Bourke producer uses remote management system for water, walk-over weighing and remote drafting.
The desire to run his livestock as effectively as his cotton operation has resulted in a productive partnership between Bourke producer Tony Thompson and remote management system provider Observant Pty Ltd.
In taking over 16 200ha about 140kms—and 90 minutes by road—from his other enterprises, Mr Thompson was looking for a solution to remotely manage aspects of the stock handling, when the Sheep Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) put him in touch with Observant Pty Ltd.
Mr Thompson runs an 800 hectare irrigated crop enterprise that is mostly cotton, in addition to resuming the management of 16 200 ha previously leased breeding country.
Remote management and telemetry was not new to Mr Thompson, who had used basic telemetry in the cotton enterprise to overcome variability of growing conditions.
“A flock of sheep has many variables and I wanted a management system to manage that variability,” Mr Thompson said.
Stock water for the breeding property is pumped from the Barwon River and distributed around the property by 35 km of pipelines. The pump on the river is activated and operated by the Observant Remote Management System™ ensuring crucial stock supply information is easily accessed from headquarters.
In addition to ensuring the water supply/availability, the key management tool he wanted to incorporate into the remote management was a walk-over weighing and drafting system and Observant was able to accommodated this easily.
“With our rotational grazing system, we only keep one watering point open at one time and shift the walk-over weighing system with each move,” Mr Thompson said.
All sheep are electronically tagged and read as they pass over the scales and through the drafting gate.
The Observant team were able to tailor a system that could relay information gathered in the walk-over weigh crate and transmit it back to headquarters.
“We have set key body weight targets for our ewes to be at when we join, scan and lamb,” Mr Thompson said.
He said the aim of the livestock program was to be able to drive production, and any animal that did not meet key bodyweight targets, could be drafted off for either a supplement program or for sale. And by doing this remotely further reduces his cost of production.
The data collected at the watering point by the Observant system is analysed at the office and any sheep falling behind are identified. Their details are uploaded through the Observant system and subsequently drafted off when they water.
Mr Thompson said while the system was still in its early stages, the key benefits provided by Observant included better control and knowledge of performance as well as diagnostic capabilities.
He said Observant had provided good support and developed new systems specifically for his needs and any problems or questions were easily dealt with over the phone.
Mr Thompson described himself as having average computer skills with the Observant system not requiring a lot of expertise.
He said producers required some training so they could fully understand how the equipment worked, but being easy to use, the training could be undertaken over the phone.