“Most graziers realise that their cattle don’t use the paddocks evenly,” said Dr Mark Trotter from the University of New England’s Precision Agriculture Research Group, who is leading the research project. “However, using GPS technology we can now measure exactly how much time an animal spends in any given area.”

GPS collars, developed at UNE and attached to steers grazing in herds in the ‘Buttabone’ paddock, enabled the position of each animal to be logged every five minutes over a period of 12 days. After retrieving the collars the position data was downloaded and used to create - for the first time - a stocking rate map.

“Although our low-cost GPS collars have to be collected and the data downloaded, allowing us to look at the movements of cattle after the event, we are now investigating the use of real-time tracking devices,” Dr Trotter said. “The potential benefits of real-time tracking systems are profound.”