How We Revolutionize Water Monitoring in Livestock Farming - MDH Family

Figures: - Acres property: 600,000 - Continuous flight: 8h - Radio range: 40km - Flight distance: 350Km - Money saved per year: 1/2 million dollar - Manual inspection: reduced by over 90% Making sure that there is water for the stock is vital for outback cattle stations. During the dry season or times of drought, man-made waters are checked twice a week. Water runs are undertaken by plane, helicopter or all-terrain vehicles at significant labour, fuel, vehicle wear and tear and operating expense. Our research shows that manual inspection can be reduced by over 90% by using Sunbirds drones, which means you have more time for other important tasks! Our client: The McDonald family MDH Pty Ltd is one of Australia’s largest beef cattle operations, and its history dates back to 1827. Nowadays, the family owned and operated business runs 175,000 head of cattle across 3.5 million hectares in outback Queensland. Monitoring huge properties In over half of 12 MDH properties, the water for the stock comes from man-made bores and dams. Those water points require inspections twice a week and are vital for animal welfare, especially in times of drought. At Brightlands station - a 2,500km² remote property - the 50 water points are 10km apart and as far as 50km from the homestead, making them time-consuming and costly to inspect. Replacing costly solutions MDH employs five people, who fly 500 hours in both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft and drive about 200,000km in four-wheel drive vehicles to monitor the waters. The estimated cost is half a million dollar a year in fuel, labour, maintenance and vehicle tear and wear. It is one of the main expenses for the company and one of the most time-consuming non-productive activities. It is also a highly polluting task in an industry that is always looking at ways of reducing its carbon footprint. “Sunbirds drones being able to monitor our waters immediately reduces the aircraft hours and time people on the ground spend driving, which are significant costs. It saves time so staff can do other jobs on the properties.” — Al McDonald, MDH, Queensland, Australia