By Jason Hartschuh, OSU Extension Field Specialist, Dairy Management and Precision Livestock

Ohio is home to about 145,000 sheep on 4,133 farms, according to the 2022 census of agriculture, making it the 11th largest sheep production state in the country. These sheep are raised in both extensive and intensive systems, but precision livestock technologies are having a worldwide impact on both production systems. Precision livestock farming, PLF, is the use of real-time monitoring technologies to manage the flock at the animal level. This includes using monitoring equipment, data, user interface software, and artificial intelligence to guide decision-making. While other species have more developed precision livestock technologies, many different technologies are under development.

The most

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