Improving animal welfare and employee safety—that’s the top two goals driving the creation of the industry’s first robotic cattle mover.

The annual Alltech Global Feed Survey, released on Jan. 27, estimates that international feed tonnage decreased by 1.07% to 1.126 billion tonnes of feed produced in 2019, due largely to African swine fever (ASF) and the decline of pig feed in the Asia-Pacific region.

A cow lazily swishes its tail at a persistent buzzing, but the drone maintains its station hovering above the herd.

Grass (Forage) Fed" means that grass and forage shall be the feed source consumed for the lifetime of the ruminant animal, with the exception of milk consumed prior to weaning.

Drone operators continue to find new uses for the data collected by drones measuring what they see on the ground.