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Full-Text Articles in Agriculture

Development Of A Grass Measurement Optimisation Tool To Efficiently Measure Herbage Mass On Grazed Pastures, D. J. Murphy, B. O'Brien, Michael D. Murphy Oct 2020

Development Of A Grass Measurement Optimisation Tool To Efficiently Measure Herbage Mass On Grazed Pastures, D. J. Murphy, B. O'Brien, Michael D. Murphy

Publications

Accurate and efficient estimation of herbage mass is essential for optimising grass utilisation and increasing profit for pasture farming. There is no definitive sampling protocol for grass measurement on Irish pastures. This paper presents the Grass Measurement Optimisation Tool (GMOT), designed to generate measurement protocols that optimise for time and accuracy. The GMOT was designed in the form of a decision support tool that generates interactive paddock maps that guide the farmer on how to optimally measure their pastures in a random stratified manner based on GPS co-ordinates, resulting in accurate non-biased estimations of mean herbage mass. Rising plate meter …


Validation Of An Automated Body Condition Scoring System Using 3d Imaging, Niall O'Leary, Lorenzo Leso, Frank Buckley, Jonathon Kenneally, True North Technologies, Shannon Business Centre, Shannon, Clare, Ireland;, Laurence Shalloo Jun 2020

Validation Of An Automated Body Condition Scoring System Using 3d Imaging, Niall O'Leary, Lorenzo Leso, Frank Buckley, Jonathon Kenneally, True North Technologies, Shannon Business Centre, Shannon, Clare, Ireland;, Laurence Shalloo

Publications

Body condition scores (BCS) measure a cow’s fat reserves and is important for management and research. Manual BCS assessment is subjective, time-consuming, and requires trained personnel. The BodyMat F (BMF, Ingenera SA, Cureglia, Switzerland) is an automated body condition scoring system using a 3D sensor to estimate BCS. This study assesses the BMF. One hundred and three Holstein Friesian cows were assessed by the BMF and two assessors throughout a lactation. The BMF output is in the 0–5 scale commonly used in France. We develop and report the first equation to convert these scores to the 1–5 scale used by …