Automated monitoring of foraging behaviour in free ranging sheep grazing a biodiverse pasture

Abstract

Little is currently known about the foraging behavior of free ranging animals, particularly in biodiverse pastures. This is despite the suggestion of recent work that animals grazing on such pastures tend to produce better quality meat. This paper presents a bespoke Wireless Sensor Network system designed to be mounted on grazing animals and collect movement information which is then coded with reference to human observations. In doing this it has been possible to calibrate the bespoke system such that, in realtime, the system can be used to deduce animal behavior (e.g. resting, grazing, foraging, etc.) remotely. When coupled with future GPS-free positional information, this system will provide valuable information for the UK agricultural industry, in addition to overcoming the challenges faced by many commercial systems which rely on energy intensive GPS technology.