A 'smart' future for ruminant livestock production?

Just as the industrial revolution helped to transform agriculture over the last 250 years of the second millennium, the digital revolution is already impacting on farming in the twenty-first century. Arable farmers use 'precision farming' to apply fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides precisely and only where they are needed in the field, minimising waste and pollution. Although not yet as well developed as the arable sector, 'precision livestock farming' (PLF) technologies (e.g. sensors for oestrus detection, robotic milking systems, automatic liveweight recording) are already starting to help dairy farmers. Currently, most livestock are managed at the group level. PLF aims to monitor individual animals, allowing their individual nutritional as well as health and welfare requirements to be met. Although requiring commercial development, several PLF technologies to monitor and manage extensively-reared animals have been validated scientifically, and could bring considerable production as well as health and welfare benefits to free-ranging animals. Finally, although having the potential to revolutionise livestock production, PLF should be seen as a set of integrated tools intended to help rather than replace livestock managers and veterinarians.