Optimal management of cattle feed harvesting based on digital technologies

Currently, optimal management of forage harvesting for cattle can be based on digital technologies. Herbaceous feed makes up about 80 % of the cattle diet. Forage grass crops account for about 20 % of all agricultural acreage. A significant part of agricultural lands is devoted to natural pastures and hay fields. An important characteristic of livestock feed, which largely determines the economic efficiency of cattle breeding, feed production– depends on the chemical composition of the feed during its harvesting. Therefore, agricultural enterprises try to perform chemical analysis of the composition of herbs as often as possible, and large agricultural holdings perform this operation in the appropriate phases of plant development on a daily basis. This is a laborious operation that requires significant time and labor costs. Currently, digital technologies make it possible to significantly simplify this process, make it more operational and less time-consuming. This can be done on the basis of remote sensing of crops of forage grasses (or natural hay fields). Earth’s surface can be probed using both UAVs and satellite imagery. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. UAV shooting is characterized by a higher pixel resolution, however, it requires special expenses and qualified personnel. Satellite does not require such costs, however, the images have a lower pixel resolution. Artificial intelligence technologies make it possible to create a neural network model to determine its parameters that will allow optimal timing of forage harvesting for a certain type of harvested feed (hay, silage, haylage, cornage), depending on the nutrient content in the grasses at the time of harvesting.