Drones

Why More Dairy Farms Are Using Drones to Manage Feed Inventories

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 15:06:47 GMT

In the rapidly evolving world of agriculture, technology continues to play an indispensable role in boosting efficiency and accuracy. One such innovation making significant strides in this industry is drone technology. Derek Wawack, an on-farm specialist with Alltech, has been at the forefront of using drone technology to measure feed inventories, helping farmers streamline operations and optimize resources.

Technology and Feed Inventory Management
Wawack’s journey with Alltech spans nearly 15 years, focusing on forage management and feed quality. From the beginning, accurate feed inventory management has been essential. For the past eight years, Wawack and his team have employed drone technology coupled with cloud computing to accurately measure stored forages and feedstuffs.

“Prior to that, we were using scales, chopper numbers, estimating shrinkages, tape measures, wheel measurers, lasers, footsteps and spray paint — about everything to guess what was in forage piles,” he says.

(Provided Photo)

Though various technologies like GIS, GPS, and satellite imagery were explored, drones emerged as the most successful tool for feed inventory management.

“Our drones have been the most successful,” Wawack says, noting they have been told by many customers how accurate they get to run-out dates year after year.

Drone-Assisted Measurement Process
Wawack explains the process as starting with an application to lay out a flight plan for the drone, ensuring specific parameters are set for optimal accuracy. The drone then autonomously flies the predetermined route, captures images and lands. These images are subsequently stitched together in a cloud application to create a comprehensive 3D map of the feed pad. By annotating pile locations and understanding floor dynamics, they calculate cubic volume, dry matter and density to determine tonnage. Measurements typically occur annually after silage season, but some farms opt for more frequent assessments, especially during challenging years.

“Sizes of farms don’t matter too much. As long as there is a bunker or pile of a feedstuff for us to measure, we are able to work with them,” he says. “The program can’t measure vertical silos or bags necessarily. With bags, though, we can measure the lengths and use the bag calculators to get a close tonnage if needed. The best and most accurate measurements are on drive-over piles, and both open- and closed-ended bunkers.”

Inventory Data in Dairy Farming
The data collected from drones serves various purposes on dairy farms. It aids in planning the necessary tonnage for feeding, assessing harvested tonnage and influencing decisions related to future harvests and crop planning.

“Each farm utilizes the information differently, but many use it to plan for tons needed or tons that can be fed for the year,” he says. “The farms and nutritionists seem to use this information the most for planning, but sometimes bankers and insurance companies like to see how much is there too.”

The Superiority of Drone Technology
Wawack advocates for the widespread adoption of drone technology for feed inventory management. Unlike traditional scales, which are susceptible to human error, drones account for the complex geometries and variations of feed piles, offering a precise measurement every time. This ability to accurately cater to the complexities of piled feed makes drones a preferred method over older techniques.

“By measuring all the feedstuffs at once in a pile, and multiple times throughout the feed out, it allows [the farmer] to better manage and understand shrinkage loses. Scales are great, but how often are trucks missed and calculations done wrong? Guessing on shrinkage once stored is a total guess and every year will be different,” he says.

As drone technology continues to evolve, it’s poised to transform how dairy farms manage their feed inventories, optimizing efficiency and productivity across the industry.

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Drones Hone in on Silage Inventories

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 17:54:30 GMT

A high-tech inventory assessment program developed for the stone aggregate business is now being used to help dairies assess forage inventories.

Just like quarries, most large dairies have massive stockpiles of resources in inventory, but in the form of silage piles and bunkers versus sand and gravel. Harrison Hobart, On-Farm Specialist for Alltech, Inc., uses the same drone-driven computer model as quarries to serve his customers to accurately measure how much silage they have on hand.

Hobart has an animal science and nutrition background, but also is a licensed drone operator. He shared with the audience of a recent “ Technology Dairy Tuesday ” webinar from the Cornell PRO-DAIRY program that he has helped manage Alltech’s Aerial Inventory Program for about two years.

He said the inventory assessment program uses cloud-based software that can be accessed via cellphone or computer, and interfaced with his drone. A cellphone app is linked to the controller that runs the drone on the farm. The program uses “photogrammetry” – using images for measuring – to assess volume of inventory.

Viewing a silage pile from many different angles, combined with GPS data on each individual picture, allows him to “stitch” hundreds of pictures together to create a 3-D model.

“The software provider says system can perform volume calculations at an accuracy rate within 1-2% compared to ground-based laser measurements,” shared Hobart.

While the actual volume measurement is very precise, silage does not have consistent moisture content or packing density. That’s where potential for variation occurs, requiring additional data to ultimately calculate actual tonnage.

Hobart adopts a mantra of, “don’t guess – test,” when it comes to this step. He said book values for density and dry matter can vary significantly among individual farms and silage crops. That’s why he takes multiple core samples – whenever it is safe to do so – from at least 5-6 locations across a silage face to measure density and dry matter.

