Can Drones Handle a Kansas Feedlot Pen Count When Riders Run Short?

Can Drones Do a Kansas Feedlot Pen Count With Two Riders?

Your morning count is two jobs at once: a headcount across 14 pens and a health check on each animal you can see. Your figures, about 9,000 head in 14 pens, average roughly 640 head a pen. With two riders on horseback, the count runs slow, and the animals that stand apart, lie away from the group or skip the bunk are the ones most likely to go unnoticed for longer.

Drones are the obvious first tool because one fixed route can cover every pen without anyone riding through it. When riders run short, the count is what slips first, so the drone case is strongest for the count. The health check is a separate question, and the evidence treats it as one.

Some context on the numbers. According to USDA NASS, Kansas feedlots with 1,000 or more head held 2.30 million cattle on feed on May 1, 2026, down 6% from a year earlier. A smaller inventory does not shrink your morning job, because every head in your 14 pens still has to be counted.

How accurate are drone pen counts in a feedlot?

The best controlled study we found comes from Brazil. Bastos and colleagues, writing in AgriEngineering in 2024, flew drones over 110 pens holding up to 150 animals each on 21 separate days. Trough readings from drone and conventional methods agreed almost perfectly, with a kappa of 0.901. Animal counts showed only fair agreement, so pen totals hold up better than head-by-head tallies taken from the air.

A second result comes from Universidade Federal de Viçosa, which tested a computer vision system on drone images from six commercial feedlots. The numbers were reported by the product maker, so treat them as vendor-reported. Counting accuracy was 98.61%, and postural classification was 88.77% for standing cattle and 95.56% for lying cattle.

For your morning, a drone can likely return pen totals close enough to act on, plus a list of pens where the posture count looks off. It should not be the sign-off count by itself. Before a full rollout, test accuracy on your own pens against rider counts.

• Pen total with date and time of flight
• Head count compared with rider count for the same pens
• Flagged pens with the image or thermal frame behind each flag
• Error rate by pen, not only across the whole yard

Can a drone spot lame or sick cattle in a feedlot?

This is the part of your question the research does not support yet. The Viçosa study measured standing and lying posture, which is a useful early signal, but it did not assess lameness. We found no drone study that detects lameness. Gait and weight bearing are hard to read from the air at the height needed to cover a full pen.

Thermal imaging is the closer path, and it is still early. Kansas State started a 2025 pilot using aerial thermal imaging over pens to map where cattle spend their time, led by an assistant professor of animal health at K-State Olathe. We found no published heat-stress results from that pilot yet. Flagging fever from the air is the goal of that line of work, but it is not a proven service for a morning count.

Off feed is the other half. A drone can show where animals gather at the bunk or water, a rough signal for who is coming in to eat. It cannot see how much feed is left in the bunk or how much each animal ate. That work still belongs to the people who walk the bunk line.

How many hours does a morning pen count take today?

Your own clock is the best source for this. Time one full morning pass by both riders, from saddling to the last pen written down, then time the stops where riders sort, doctor or move animals. Those two numbers set the hours a drone can take over. We found no published pen rider hours for a yard of your size, so do not borrow an outside benchmark for planning.

The split is clear once you have those numbers. The count and the flag list can go to a drone. Sorting, treatment and gate work stay with people. Set the expectation that the morning ride shrinks rather than disappears, because that is what the evidence supports.

How do Kansas heat and wind affect a drone count?

Kansas summers carry a specific risk. In June 2022, heat killed thousands of cattle in southwest Kansas. According to AP reporting carried by PBS NewsHour, at least 2,000 heat-related deaths were reported to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and one estimate put the loss at 10,000 head. K-State veterinarian A.J. Tarpoff attributed the losses to a humidity spike combined with a drop in wind speed and no nighttime cooling.

That event shapes the drone plan in two ways. First, flights should follow the heat load, not the rider schedule, so you are not walking a drone over stressed cattle in the hottest hours. Second, if you run a thermal pass, the heat season is when it earns its place, so set it up before the first hot week, not after.

Wind limits flights too. Strong or gusty wind makes drones hard to fly and can degrade images, so the flight calendar should reflect the wind your site actually sees. Record wind patterns by season during the site assessment, along with sightlines and any windbreaks.

Do drones need FAA approval or a Kansas license for a feedlot?

Federal rules come first. AeroCorner's summary of FAA rules says Part 107 still generally prohibits flying beyond visual line of sight, and those flights need waivers. A route that stays within your line of sight across a 14-pen yard may fit standard rules, but flights that run behind windbreaks, buildings or tall equipment often do not. Check each route against the rule before the first flight.

The rule is changing. The beyond visual line of sight rule is being written as Part 108, and the executive order deadline of February 1, 2026 passed. An August 27, 2026 AeroCorner article reported that Part 108 was not yet published and had no effective date. Check the Federal Register or FAA site before you sign anything, because the status may have moved.

State rules are separate. Kansas code treats a state feedlot license as optional for yards under 1,000 head. A yard of 9,000 head sits above that line, so confirm with the state what licensing applies to your operation. Keep that question apart from the drone decision.

What does losing riders cost in labor and turnover?

Staffing is what makes your question urgent. A Missouri Extension economist, speaking in general terms and not about Kansas, said 25% employee turnover is not unlikely in this work, and that replacing an employee can cost 20% or more of that worker's salary, according to Farm Progress. We found no 2026 Kansas feedlot-specific turnover figures, so test that number against your own hiring log.

Turnover is a reason to reduce how much of the count depends on any one rider. A drone takes over part of the count and keeps the same route if a rider leaves. It does not take over handling, sorting or the judgment on animals at the bunk, so keep trained riders on that work.

Plan training so at least one person runs and reviews drone flights. That role is a skill, not a replacement for riding, and it is what keeps a drone count from becoming a file nobody reads.

Should a drone be part of your feedlot pen count plan?

For a yard like yours, the honest recommendation is a phased pilot. Start with the count on a fixed route over a subset of pens, keep riders on health checks and sorting, and compare drone totals with rider totals over several mornings before you decide anything else.

We handle the parts that sit between the drone and your pens. Our site assessment maps flight routes, records wind and sightlines, and checks waiver needs. From there we handle the lease through financing, deployment, staff training and service under our service plan, with regional service engineers in every state we service. The lease payment comes in a quote after a free site assessment.

If the pilot shows drone totals matching rider totals and flags that catch what riders would have caught, expand to the full yard. If it does not, you still have a count record, a heat plan and a clear view of what the drone cannot do.