How are you, cows?

How are you this morning?

It’s a very simple and familiar question. In agriculture, it’s one graziers ask their cattle whenever they visit a paddock (although perhaps, for most, they don’t ask out loud).

The (unspoken) answer to that “how are you” question shapes a grazier’s business decisions around when that mob can be turned off, or needs to move to fresh pasture.

Imagine if that question could be answered by the mob, and, even better, it was an accurate data-driven answer delivered by email every morning before the grazier even clapped eyes on a single cow.

It’s not science fiction, it’s real technology a group of graziers has been testing in an NQ Dry Tropics trial.

Properties in the Bowen-Collinsville area have, during the past year trialled an Optiweigh in-paddock weighing machine.

The Optiweigh is a portable unit containing some kind of lure for cattle — lick, molasses, meal, whatever works — so cattle walk into the unit and while they sample the “bribe” their eartag is recorded and they are weighed.

It’s not for everybody — every grazing regime is different — but for those who rotate cattle across paddocks and try to keep weight gain on an upward trend through to market, it can be a game-changer.

BOOST TO PROFIT

Glenalpine grazier Barry O’Sullivan, who suggested the trial based on the impact the machine had on his business, said the initial outlay for the machine on his property was recovered in kilograms of beef within two months.

And because the weight-gain graph of a mob of steers included no pauses or plateaus, those kilograms were converted to cash three-to-four months earlier than would have been the case previously.

“With the continuous weight gain we have been able to achieve using the Optiweigh feedback, we can offload our cattle months earlier, leaving more grass in the paddocks for next season, or for more cattle later on [in the season],” Barry said.

While the technology has been a part of the Glenalpine business for more than seven years, participants in the trial had only three months in which to evaluate its worth.

HANDS-ON TRIAL

NQ Dry Tropics Climate Adaptation Coordinator Justin Macor said the project was intended to give producers an opportunity to test the technology within their own systems.

“Hopefully, it will also start conversations around how technology can aid decision making, assist with grazing management and pasture utilisation, or improve understanding of how different land types are performing,” he said.

Weetalaba grazier Reid Muirhead, unable to attend the workshop because of bad weather grounding his flight, said he used the Optiweigh on a herd of weaner heifers.

During the three-month trial at Weetalaba, Reid said the unit was very manouevrable and reliably emailed data every morning.

He said the heifers on which the Optiweigh was used accepted it very quickly and only rain reducing their desire for supplement upset the regular use of it.

“We couldn’t really use it as thoroughly as we would have liked in the short time they had it and because it was during the dry season,” he said.

Reid said he was considering an Optiweigh to help monitor sale cattle weights.

SHARING EXPERIENCE

Justin said the producer-to-producer discussions generated at the field day were very important as they gave people the chance to learn how their peers were applying technology in a practical way in their business.

Mt Aberdeen grazier Jess Norman-Russell trialled the Optiweigh with steers in a remote and rugged paddock in the hills.

“That was one of the ‘pros’ for the machine,” she said.

“It was very easy to take it up into rough country, set it up and connect it to the website.”

And by the time they got back to the homestead, it was already reading and sending data.

She said they grew their steers out to 400kg — about two years — before they went to market and they were in a long-term paddock for about the final six months.

The Optiweigh would be able to tell them accurately when their cattle were nearing market weight.

Justin said trials like this could become more common as producers sought hands-on experience with new tools that become available as technology develops.

“Direct insight from peers and, perhaps hands-on experience, helps build confidence and better understanding of which tools may benefit their business,” said.

He said the Optiweigh, delivering a report on the trending weight of cattle in a particular paddock was of particular benefit to graziers trying to keep cattle gaining weight to get them to market as quickly as possible.

“It would also be of benefit to any grazier wanting a data-based indication of when to move cattle to fresh pasture,” he said.