## 3 Results  
Animals were heavier in the second year of the trial, but had less daily LWC (\(p<0.05\)) compared to year one (Table 3). The large range in the LW of over 750 kg (Table 3) was due to the presence of bulls, cows, and calves (data not shown). The yearly average of VIs was similar amongst years, although the maximum values of the mean study area were higher in year two compared to year one (Table 3). The VI with the largest coefficient of variation was reported for BI, followed by VREI and CIr, and the variability was greater in year 2 compared to year 1 (Table 3). The LWC over both years of the trial reached the maximum values early in the wet season in January and their lowest values at the end of the dry season in October and November (\(p<0.001\); Figure 2). However, the LW reached its maximum before the start of the dry season in July and its minimum at the end of the dry season in November (\(p<0.001\); Figure 2). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Variable** & **Mean** & **Std Dev** & **Minimum** & **Maximum** & **CV** \\ \hline
**Year 1** & Live weight change (kg/day) & 0.28 & 1.15 & \(-9.07\) & 8.14 & 414.2 \\  & Live Weight (kg) & 380.29 & 115.67 & 36.26 & 797.53 & 30.46 \\  & NDVI & 0.17 & 0.04 & 0.12 & 0.24 & 21.5 \\  & NDRE & 0.13 & 0.03 & 0.10 & 0.18 & 21.2 \\  & EVI & 0.14 & 0.03 & 0.11 & 0.19 & 18.6 \\  & CIr & 0.36 & 0.11 & 0.24 & 0.58 & 30.9 \\  & VREI & 0.03 & 0.01 & 0.02 & 0.05 & 28.9 \\  & BI & 0.06 & 0.03 & 0.02 & 0.10 & 43.8 \\ \hline
**Year 2** & Growth rate (kg/day) & 0.07 & 1.00 & \(-9.18\) & 9.08 & 1440.2 \\  & Live Weight (kg) & 404.77 & 98.03 & 44.12 & 835.04 & 24.2 \\  & NDVI & 0.16 & 0.05 & 0.10 & 0.28 & 32.4 \\  & NDRE & 0.12 & 0.04 & 0.08 & 0.20 & 33.0 \\  & EVI & 0.13 & 0.05 & 0.08 & 0.25 & 39.4 \\  & CIr & 0.35 & 0.14 & 0.22 & 0.66 & 40.5 \\  & VREI & 0.04 & 0.02 & 0.02 & 0.07 & 46.2 \\  & BI & 0.07 & 0.06 & \(-0.04\) & 0.13 & 86.6 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Summary statistics for beef cattle performance and vegetation indices from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery measured across the two-year period. The temporal changes in VIs showed an increase during the wet season (Figure 3). The VIs peaked in the middle of the wet season in February and March, coinciding with the greatest LWC, except for BI, which showed a decline with the onset of the wet season, as bare soil areas began to grow pasture with the onset of the rain (Figure 3). In contrast, the lowest values for all VIs, except for BI, reached their lowest point in the dry season, coinciding with the lowest LWC of the year (Figure 3). It was clear that the LWC of animals mirrored that of changes in VI, despite slight lags in the LWC after increases in VI, signifying the importance of VIs in the changes to animal LWC through the years. Figure 3: Temporal trends in vegetation indices using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery from a paddock grazed by cattle and daily growth rate of cattle (LWC) over a two-year period. Figure 2: Live weight and live weight change measured using remote automatic weighing systems of cattle grazing in extensive conditions and over the two-year trial period. There were significant relationships between all VIs and the LWC of cattle (\(p<0.001\); Table 4). Regression coefficients for all VIs except BI showed positive values (\(p<0.001\)). Each unit increase in VIs resulted in an LWC increase by up to 33 kg in VIs such as VREI (Table 4). Similarly, a value of zero for all VIs except BI corresponded to the weight loss of the animals reflected in a negative intercept (Table 4). Machine learning random forest modelling results predicted the growth of breeding cows using leave-one-month-out cross-validation from VIs, rainfall, day, month, and year of the trial period, with an LCCC of 0.62 when testing with LOMOCV (Table 5). The density plot of the observed vs. predicted LWC showed that many points were poorly predicted; however, a higher density of points fell along the 1:1 line (Figure 4).