“I’ve measured average densities over the past two years in corn silage drive-over piles as low as 12 pounds of dry matter per cubic foot and as high as 24,” he stated. “If I had put an average density of 16 on either one of those piles, my tonnage estimate would have been off by quite a bit.”

He evaluates each core sample for weight and dry matter, noting the accuracy advantage of handling those samples individually. “I’ve especially noticed that in haylage piles where we have several cuttings piled on each other, those dry matters can vary considerably,” said Hobart. “I’ve seen a 15-foot-wide by 10-foot-tall pile with four cuttings all stacked together, and dry matters ranging from 25 to 55%.”

Hobart said drive-over piles are ideal for the drone-based volume estimation, while closed-end bunkers, overhangs, sloping dirt walls, and overlapping piles require him to make manual adjustments in the program to improve volume accuracy. Then, armed with volume, density, and dry-matter data, he is able to generate customer reports on dry matter and as-fed tons for each pile or bunker.

As a rule, Hobart advises customers the reports should be accurate within about two weeks of feed out. Again, assessment of piles typically will be more precise than bunkers. In some cases, his pile estimates have been dialed in as close as within a day of feed out.

In addition to helping customers know how much feed they have available and how long it should last, Hobart is able to help farms determine feed loss due to fermentation and shrink by taking a baseline reading of the fresh pile or bunker, measuring it again after it has been fed out for several weeks, and comparing the difference to the farm’s feed-out records.

Hobart said the data is also valuable from a farm accounting perspective. Customers routinely share the information with their bankers to assess the value of feed on hand as part of their net worth statements, and some have used it for forage sales and farm ownership transitions.

One thing Hobart has not done with the technology – but would like to – is to evaluate a fresh pile or bunker at harvest and again several weeks later, before any of it is fed. Industry estimates indicate that up to 10% of silage volume is lost strictly to fermentation. “It would be interesting to evaluate the loss purely from fermentation, and it would be very easy to do,” said Hobart.

For more on dairy technology, read:

Responding to Uninvited Drones Over Livestock

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:42:36 GMT

Source: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Q: Can a rancher, feedlot or dairy legally shoot down a drone flying over its operation? Shared by Dee Griffin DVM, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Great Plains Veterinary Education Center

A: No, says Wayne Woldt, associate professor in the UNL Department of Biological Systems Engineering, who is researching the use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) and has a federal Certificate of Authorization to use them in his research. It’s illegal to shoot down any aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are aircraft regulated by the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA).

UAVs or Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), often called drones, can fly over an area if they are within line of sight of the operator and being operated for non-commercial, hobby purposes. If a producer has a problem with a drone flying over an operation and disturbing the livestock, he or she should call the appropriate authorities (police, sheriff’s department, or FAA) and video record and document the UAV flight, Woldt said. In addition, if the producer can identify the drone operator to the authorities, it would be very helpful. This will generally involve locating the pilot of the drone, recording any additional information such as vehicle license plates, without confronting the operator.

The FAA administers the air space from the ground surface (soil, grass, top of building) upward. If it finds there is a problem, it can rule that the UAV was in violation due to careless and reckless operation and issue a fine or other penalty. Well-equipped UAV systems with cameras and sensors can cost from $7,500 to $40,000 or more, creating a substantial loss if destroyed.

Woldt says concerns often are based on a need for safety and potential infringements of property and privacy. The former is addressed by federal aviation regulations, while property and privacy concerns are addressed by civil and perhaps even criminal law. Someone can fly a UAV equipped with a camera over a neighbor’s backyard and be adhering to aviation law, but infringing on someone’s personal privacy. It gets back to one’s expectation of privacy in different settings, Woldt said. If a person feels that their privacy has been infringed upon, then the same recommendation applies — contact appropriate authorities with as much information about the UAV as can be obtained, without confrontation.

Landowners can take steps to create a no-fly zone over their property by documenting their preferences at https://www.noflyzone.org/ . The No Fly Zone organization works with manufacturers and UAV software developers. While it cannot guarantee that individual no-fly zones will be respected, it will provide the information to leading manufacturers, who can incorporate these areas into their software.

Proposed Changes to UAV Regulations

Earlier this month the FAA released a set of proposed regulations to more fully integrate UAS into the National Air Space. When approved, these regulations would open the door to much wider UAS use, including for a breadth of possible agricultural applications. For more information on the proposed FAA regulations, and to provide comments to the FAA on the regulations, see:

DOT and FAA Propose New Rules for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems — FAA News Release (2/15)
FAA Overview of Proposed UAS Regulations
Operation and Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems — Proposed Rules and Comment Period until April 24, 2015
Know Before You Fly – Federal and industry educational campaign for UAS operators