Many and perhaps most livestock operations still require physical labour and manual record-keeping for handling equipment and processing cattle.
While head gates, squeeze chutes, gates, alleys and tubs have become more advanced in their operation, some human strength, exertion and neural competence are still required for their manipulation. But one company says that may change.
“We’ve always been about improved individual animal management,” says Kurt Chellberg, North American market manager for Te Pari, a New Zealand-based cattle and sheep handling equipment company. “While many producers still use pen and paper next to the chute, risking the loss of all their data to countless unfortunate events, our machine learning and artificial intelligence technology provides them with the tools to manage their cattle easier in a physical sense and have their information based on real data rather than guesswork.”
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Te Pari is a family-owned business renowned for its leading-edge handling hardware and solutions. Australia and the U.K. host company offices, while Burnsville, Minnesota serves as the North American headquarters.
Automated identification
Chellberg says while automated or remote-controlled squeeze chutes and gates aren’t new, Te Pari recently released Taurus, a significantly more advanced system. This auto-sorting chute uses laser beams and sensors to detect cattle entering the chute and responds by opening and closing the entry gate. After holding the animals for an electronic ear tag identification, a weigh cycle and data recording, it automatically releases them while simultaneously manipulating exit gates to divert them to a desired pen. All data is collected and uploaded to the Cloud for access from any smartphone or computer. The system then resets itself for the next animal.
“It’s set up to operate on its own,” Chellberg says. “Our machine is fully automatic, weighing and recording data points before sending animals on their way. It is programmable to sort by RFID or any other electronic identification tag with a range of parameters including weight, sex, breeds, colors, and breeding groups.”
He speculates that on a farm where cattle move with natural flow, a single worker could sort anywhere from 200 to 300 head per hour.
Machine learning and AI
“Our head gate is controlled either remotely or at the chute dashboard. If the user needs to jump in and interrupt the automatic cycle to treat or perform a procedure on a specific individual, it’s a simple transition to apply the manual controls,” says Chellberg.
He believes the system is well worth the investment,as every data point on an animal is tracked, making management decisions more accurate than ever. Details such as age, origin, travel and weight history, treatment information and performance levels are available to assist the decision-making process.
“Owners get the answers they need,” Chellberg says. “They know whether an animal is gaining or losing weight, or if it has been treated repeatedly for BRD or parasite control. It’s incredible what can be learned and done with reliable data.”
Future cattle handling impacted by automation
Te Pari’s automated handling equipment, including the Taurus, is available in North America after recently being demonstrated at a Tulsa, Oklahoma farm show. Chellberg says they have a busy event schedule planned for 2023, including an outdoor appearance in Woodstock, Ontario to promote their technology and demonstrate it to livestock owners.
“Currently, we have four units on the ground in the U.S. installed and working in cattle operations,” he says. “Reception to our equipment has been incredible when it’s seen in action. People have been blown away by its capabilities.”
Chellberg believes that in the future, machine learning and artificial intelligence will expand further into the livestock-handling sector as labour shortages grow and the demand for individual data and information increases. Consumers will insist on knowing exactly where their beef is coming from and how it has been raised. Subsequently, owners will be forced to accomplish more with reduced labour units, plus provide the additional required information.
“We’ve got to keep abreast and make our systems smarter and easier to operate,” he says. “Technology drives improvement. Ease of handling develops, plus data tracking and source verification move chute side. The minute we take manual data recording out of the equation and automate the process, it becomes much more consistent, accurate, and useful. Plus, it’s less prone to human error.”
