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AgResearch scientists have been using sound detector collars to record cow burps.

An expert cow burp assessor listened to the recordings of ten cows, counting the burps and rating how loud they were. The recordings were also used to train AI to recognise the burps.

Compared to the expert, the trained AI got it right 80-90% of the time. Over three days, the AI burp detectors found that the cows burped a bit less than once every minute and the average loudness (how big the burp was) was 2 on a scale of 1-3.

The researchers say this could help farmers cheaply work out how much methane individual cows are belching out, so they can breed less burpy cows.

The work was funded by AgResearch, New Zealand.

A report on the project can be found in the Waikato Times.

It says:

“Bots have been listening to bovine burps in a bid to help farmers breed more climate-friendly cattle.

“Scientists at AgResearch’s Ruakura Research Centre in Hamilton fitted cows with digital voice recorders strapped onto collars to eavesdrop on grazing herds around the clock. The goal is to use artificial intelligence algorithms to catch every burp, measure its loudness and pinpoint which cows naturally let less gas into the atmosphere.”

The research. published in the New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research this week, concluded that the acoustic sensors and “deep learning algorithms” could be used to predict how much the 10 cows would burp, and how intense those burps would be.

Sources: Scimex and Waikato Times