Sheep farmers could soon be able to estimate their flock's live weight and fleece weight in real time, without the need for labor-intensive handling. The new system, being developed by CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, will capture measurements in real time as animals move naturally through their environment. FlockMate is a two-year research project.
Live weight, which measures the combined weight of the animal and its fleece, provides key insights into feed availability, animal health and key production stages such as lambing and sale readiness. Tracking changes in live weight over time can also help identify shifts in growth or condition.
However, consistently measuring live weight across an entire flock remains a challenge, with existing systems often requiring manual handling or relying on sheep engaging with weighing systems, which can result in incomplete data.
CSIRO Principal Research Scientist Dr. Sabrina Greenwood said that FlockMate aims to overcome these challenges, allowing for more regular monitoring across the growth cycle.
"Keeping track of liveweight can tell producers a lot about what's happening to their sheep, whether that's how the flock is responding to seasonal conditions or how they're tracking through production stages," Greenwood said.
"Making those measurements easier and more frequent will help producers spot these changes sooner, meaning more informed decisions can be made across their flock."
CSIRO's Quantitative Imaging Team Leader Dr. Xun Li said a multimodal sensor system is used to capture high-resolution 3D images of each individual animal as it moves in view of the sensors.
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