How’s farm tech changed in a generation?
Independent Contributor
Farm Technology
Last week my 13-year old son was playing ‘Farming Simulator 25’, an online game he downloaded where he sets up a farm, buys tractors, implements, seed, fertiliser etc. Its remarkably real, and he asked me how farming had changed since I was a kid.
I learnt to drive this tractor in 1983 at 13 years old, the aircon and surround sound never failed….heater a bit moody.
Fast forward to 2026 and the sort of data/management we dreamt about in 1983 is here.
This is real time data we have on an App from Fonterra, SCC (Somatic Cell Count) the day after pick up alerting us to any possible mastitis spreading in the herd. Actual litres per day and trend data form month to month and year to year. And we can dig deeper into Milk Urea and Protein/Fat ratios among other things.
Another App linked to Fonterra constantly checks the Milk Vat temperature and volume, alerting us if it doesn’t cool quick enough or there is a fault.
The same App also monitors all the water tanks on the farm, alerting us to leaks and faults, preventing stock from running out of drinking water, and the dairy from running out of cleaning water. In 1983 this was done by climbing each tank with a ladder! On an outback station this saves an incredible amount of time….and thirsty stock.
The same App also monitors our fuel tanks, alerting us to possible theft or running out!
Now in our third season with Halter virtual fencing, we are using the real time data and trends to optimise both cow feeding, pregnancy rates and grass growth.
This has now been linked directly to Fonterra and the daily milk data is integrated with cow grazing and rumination time. Top black line is daily milk production with scale on the right and Grazing/Ruminating time in minutes per day on the left.
The pasture growth curve below uses satellite imaging data. In our first year with Halter it was a bit erratic in its reading, now with many more farms using the technology and improved algorithm analysis, it is pretty accurate although still needs a trained mangers eye to check covers otherwise cows can be under fed.
Mating is where most farmers I talk too can actually measure the improvement. In 1983 and even 3 years ago we were painting cow’s backs to identify cycling cows, they mount eachother when they are cycling, the resulting rubbing off of paint is then visually appraised to be drafted for Artificial Insemination.
Now we have 3 years of mating results using halter to identify cycling cows tracking excessive movement among other things, linked to an automatic drafting gate which drafts them for Insemination each morning.
However the human observation factor cannot be overlooked….the Halter map below shows good information, cow whereabouts and virtual fences are easily drawn.
Unfortunately this was at 2am on Monday night, as you can see on the bottom right almost a whole herd has gotten into the neighbours grain…..AI cannot yet tell us when a fence is buggered.
