This spring, two Mississippi State University graduate students are conducting a research project to study dairy cattle behavior using varying observation methods.
Kevin Braman and Jalyn Hawkins, graduate students majoring in agriculture, are leading the study under the guidance of Amanda Stone, an associate professor and extension dairy specialist.
The Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the Bearden Dairy Research Center will host the study. The research will include both human observation and drone observation on two different herds of cattle in a pasture-based setting.
Braman shared the goals of the project.
“The aims of this project are to determine how cows react to different methods for behavior and welfare observations,” Braman said. “A lot of the research we do … incorporates components of measuring behavior and welfare characteristics of dairy cattle.”
According to Braman, behavioral research studies help improve animal welfare across U.S. animal-focused industries.
“We can help define appropriate methods for behavior sampling, which can lead to better data collection and increased opportunities for pasture-based behavior and welfare research,” Braman said. “With this research, we can better serve our dairy producers in the state of Mississippi and the industry as a whole.”
Gracie Adams, a senior majoring in animal and dairy sciences, described the cattle observation study’s potential impacts.
“I think this research project will be very beneficial, not only to our farm at MSU, but also to other dairies as well and will … allow us to observe cows in other ways we never have before,” Adams said.
Adams worked at the MAFES Bearden Dairy Research Center as a student worker and helped with dairy studies.
“As an undergraduate student, I enjoy helping and learning about research the graduate students do on the farm. I would not pursue my own, but it is always interesting to see them in action while I am at work,” Adams said.
Cattle behavior research is typically conducted using stationary video cameras in barns, but this project will incorporate a remote-controlled drone in the pasture for data collection. Braman said it is pertinent for people to limit contact with the cattle during the study while drones are being used.
“Dairy cattle are typically in contact with humans several times a day, which may alter their behavior and motivations and … this may mean that having humans present for behavior observations may alter accuracy,” Braman said.
He said this new research method can be used as a tool for researchers later on and will provide helpful and accurate data for future projects.
Braman will operate the drone, while Hawkins will be on foot as the human observer, as the duo works together to gather information on the two groups of cattle.
“There will be cameras at different angles of the pastures so that we can review stressed or curious behaviors and latencies to approach either the human or the drone,” Hawkins said. “We will also look at the accuracy between the two methods to see whether or not a human can observe better than the camera from the drone.”
Hawkins and Braman said they hope combining humans and technology will provide some key information on why cattle behave in certain ways in the presence of either method.
Furthermore, Hawkins described the economic benefits his research could provide.
“If the cattle have a better reaction to the drone and the observations made are accurate, then producers could make a one-time purchase of a drone instead of continuously paying for human labor,” Hawkins said.