Stupid question - maybe.

[Tinmania]

Oh no ! It has always been my opinion that they have very good eyesight.

They do! But it is not optimised for looking up, which makes sense as I don't think they have many aerial predators in their history.



Mike

 

[Gizmo]

Hi Warpfactor, maybe I can help with your question, we have a Phantom 4 in a ranch in Mexico to monitor livestock and crops, I also have a Mavic PP.

The first time I flew the P4 around 10-20m over the livestock (Swiss cattle and some horses) they did look up and payed close attention to the source of the noise, however none ran away scared. The important thing is that around the 4th or 5th time we flew the P4 over the livestock they no longer seem to care.

You could use a higher altitude and the zoom with any resolution lower than 4k, 2.7k with zoom is good, but still not the same as a low level flight.

About which drone is better, in our case the Phantom 4 is a better tool for the job because its faster on head and crosswind (around 15 to 20 kph faster) so it allows us to cover more ground on less time, the other point that I like the P4 over the MPP is the tall props, which allow you to land it everywhere or hand catch it, while for the MPP I always carry a foldable landing pad so that the props don't hit grass or bugs.

 

[Gizmo]

So I was looking into my saved videos to show you the cows behavior with the drone, I found the first time we flew close to the cows, I hope it helps, cows can be seen around minute 8:20.

Please let me know when you're finish with the video so that I can set it back to private.

 

[Jayfdee]

I fly over sheep all the time, they do not notice or care, but they are Herdwicks. At 400 ft if I take my eyes off to look at the screen it is easy to lose sight.
I stay away from horses, there are plenty of horseriders near me, if they come out for a ride, I land and go home, not worth any potential conflict.

 

[warpfactor55]

Asking if the Mavic is the ideal drone will get you into a Ford/Chevy debate. My MP is the ideal drone for me because of its portability, battery life, and range.

You might want to consider a larger tablet that uses a tablet holder. A folding type holder will still keep the whole setup portable. My tablet, holder, Mavic, RC, two extra batteries, extra props, and other small items all fit in the fly more bag.

The MPP has a slightly longer flying time and is a little quieter. Using the MPP props on the MP makes them almost the same.

Thank you for that. Very useful info.

 

[warpfactor55]

So I was looking into my saved videos to show you the cows behavior with the drone, I found the first time we flew close to the cows, I hope it helps, cows can be seen around minute 8:20.

Please let me know when you're finish with the video so that I can set it back to private.

That was very useful. Have watched your video. Thank you. A couple of comments. They are some older mature cows at 8.20 but are you able to tell me what height you were around 8.42 ? Also this video shows why I am thinking about a drone. Have a look at 9.34. She is alone by water. I would check on that in about an hour and see if she is still there. If she's in-calf then I would want to go and have a physical look. I thought that the horses started to spook at 10.08 but you are quite low there.

 

[warpfactor55]

I fly over sheep all the time, they do not notice or care, but they are Herdwicks. At 400 ft if I take my eyes off to look at the screen it is easy to lose sight.
I stay away from horses, there are plenty of horseriders near me, if they come out for a ride, I land and go home, not worth any potential conflict.

 

[warpfactor55]

I have some footage taken by ny Son and it shows sheep spooking. I have to sort it out and load it up to YT but will post the link on here when I do it sometime tomorrow.

 

[warpfactor55]

Hi Warpfactor, maybe I can help with your question, we have a Phantom 4 in a ranch in Mexico to monitor livestock and crops, I also have a Mavic PP.

The first time I flew the P4 around 10-20m over the livestock (Swiss cattle and some horses) they did look up and payed close attention to the source of the noise, however none ran away scared. The important thing is that around the 4th or 5th time we flew the P4 over the livestock they no longer seem to care.

You could use a higher altitude and the zoom with any resolution lower than 4k, 2.7k with zoom is good, but still not the same as a low level flight.

About which drone is better, in our case the Phantom 4 is a better tool for the job because its faster on head and crosswind (around 15 to 20 kph faster) so it allows us to cover more ground on less time, the other point that I like the P4 over the MPP is the tall props, which allow you to land it everywhere or hand catch it, while for the MPP I always carry a foldable landing pad so that the props don't hit grass or bugs.

More very useful info. Thanks guys. I like the comparisons mentioned above. Thank you.

 

[dronerdave]

Got a buddy who uses a Phantom & a MP to irrigate his pasture and crops. He says it's a huge time saver to help tell him when it's time to shut a gate down. I'd think some kind of waypoint flight could be a great tool for keeping an eye out for livestock. As far as spooking cattle, I've found they react to my MP at about 50 feet up and I agree it seems they have become more accustom to the noise. We even have a red tail hawk that lands on a fence post where several of us frequently take off and land. You can fly w/i 15 feet of him and he'll just look at my MP but we give him a break and leave em alone most of the time. BTW I'm using strobe lights that have 4 strobes per unit and have a 2-4 hours of battery time . Using two clear models on the front & back, plus a couple of red and green side strobes. Really helps keep the MP in VLOS as well as identify flight direction while out at distance. Also can assist in locating your drone if you have to do an emergency landing or other unfortunate situation. Some say it might help to reduce bird strikes but I'm not too sure being the hawk could care less.

