Modern technology is revolutionising modern farming, from GPS mapping in arable farming through to robot milking systems in the dairy industry.

Examples I’ve seen recently are systems for monitoring calving cows and two types in particular have really caught my eye. The first system clips to the tail of a close to calving cow and monitors its movements. As the intensity of the tail movements increases, it predicts the point of calving.

The second involves a small temperature sensing device being placed inside the cow. A cows’ body temperature changes in the run up to calving, dropping dramatically when the device is expelled from the cow by the water bag. In both cases, the really clever part is that they then send a text, to alert the manager that calving has begun. It is systems like this that are making mobile phones an indispensable part of all of our tool kits. Having phone, text, email and the internet so close at hand really can help to save time and money.

This year, my own use of technology has really increased productivity. In the summer, as cereals were beginning to be taken for whole crop, my mobile phone really came into its own. Usually, I would have to take trips out to look at crops to decide whether or not they were ready for cutting - sometimes quite tricky, with clients all over the North of England. But this summer with some clients I managed to be in the field even if I was in a different county. On one particular day, I received an email to my phone with an attachment and a message simply asking: “Is it ready?”

When I opened up the attachment, it was a video from a farmer, squeezing some barley grains so I could see what stage they were at. This simple operation from one mobile device to another saved a huge amount of time and money in going to assess the crop. Especially, as it wasn’t ready.

Adam Collantine

Dugdale Nutrition

adam.collantine@dugdalenutrition.com