Fleecing the camera

Researchers looking at the idea of using digital cameras linked to a computer to calculate the weight of individual sheep say they would need to find a way to see through the masking effects of the fleece.

The technology has already been trialled on pigs and salmon, and orchard researchers at Te Puke have mounted a camera and a computer on a go-kart to count kiwifruit and assess fruit quality.

But scientists from the agriculture and life sciences faculty at Lincoln University said the wool on a sheep posed challenges for automating visual estimates of the live weight of sheep.