 

[Gizmo]

That was very useful. Have watched your video. Thank you. A couple of comments. They are some older mature cows at 8.20 but are you able to tell me what height you were around 8.42 ? Also this video shows why I am thinking about a drone. Have a look at 9.34. She is alone by water. I would check on that in about an hour and see if she is still there. If she's in-calf then I would want to go and have a physical look. I thought that the horses started to spook at 10.08 but you are quite low there.

As I mentioned on my previous post, altitude is around 10 to 20 m, at 8:20 I would say was around 15 to 20m, at the horse part I'd say it was around 10m.

About the cow in the water you are totally right, the drone has proven to be an incredible useful tool, did you notice some cattle on the hill? It used to be a nightmare to find them and bring them down for vaccination and examination, now with the drone it's a few minutes task to find them, the applications are endless, I can't recommend it enough.

 

[Chirp]

Forgive me if these 2 items were already discussed.

First, I have done about a dozen client missions for Dronebase and I have my drone set to a maximum altitude of around 375'.
I often watch it as it ascends and in clear weather it is easily visible. But, if you look away and then start trying to find it again, it is not so easy to find again.
Second, the nav strobe lights available on this forum are visible for at least 3 miles. They're available individually for around $30 each.

 

[pcrc]

It might just be me, but I think even with an iPad mini (which I use), it would be very difficult in even normal light to see the screen and detail enough to tell much. For me, I'm just amazed at how much detail I can see using the DJI goggles. I use the focus fixers too. The only way I see more detail is to view after the fact on my 55" 4K TV. I just love the detail in any lighting condition with the goggles. I have also used a towel over my head which covered my controller and iPad too. That's not a bad cheap solution but not nearly as good a the goggles.

 

[bvsolutions]

I use my drones almost continuously to monitor and move livestock. Cattle, sheep horses. All get used to the drone quite quickly.
The sheep take the longest because they have evolved subject to predation from above, much more than cows or horse. Deer will spook a bit from the drone, but moose ignore it. Drones are so valuable to my operations that I need three. I can only use one at a time, but I cannot afford to be without. When I average 3 hours /day of airtime crashes and downtime due to crashes, damage, or other failure are inevitable.

 

[tictag]

The MPP has a slightly longer flying time and is a little quieter. Using the MPP props on the MP makes them almost the same.

The MPP props on a MP will not increase flight time - plenty of real-life tests on this on YouTube. The new ESCs in the MPP are responsible for the flight time improvement.

 

[rob2000gt]

Mp with platinum props or just getting a mpp would help you. Record the field take sd card inside and watch the video. I have seen things on my computer (32 inch monitor) that I missed on my tablet. Be easy to pic out specific livestock that way

 

[rob2000gt]

The MPP props on a MP will not increase flight time - plenty of real-life tests on this on YouTube. The new ESCs in the MPP are responsible for the flight time improvement.

I have actually seen more flight time with mpp props. Maybe due to the way I fly.

 

[RayOZ]

Thank you for that information. The reason that I would like to know this is because, as mentioned before on a drone forum, I think a drone could be very useful in keeping an eye on livestock. i.e. when we have cows calving outside, evidence of sheep worrying, etc. etc. The problem is that from what I have seen animals are alarmed by drones and I am wondering if a drone could be used at an altitude that doesn't upset the stock and yet allows me to see what is going on. For instance, a cow lying down in the same place for quite a while when the others have moved away from her and she is on her own means that I have to go and investigate on foot. Likewise if there is a ewe lambing outside.

It would just mean that I could maybe keep an eye on the stock many more times per day than I do now

I once flew my spark around a cow, circle dronie, and it didn't flinch. I was 500m away, so it didn't see that a human was involved.

 

[FenTiger]

I use my MP to monitor cattle on a river bank. I can fly above them at 150 ft and they really don't care apart from the occasional glance to see where the noise is coming from. At that distance (with the camera at 2x zoom, I can hover and count them if necessary. It's a great tool (and a perfect excuse to "she who must be obeyed" for buying the MP in the first place [emoji4]

 

[Lake_Flyer]

Thank you. Very helpful. I am aware that sheep are more easily spooked than cows. That's why you never get one sheep escaping from a field, it's always the whole **** lot of them !! They follow one another.............................like sheep.

I have filmed a sheep herd from 30 feet up and they weren't bothered at all. Maybe because the shepherd was there as well.