Pasture grazing enjoys widespread social acceptance and, despite its limitations, is practiced for many reasons. However, many of its advantages have a direct counterweight. While the animals' ability to graze fresh grass is optimal in terms of labor and resource utilization, grazing is time-consuming, limiting feed intake and thus productivity . The animals' freedom to roam the landscape is beneficial for various reasons, but this movement also consumes energy and further limits performance.
The MovingCattle project focuses on the movement of grazing animals in Alpine pastures. The primary objective is to record the movement vectors (trajectories) of as many animals as possible at high temporal resolution. In addition to distance traveled, the elevation gain is of particular importance. Exemplary heart rate measurements document the animals' biological activity on the pasture. It may also be possible to detect the effects of daily temperature.
During the summer months of 2025 and 2026, young cattle and dairy cows, as well as goats, will be fitted with high-resolution GPS collars . Systems that transmit their data to an internet server via a GSM modem, as well as local LoRaWAN solutions, will be used. Existing international expertise will be drawn upon to assess the additional workload.
The project's outcome is an assessment of the additional workload for animals under different grazing systems. The goal is to integrate the findings into practical grazing management.
