PRECISION FIELD CROP AGRICULTURE IS SEEN AS ONE OF A HANDFUL OF KEY, EARLY-ADOPTION, COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR DRONES AND DRONE-BASED TECHNOLOGIES BECAUSE OF THE DEMONSTRATED ABILITY TO SURVEY LARGE AREAS FROM AN ELEVATED VANTAGE POINT TO MEASURE AND MAP CROP NEEDS. THE TIME SCALES FOR THESE TYPES OF INTERVENTIONS, WHILE HIGHLY PROFITABLE, ARE OFTEN MEASURED IN DAYS OR WEEKS. PRECISION ANIMAL AGRICULTURE (PAA), ON THE OTHER HAND, PRESENTS A MUCH RICHER ENVIRONMENT FOR CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS (CPS) RESEARCH. ANIMALS, INDIVIDUALLY, ARE COMPLEX ORGANISMS THAT REQUIRE CONSTANT NUTRITIONAL ADJUSTMENT, YET THEY ARE SOCIAL BEASTS WITH HERD BEHAVIOR THAT EMERGES FROM THE COLLECTIVE. FOR ISSUES OF NUTRITION, HEALTH, PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY, ANIMAL AGRICULTURE MUST TREAT BOTH THE INDIVIDUALS AND THE COLLECTIVE, MAKING IT IDEAL FOR THE SCIENCE AND APPLICATION OF CPS PRINCIPLES. WITH GROWING GLOBAL AWARENESS OF THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION ON NON-RENEWABLE AND RENEWABLE RESOURCES, CONCURRENT WITH THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF GLOBAL POPULATION GROWTH AND THE NEED TO FEED MORE MOUTHS, THE TRANSFORMATIONAL IMPACT OF CPS ON THE LARGELY UNEXPLORED REALM OF PRECISION ANIMAL AGRICULTURE IS ENORMOUS. THIS IS PARTICULARLY CRITICAL AS A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE PROJECTED INCREASES IN GLOBAL FOOD PRODUCTION IS ANTICIPATED TO COME FROM RUMINANTS. THIS PROPOSAL PRESENTS BASIC SCIENCE EXPLORING THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL ANIMAL AND HERD BEHAVIORS ON AGRICULTURE SYSTEMS EFFICIENCY, WHILE DEMONSTRATING ITS POTENTIAL ON THE SPECIFIC AREA OF DAIRY FARM MANAGEMENT WITH THE GOAL OF IMPROVING SUSTAINABILITY AND EFFICIENCY. THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OF THIS TEAM'S RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP THE FOUNDATIONS FOR CPS THAT APPLY, GENERICALLY, TO INTENSIFIED MANAGEMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL ANIMAL AND HERD IN AREAS OF NUTRITION, HEALTH, PRODUCTIVITY, AND EFFICIENCY THAT UNDERPIN THIS NEW AREA OF PRECISION ANIMAL AGRICULTURE.