11–20 of 72 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems easier to put a magnet in every cow than to comb every pasture, several times a year.
Seems easier, sure - but one modestly-robust drone, maybe a sort of lawnmower with caterpillar tracks, could happily roam around the pasture permanently, picking up ferrous debris and taking it back to a drop-off point for recycling.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems easier, sure - but one modestly-robust drone, maybe a sort of lawnmower with caterpillar tracks, could happily roam around the pasture permanently, picking up ferrous debris and taking it back to a drop-off point for recycling.
Seems was a polite way of saying is . Even with a modestly-robust drone, there will be: - breakdowns - fuel costs (electrical or otherwise) - the need to run the task repeatedly , dealing with varying terrain and grazing cattle I'm as big a fan of drones and automation as the next guy, but it really is much simpler to just stick a magnet in every cow.
...it really is much simpler to just stick a magnet in every cow.
Essentially what I'm envisaging is an outdoor Roomba that just gets left to do its own thing until it needs human assistance. Arable farming - at least at the larger end of the scale - is getting pretty comfortable with drone equipment, with driverless combine harvesters guided by GPS and similar things; livestock farmers are not going to be averse to it either (not least because farmers, in my experience, really dig flashy toys! :) ).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems easier, sure - but one modestly-robust drone, maybe a sort of lawnmower with caterpillar tracks, could happily roam around the pasture permanently, picking up ferrous debris and taking it back to a drop-off point for recycling.
I know, I'll use a drone! Now the cows are eating drone parts too!
Alternatively, it could maybe shout "GO AWAY COWS" at random intervals.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems was a polite way of saying is . Even with a modestly-robust drone, there will be: - breakdowns - fuel costs (electrical or otherwise) - the need to run the task repeatedly , dealing with varying terrain and grazing cattle I'm as big a fan of drones and automation as the next guy, but it really is much simpler to just stick a magnet in every cow.
...it really is much simpler to just stick a magnet in every cow. Is it though? If you have twenty cows, sure, I can believe that twenty magnets are simple and cheap - but what about 200? 2,000? And what happens when one of your cows turns out to have a larger than usual pyloric sphincter, and the magnet gets into its intestines? Or a wider than standard trachea, leading to it regurgitating the magnet when it tries t…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems easier, sure - but one modestly-robust drone, maybe a sort of lawnmower with caterpillar tracks, could happily roam around the pasture permanently, picking up ferrous debris and taking it back to a drop-off point for recycling.
Seems was a polite way of saying is . Even with a modestly-robust drone, there will be: - breakdowns - fuel costs (electrical or otherwise) - the need to run the task repeatedly , dealing with varying terrain and grazing cattle I'm as big a fan of drones and automation as the next guy, but it really is much simpler to just stick a magnet in every cow.
From the tiny amout of reading I've done cows eat hardware - nails, screws, and bits of wire that are accidentally left in feed troughs, or bits of wire from tires that are left in fields for some feed product.
Many cases of hardware disease would be a oided if there was some concentration on keeping those safe for cattle.
But maybe I'm guilty of armchair farming.
What's the procedure to "deliver" the magnet? Surgery? Sedation?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems easier to put a magnet in every cow than to comb every pasture, several times a year.
Seems easier, sure - but one modestly-robust drone, maybe a sort of lawnmower with caterpillar tracks, could happily roam around the pasture permanently, picking up ferrous debris and taking it back to a drop-off point for recycling.
This probably isn't economically feasible yet, but I'm sure we'll see something like this in the next decade or two. And for that matter, such a drone could be cutting the grass or doing other similar jobs.