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Development of a Self-Calibrating Mechanism for Pasture Yield Estimation

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  2026 ASABE Annual International Meeting  2600122.(doi:10.13031/aim.202600122)
Authors:   Jasanmol Singh, Ali Bulent Koc, Matias Jose Aguerre, John P. Chastain
Keywords:   IMU sensor, Alfalfa, Biomass, IMU-Ski-Pro, Pasture, Forage yield, Orientation, Adaptive, Self-calibrating

Abstract. A precise and timely estimate of forage availability in pasture fields helps in efficient forage management. Critical decisions such as scheduling rotational grazing, setting stocking rates, and crop monitoring are highly dependent on the forage available for livestock consumption or harvesting. Traditional yield estimation methods like visual assessment are biased with observer‘s experience, and remote-sensing techniques like satellite imagery are limited by low spatial and temporal resolutions. Using ground and aerial-based systems can provide solutions for forage yield estimation, but they require detailed supervision, long data-processing time, and specialized operator training. These challenges prevent their adaptability for daily use by farmers. The objective of this study was to improve the previously developed IMU sensor-based compression ski mechanism (IMU-Ski) for forage biomass estimation and make it adaptive to variable mounting heights without requiring recalibration. The modified mechanism (IMU-Ski-Pro) was equipped with three IMU sensors, connecting rods, ground disks, and a compression ski. The IMU sensors measured the inclination of the connecting rods with respect to the ground. The inclination of connecting rod for ground disk and compression ski were translated to the index of crop height. The crop height index measurements were correlated with the harvested biomass samples in the field to develop yield prediction equations. The developed system was tested and evaluated for the ground rover. The results indicated a R2 of 0.97 and standard error of 1465 kg-wet/ha for the wet biomass predictions using the crop height index. IMU-Ski-Pro mechanism is simple to fabricate, requires minimal post-processing and can be adapted by producers for real-time forage yield estimation.

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