The Dairy Research Foundation Symposium was held from July 5-6 in Camden NSW. I was lucky enough to be living close by in the Gold Coast which allowed me to drop my cap and goggles, take a break from triathlon training and whip down south for a short three day stint.

This was a welcome distraction from job hunting which had been taking up the majority of my waking hours. The opportunity for me to finally see some agricultural land, talk to some farmers and learn a bit as well was perfectly placed for this.

Recent publications suggest that dairy services provider LIC is well and truly at the forefront of technological agriculture development. Chairman Murray King indicated (in an article written by Alan Williams, in the February 18 issue of ‘The New Zealand Farmers Weekly’) that demand for product and services from dairy farmers has lifted across all operating segments in the first half of the trading year.

Attention all dairy farmers! Hopefully OneFarm has caught your gaze by releasing its first smartphone application (app) in a timely fashion right before the busiest period of year. Grass2Milk is its name and as the name suggests it is a tool for assisting with the conversion of grass into the white gold we call milk. How exactly does it do this?

I hate to say it, but it looks like many places in the country are in drought like conditions. As a farmer, or someone who cares for agricultural livestock, you generally have two options in these conditions where grass or crop growth is so minimal that the subsequent “food” barely hits the sides of your usually high performing milk and meat producing stock. So, what can you do? Either ration your supplements, buy in more (usually at a ridiculous price) or alternatively sell those excess or not so high performing beasts.

Rezare Systems has been working with New Zealand agricultural industry players; mainly DairyNZ, MPI through the PGP and FarmIQ Systems; to develop “dairy industry network data standards”. It seems this work is largely in response to a general trend in farming become more data-rich and somewhat data overloaded.

Aquaflex developed in conjunction with Lincoln University and Streat Instruments is a technology that is increasingly useful. With changing environmental regulations, the recent droughts throughout New Zealand and the changing economic environment Aquaflex can aid in improving on farm economic and environmental efficiency.

What is Aquaflex and how does it work?

iAgri have developed a great whole farm management package which is suitable for all farm businesses. They offer a very comprehensive suite of financial and production management tools which are relatively easy to use. iAgri Diary includes the more practical on-farm management tools such as feed budgeting, stock information (milk production, liveweights, health treatments and the like). Farm paddocks are mapped onto a satellite image of the farm and activities such fertiliser applications, irrigation and pest and disease control are then recorded for easy future reference.

iPayroll is an online payroll service that is very popular with businesses in New Zealand. It is a cost-effective option, even for small farm businesses wanting to simplify how they pay staff salaries. Employers enter the timesheet information, pay rate and tax code and iPayroll will generate a payslip and automatically pay the staff member and IRD, as well as deduct any Kiwisaver contributions. Staff can also view their payslip online, something I appreciated doing on my last dairy farm job.