Technology

The software revolution

Today, computerized record-keeping and herd management. Tomorrow, wireless portability.

As farming operations grow in size, Canadian producers are increasingly using sophisticated software to manage their livestock and increase profitability. Agriculture Business Review asked three leaders in farming’s software revolution to assess the current market and highlight where it’s heading.

FEEDLOT: EFFICIENCY WHEN IT’S NEEDED MOST

For the Canadian beef industry, the U.S. border closure has been a crisis of unprecedented proportions. In Yvonne Tollens’ view, without the record-keeping and efficiency gains created by cattle management software over the past 20 years, the impact might have been even worse.

Tollens is a principal of ComputerAid Professional Services Ltd., an Okotoks, Alta.-based software company serving the cattle feeding sector. Tollens, who has a cow-calf background, started the company in 1987 with her husband, Ralph, an information technology professional.

“Our idea was to use computers and other technology to enhance business productivity,” says Tollens. “Knowing the industry, we knew the software had to be simple to use and effective at meeting the everyday challenges of running a feedlot.”

The company’s feedlot software programs, CattleBytes and DG Professional, today assist the management of 50 to 60 per cent of Alberta’s cattle. In the early years, the products mainly helped feedlot operators with accounting-related functions: identifying billing errors and missed pricing opportunities, and assisting with accurate data collection.

Where it once took seven to ten days for feedlots to invoice their custom-feeding clients, software cut that to one to two days. This initial productivity boost alone allowed one ComputerAid client to grow from 5,000 to 25,000 head without hiring new office staff.

Since 2000, the software has evolved to include bunk and weight management functions. According to the grid system now used by packers, prices are heavily discounted when cattle are overweight.

“Before, cattle had to be weighed frequently, or producers just had to hope for the best,” says Tollens. “Now, the software can predict what the weights of individual cattle will be. That makes it easier to ship those that are ready and hold back the others, thereby optimizing profitability.”

When BSE hit, feedlot producers faced two problems above all, according to Tollens. The first was getting their animals killed in a timely manner. The second was cash flow. Software-derived management information made it easier to ship the right cattle at the right time, thus mitigating some of the financial impact.

Tollens predicts the next wave of cattle software will allow producers to better maintain and manage detailed records for individual cattle. The evolution to unique identification and management, like the software itself, shows just how far the industry has come.

Says Tollens: “Without our client relationships, ComputerAid would not be able to achieve the advancements we have accomplished. We have the privilege of working with the leaders of the industry who are continually looking for ways to improve the performance and profitability of their operations.”

DAIRY: INFORMATION TO GO

Today’s larger dairy farms generate large volumes of information, which producers need to record and organize in order to manage their herd effectively. Many use the record-keeping software of CanWest DHI, a non-profit milk recording organization based in Guelph, Ont. The company’s two key software products are the Dairy Comp SCOUT and Dairy Comp 305 programs.

Dairy Comp SCOUT is a herd management tool for producers. The system allows the producer to enter cow information including milk production, reproduction and health events. From this information, the software generates standard management reports and herd management tools for the producer.

The more advanced program, Dairy Comp 305, also allows the producer to generate customized day-to-day lists of management activities and herd monitoring tools to increase herd performance. As of the end of June, Dairy Comp products were used by 510 Canadian dairy farms.

“With herd sizes getting larger, the value of this type of software keeps increasing,” says Jeromy Ten Hag, the company’s supervisor of software services. “As farms get larger, so does the volume of information they generate. This is an easy way to enter, store and use data for management purposes.

“When a producer has a smaller herd, they can possibly keep most of the information in their head. As herds get larger, producers need a tool to effectively manage all the information generated so they can improve herd profitability.”

Over the next several years, Ten Hag sees dairy management software evolving to become a tool to manage the Canadian Quality Milk Program, and working in concert with radio frequency identification tags on dairy animals.

“A lot more will be done using wireless technology, using handheld devices like a Palm,” he says. “The producer will have instant access to all the information on any cow.”

SWINE: SOFTWARE FOR SOWS

After a corporate buyout in 2000, two popular swine management software programs joined forces. According to Bob Fraser of Ontariobased Farms.com, the new Pig Champ program combines the best of its two parents: the original Pig Champ, developed in the 1980s at the University of Minnesota, and Pig Tales, courtesy of UK swine giant PIC (Pig Improvement Company UK Limited). Pig Tales was integrated under the Pig Champ brand.

Fraser, vice-president of swine business development, explains that Pig Champ helps producers manage day-to-day sow operations. The program generates “action lists” that detail what needs to be done with sows on any given day, compiling “sow cards” that track performance of individual sows over time. Pig Champ also features a database to analyze 250 performance parameters among its users. Currently, that’s 650 farms with a total of 700,000 sows. Pig Champ subscribers receive benchmark reports detailing their sows’ performance in 12 key parameters, relative to others, highlighting both the top 10 per cent and bottom 10 per cent for each.

“Pig Champ was a milestone for the industry, giving producers the ability to think in terms of a herd, rather than individual sows,” says Fraser. “Lots of producers these days have 5,000 sows or more, and you simply can’t keep track by hand.”

While Fraser assesses the impact of software in terms of swine productivity, his words could equally apply to the productivity revolutions in other livestock sectors.

“Software makes possible the scale of operations that we see now in agriculture,” he says, “by giving producers the ability to physically manage them. That’s a big deal.”