IN THE heady early days of drone deployment many promises were made about how they would revolutionise some of the grinding daily farm jobs, often all from the comfort of the farm kitchen table.
A few years on they have proved to be more than a flash in the pan.
For some farmers they are now an established tool but still as dependent on the technology they take into the sky as the inventiveness of farmers using them.
The 2012-2016 Beef + Lamb Innovation Farm programme provided some useful insights to the enduring value of drones for dry stock use.
The programme aimed to showcase a narrow category of farming technology applied for specific purposes, rather than a whole-farm approach, aimed at farmers wanting to identify tools and practices resulting in real financial improvements.
Drones were selected as one technology worth studying.
Pip and Neil Gardyne in Southland were guinea pigs for drone use as they adapted the aerial technology for use on their 465ha property, drawing media attention from as far afield as the United Kingdom.
Gardyne said its use helped make agriculture a more appealing vocation and acknowledged how his three children had helped institute the technology on the farm.
Eldest son Mark, then 11, suggested the drone technology might be best applied checking stock on the hill country farm, particularly around lambing time looking for cast ewes.
Using the machine over three years provided a sound insight to the drone’s true application, eliminating the novelty element from its use. That application proved to include counting sheep, finding cast or sick ewes, monitoring lambing and checking water troughs.
The steeper country on the Gardyne property was alleviated somewhat by the drone’s use and the family also focused on developing a proof of concept app for counting sheep using images captured by the drone.
Righting cast ewes proved to deliver a definitive return, with 40 saved simply by the machine flying over them, startling them upright again.
Nearby in Otago the Anderson family, owners of Kawarau Station at Bannockburn, have been using a drone for two years for mustering in the station’s tough back country.
John Anderson initially invested in the drone to check fences but soon found it useful for mustering.
“One morning I kicked off mustering 2000 wethers, left home at 8am, drove 20 minutes to where I launched the drone and had them all down by 10.30am in time for a coffee. Normally it would have taken three men and a ute to bring them down and only be finished by lunchtime.”
The sheep are wary of the drone’s presence without being overly spooked and will move steadily away from it in the direction required.
However, dogs, musterers and chopper pilots are not out of work thanks to its use.
“We still use the chopper over some of the levels but the drone gives me the opportunity to go in where it may be too dangerous for dogs, men or choppers, particularly when there are high winds.”
He estimates even at this early stage the drone has saved him over $10,000 in chopper time and labour.
Drone distribution business Ferntech markets the DJI drone, accounting for 70% of the global consumer market.
Account manager Adam Kerr said most sales to farmers were for stock management. Some DJI drones can be used with a siren to herd stock.
Health and safety is another area drones can counter risky activities such as checking roofs or fences in storms or avalanche risk areas in the high country.
In response to strong demand the firm has opened DJI’s first NZ authorised retail store in Auckland.
A full user experience is provided, including learning to fly from expert pilots, technical support and full updating on Civil Aviation Authority rules.
DairyNZ advanced management scientist Callum Eastwood urges farmers to consider the return on the investment they can get with a drone and whether other, more grounded methods might deliver a better return.
“Farmers are finding it is easy to take images from the air with a drone but what do you do with them? Using drone imagery on a large scale requires image processing which can take time and requires specialised software.”
He sees a role for specialised drone services to help interpret data and turn it into useful, farmer-friendly information.
Rules around drone use also need to be considered. They include no flying over 120m high, constant line of sight and no flying within 4km of an aerodrome or at night.
While it might be some years before drones become fully autonomous and capable of performing repetitive tasks, Eastwood said they have proved a valuable way to engage with a new generation of potential farmers and offer a fun element to the day to day business of farming.
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Visit Ferntech at Mystery Creek at PB19.
