . . . . . . . 25,900 NH 488 1999, 9’2” CUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,800 CASE IH 8455 4’X5’, TWINE TIE, C/W GATHER WHEELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,900 CASE IH 8465 5’X6’, TWINE TIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,900 NH 1037 104 BALE, 3 WIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,500 VERMEER 554 XL 4’X5’ SILAGE SPECIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,800 BRANDT VSF BALE PROCESSOR C/W BIG SQUARE BALE KIT . . . . . . . . . . 8,900 ARTEX 14’ HIGH DUMP WAGON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,500
NOBLE 1996 JOHN DEERE 5400
W/JD 540 LOADER, 5322 HOURS $19,995
www.tjequipmentllc.com 360-815-1597LYNDEN, WA
ALL PRICES IN US FUNDS TRACTOR & EQUIPMENT LTD.
KAMLOOPS 580 Chilcotin Road 250/851-3101 TOLL FREE 1-888-851-3101
ARMSTRONG
4193 Noble Road 250/546-3141
TOLL FREE 1-800-661-3141
www.nobletractor.com
Country Life in BC • October 2016
Thompson Rivers University Cattle Industry Sustainability chair Dr John Church says drones equipped with cameras and new infrared technology are going to at the forefront of what he calls “precision ranching.” He and his partners have just received a sizeable grant to build on the technology. (Tom Walker photo)
sophisticated visual equipment.
“With an infrared camera, we can spot a cow’s heat signal even when they are under the forest canopy,” says Church. The drone can discriminate between a cow and an operating water pump which would also be giving out heat.
“With GPS technology on the drone, we can record the exact location, transfer that to a hand held unit and go out and bring the cow home” “If we have been checking the herd with the infrared and a cow doesn’t move through the day, or the heat signal drops, you’d better go out and check if you have a predator problem,” Church says.
“We could also hover over a feedlot and do the daily count of the animals,” he adds. “And we can take the temperature of an individual animal which will indicate its overall health.”
Mapping rangelands
Dr. David Hill, associate professor of geography at TRU, is using the new infrared technology to map rangelands.
“The measurements from a multi-spectral camera can show the variation in photosynthetic activity across a forage crop for instance,” says Hill. “We hope to be able to connect that with information on crop health, irrigation needs and even
eventually nutrition content. If we apply a treatment, we can go back and see if it is working. We also want to be able to look at, say, the carrying capacity of a field or monitor the spread of knap weed across a pasture.”
Equipment check
A thermal infrared image of a field irrigated with a pivot can indicate possible leaks. Wet areas on the pivot path will show up darker (wetter soil is cooler) and show a need to check the equipment. Church’s collaboration with SAIT involves their cutting edge work with RFID tags that all Canadian cattle must wear for traceability. An antenna on the drone can potentially read a new passive tag from SAIT up to 40 feet away. “We hope that with active tags that contain a solar chip and a battery, we can extend that distance further to three to five kilometers. Then we can ID and locate a cow that’s ill within the herd or feedlot. Or go out and find one on the range.”
Church says, if they can link the tags together through a mesh network, if the drone can find one cow, they can find them all.
“I’m calling this precision ranching. Precision
agriculture is going like fire on the prairies to manage the crops,” Church points out. “We are the first group to go after precision ranching. I know this is the future.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
