MEET THE GPS COWS TEAM

Associate Professor Amy Cosby is a Senior Research Fellow – Agri-tech Education and Extension at CQUniversity Australia with a Bachelor of Agriculture/Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a PhD in Precision Agriculture. Amy is a leading practitioner and researcher in the field of student and teacher engagement within the agricultural industry and has extensive experience in leading large projects with a wide range of partners. She lives and works from South Gippsland, Victoria and with her husband owns and operates a 200-cow dairy farm. Amy currently works with educators, researchers and industry professionals to develop innovative programs to increase the skills and knowledge of teachers and students in agricultural concepts, tools and systems. Amy has conducted numerous surveys with both educators and students to evaluate their current level of agricultural knowledge and perception of the industry from a range of rural and urban locations. Her objective is to use the knowledge derived from this research to design programs which showcase and attract the next generation agricultural workforce to the industry from diverse backgrounds.

Mark Trotter is an Associate Professor of Precision Livestock at CQUniversity. Mark’s research is all about getting technology working on farms to improve production efficiency, either by increasing production and price or reducing costs.
He specialises in on-animal sensing and feed-base monitoring and management. Mark is involved in research that applies on-animal sensors to detect a range of issues such disease detection, life-time welfare monitoring and animal-pasture interactions. Mark has been involved in the development and application feed-base sensing systems including: remote sensing, active optical sensors and LiDAR.
Mark is a passionate educator and has taught and developed numerous tertiary units in precision agriculture and grazing systems. He is particularly interested in engaging secondary students in agricultural technology and has been involved in several key projects that deliver learning materials into highschools.

Dr Jaime Manning is a lecturer in Agriculture within the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences at CQUniversity Australia, based in Rockhampton. Currently, she teaches animal production, behaviour, welfare and new and emerging technologies into the CQUni agriculture degree program. She has a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience (First Class Honours) and a PhD in Precision Livestock from The University of Sydney. Jaime’s main research interests are using and incorporating technology on farm to improve the level of monitoring and welfare of livestock (cattle and sheep), whilst providing invaluable information into how we manage livestock and detect issues as they arise in extensive production systems. Her experience in livestock tracking, technology in Agriculture and research ensures that activities and professional development opportunities developed by the Agri-tech Education and Extension Research team are industry relevant and highlight current issues facing the sector.

Sergio is originally from Houston, Texas. Sergio earned his B.S. in Animal Science from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, his M.S. in Agricultural Education at Texas A&M University-College Station. He then served as an Animal Production Specialist/Habitat Conservationist Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador between 2004-2006. Afterwards, he received his Ph.D. in Animal Biology from the University of California, Davis where he studied the interplay between nutrition and reproduction. Sergio is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal & Rangeland Sciences at Oregon State University. He is a field faculty with the Oregon State University Extension Service in Malheur County, Oregon, which spans 6.5 million acres of the most remote areas within the continental U.S. His work focuses on maintaining and improving healthy landscapes in the high desert sagebrush steppe.

Colt grew up in a coal mining family in West Virginia where they also operated a small family farm and show horse stable. During academic breaks and between schools, he worked in strip mines across the country. Colt earned his B.S. in Animal Science at the University of Kentucky, M.S. in Animal Science at Angelo State University, and his Ph.D. in Animal Science at the University of Arizona in 2006, 2012, and 2016, respectively. In fall of 2016, he worked on a post doc with Dr. Derek Bailey at New Mexico State University. Recently, Colt started work as an Assistant Professor of Extension – State Livestock Specialist for the University of Maine.
Colt’s graduate work has focused on range land ecology, the utilization of livestock as a cultural/biological control, cow herd efficiency as it relates intake, reproduction, longevity and grazing behavior. Also, he has worked to develop lower cost GPS tracking collars and ways to analyze tracking data.