Double click on PLOW. It’s not that easy yet. But the most valuable chips on the farm aren’t the ones made from potatoes.
They’re chute-side at feedlots, aboard combines on grain farms and coming soon to the ear tag on a heifer near you.
“It’s a complex world, and we have an industry that has a world of issues to keep on top of,” says Joanne Lemke, public affairs manager for the Alberta Cattle Commission.
Computers let producers manage information better on many topics, she says. The uses run from water management to marketing and feed selection.
“I hear from many of our producers that have computers that they are increasingly relying on the technology as essential in their farm business management,” says Lemke.
Rancher Jim Watt says that computers and the Internet have benefited the industry as a whole. In some ways, it’s easier than ever to market cattle. The cost of computers is not that great compared to the time saved. Producers can offer animals by video or electronic listing, and have been selling cattle online for a dozen years or more. “You don’t have to disturb the cattle — they don’t have to stop eating.”
Ranchers in the new economy don’t have to load their animals on a truck, drive them to market and have them lose weight on the trip. In the old-style market, the price might not justify the trip. In the new-style market, sales can be confirmed before the cattle board the truck. Weight, allowable shrinkage and who transports are negotiable.
Feedlot operators are probably on the leading edge of the computer wave in agriculture, says Ron Axelson, general manager of the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association.
The average feedlot markets 10,000 head a year. Operators have to keep up with the market. Most are connected to satellite information networks that update all commodity prices, not just cattle, at 10-minute intervals, he says.
Operators use chute-side terminals to keep complete computer records of each animal in the feedlot. “If he decides to sell some cattle and one had been sick and got an antibiotic, (the computer) would flag that animal,” says Axelson. It would not be shipped until after the withdrawal period expired for the antibiotic.
Records of cattle weight and input costs mean operators can extrapolate the best time to sell within about a week. They can make agreements with packing plants months in advance of delivery dates, specifying numbers, quality and weight. Database management makes the business side of a feedlot easier, and tight communications in the industry run on fax and e-mail. Important market news can be on members’ desks within four hours by e-mail.
Farms as well as ranches and feedlots are changing with the new economy. A trend called precision farming can mean varying the fertilizer mix or seed density in half-acre plots across a field.
“In regular business terms it’s kind of like an information management system,” says Greg Reinhardt, precision farming project manager at Olds College. The global positioning system can be one of the tools.
It usually starts with field mapping using a GPS on a combine, says Innisfail farmer Peter Edgar. “You will see a yield difference across your fields,” he says. It might be 150 yards from a spot that yields 100 bushels an acre to an area giving 25 bushels an acre.
It takes several years of data to be sure, and the farmer has to ask why there is a difference. Soil testing on a half-acre grid can cost $35 an acre, or $7,000 for a 200-acre field, says Edgar. If a farmer does the tests and puts GPS equipment on a variable fertilizer spreader, he can apply exactly the right fertilizer mix to each segment of the field.
Reinhardt points out that the technology isn’t cheap. The initial cost is about $10,000 and add-ons can run to another $25,000 to $30,000. Once the investment is made, the precision farmer has a bit of an edge on the competition.
However, Anne Kolody, who works in the operations support department of 100,000-member co-operative United Farmers of Alberta, warns your bottom line doesn’t increase overnight just because you want to sell product online.
Web Watch:
www.agric.gov.ab.ca/
www.ufa.net
www.oldscollege.ab.ca
www.cargill.com.prodserv/country/canada.htm/
