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.”
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