Automate Animal Tractors to minimize number of human visits

Has anyone tried to automated moving rabbit tractors across a field?
Rabbits seems like the easiest first choice due to minimal water.

The rabbits would be kept in a completely contained tractor for safety and eliminate escape.
The idea is to create a system where more remote land could be used to raise animals or to increase fertility prior to moving in.

The concept sounds doable with todays technology.
I can envisage auto everything, with camera vision back to you, monitoring of all sorts of stuff.
Such as grass height, soil moisture levels, air temps, water top up etc
It just needs to know when to turn at designated spots.

Hi Richard,
I agree with John that it would be possible to build, but I have a couple of reservations about it.

First, is how much it would cost compared to the value being added or created by the animals. I'm worried it would be far more expensive than its worth.

Secondly, I think it is good to visit animals regularly. Your smell helps keep predators away, and it gives you a chance to see if there is any sickness and to deal with any abnormalities that an automated system can't handle. Maybe a tree fell in the path, or there is a hole you didn't notice that the animals could use to get out of. Stuff like that.

Hadn't thought about rabbits but had given some thought to it for friend who raises chickens in an orchard.  She keeps the chickens in the tractor thru the morning and gathers eggs about noon and releases them for the afternoon.  When she releases for the afternoon she feeds at an individual tree right around the base.  This produces a patch of bare ground right around the trunk.  Move from tree to tree so each tree gets fed around about every 2 weeks to be weeded.

Tentative design was an aurdino, I2C bus or shield based GPS unit for primary navigation, 2 or 3 axis accelerometer shield based for secondary navigation and an ultrasonic or radar based third level navigation and dodging tree trunks and also for controlling some sort of arm to drop feed around the tree trunk.   Also controlling 2 doors, one for the coop itself and one for the pen to let them out into pasture.  A series of magnets and hall affect sensors for safety switches(weather resistance and durability) for the rest.  Figured I could get the electronics end out of it in about $80 to $100.  Then would need drive motors etc.  Guessed about another $100 for that part of the system although with some scrounging thought I might be able to get that one down to nearly $0.  Add a base station and the GPS could get down accuracy of about a foot.  Accelerometers about the same accuracy.  With tree trunks to track from too accuracy should be good.

In one of Joel Salatin's books (probably Pastured Poultry Profits, since that is the one I have read) he had a drawing of a potential cow tractor. It had wheels on the back, and a yoke near the front. The idea was that the cow would live in the tractor and eat the grass. When she tired of the grass in the tractor, she could put her shoulders in the yoke and push the tractor ahead to a fresh batch of grass.

I don't believe that he had tried it as of the publication date. I don't know if anyone has ever tried it. It's an idea.

This sounds like an awesome project! I would start with a prototype that's pretty dumb basically a DC motor on an axel in the rear with a mechanical timer to open and close the the battery circuit. I'd experiment with the placement of the battery box in the front of the rear third and just have the front on smooth sleds so the battery weight presses down enough for traction on the read wheels but spreads some weight to the skids. It would only move in a straight line for a designated duration every x hours. Then I'd add servos GPS or lidar type navigation cameras and solar panels after success with the cheap version 1.0

I hope to see more updates soon!

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Richard,
I agree with John that it would be possible to build, but I have a couple of reservations about it.

First, is how much it would cost compared to the value being added or created by the animals. I'm worried it would be far more expensive than its worth.

Secondly, I think it is good to visit animals regularly. Your smell helps keep predators away, and it gives you a chance to see if there is any sickness and to deal with any abnormalities that an automated system can't handle. Maybe a tree fell in the path, or there is a hole you didn't notice that the animals could use to get out of. Stuff like that.

I agree with the presence of humans being helpful. Just this morning I went out to feed and water them to find one of my pregnant does got out in the night (new cage doesn't have appropriate lock yet and I guess I half assed the wire). Luckily we have a very enticing pile of apple and willow branches, which meant she stayed near long enough for me to locate her. Automated system would mean I may not notice until the weather warms up a bit and I head out to work, which could be too late.