Measuring water consumption of cattle with Scottish Water and SRUC

Just started working on a really exciting new project into the water consumption patterns of cattle – dairy and beef cattle and sheep. This is across 3 farms in Dumfries, the lowlands and the highlands. The project is quite complex, because, not only do we have to operate across a beautiful rural landscape, which causes its own challenges for capturing data using GPS and mobile signals, but also the huge variety of potentially influencing factors. I never realised just how complex farming has become and the amount of technology used in managing farms these days. Combined with this, one of the farms has lodges and wigwams for holiday rental, lovely spot, which adds to the complexity as we look to monitor and better understand Scotland’s water balance. I love my job.