Lawrence, Bradley Lister (2024) Evaluation of a C-Lock Super SmartFeed trailer for controlled feed supplement delivery in grassfed dairy applications. [USQ Project]
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Abstract
Globally, 30% of the world’s daily methane emissions is attributable to cattle production (Black et al., 2021), posing a significant environmental challenge for the Australian cattle industry. As a developing industry solution, feed supplements for the purpose of methane mitigation are being researched for industry use. This thesis evaluates the viability of the CLock Inc. Super SmartFeed (SSF) system for the precision delivery of such supplements in grassfed dairy applications. Conducted in collaboration with the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA), a cohort study following the interaction behaviour of 73, 2-year-old Friesian heifers was performed and evaluated. Interaction behaviour was monitored through RFID ear tags, MooMonitor+ collars, and built in computer systems at the SSF, all of which have been used in the evaluation of the system’s efficacy for use in industry applications.
It was identified that at least 80% of the herd interacted with the SSF, with 68.89% of interactions occurring within the first four hours that feed allocations became available (p < 0.001). Feed delivery can therefore be manipulated to target animal rumination, which peaks between the hours of 10:00 and 19:00. SSF programmed feed delivery is 99.8% accurate, although actual delivery can vary by up to 9.12% of the target allocation. This falls within an acceptable delivery range for the majority of methane mitigating supplements. With four available feed trays it was identified that the SSF has redundancy in the event of a breakdown or malfunction, with the system experiencing an 8.21% loss in mass delivery when operating at three quarter capacity.
The findings of this study support that the SSF is a reliable system which can be used for the delivery of methane mitigating supplements in grassfed environments. As such, the implementation of these technologies on a commercial scale has the potential to greatly improve the Australian agricultural industry’s impact on the environment.
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| Item Type: | USQ Project |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Engineering (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Skinner, Jazmine |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Agricultural Engineering) |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Mar 2026 04:19 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Mar 2026 04:19 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | cattle production; methane emmissions; Super SmartFeed (SSF) |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/53131 |
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