ANNUAL INSIGHTS THE YEAR 5 REPORT ON FARM IQ FOR FARMERS AND INTERESTED PARTIES

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1 ANNUAL INSIGHTS THE YEAR 5 REPORT ON FARM IQ FOR FARMERS AND INTERESTED PARTIES

2 4 OVERVIEW PRODUCT 6 DEVELOPMENT 8 PROCESSING FEEDBACK FARM IQ AIMED TO CREATE SOMETHING THAT DIDN T EXIST: A DEMAND-DRIVEN, INTEGRATED VALUE CHAIN FOR NEW ZEALAND RED MEAT. FARM IQ IS BRINGING FARMERS AND CONSUMERS TOGETHER FARMERS Farmers understand how to produce animals that meet consumer preferences and receive payments based on meat quality. CONSUMERS Consumers are offered premium-branded red meat that consistently meets their eating quality preferences. 2

3 FARMER INSIGHTS GENETICS FARM IQ SYSTEM FARM PRODUCTIVITY FARMER INSIGHTS THE FARM IQ PROGRAMME PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Extensive market testing is providing better insight into consumer preferences. PROCESSING FEEDBACK Electronic tracking and extensive measurement in plants is providing data on key parameters and supporting process improvement. FARM IQ SYSTEM New tools integrate data from all sources to support farm decision making. FARM PERFORMANCE Best-practice production systems using data capture and analysis to better align with the value chain are being developed. GENETICS Advanced genomics techniques are being used to help farmers select breeding animals with the best meat eating quality traits. See also the Farm IQ Programme Logic Model, on page 9. 3

4 OVERVIEW CREATING VALUE Welcome to the fifth Farm IQ Insights report. We are pleased to report that the Farm IQ programme has made solid progress during the past year. A highlight was the rollout of the Farm IQ System, which began in August This farm management software directly addresses the Farm IQ vision of linking up across the red meat value chain by creating better information flows. The original brief that Farm IQ developed in conjunction with farmers was for over 1200 high-level user stories - each representing a user need to be addressed through the software. The Wellington-based IT company Fronde undertook the 22-month main System build, completed in May Landcorp transferred all its 143 farms over to the System at that time, replacing its existing information system. It was pleasing to get recognition for the Farm IQ System development in July 2015, when it won the Discovering Gold category of the Wellington business community s annual awards. The Farm IQ staffing grew to 26 by August 2014 (including part-time workers). Much of the work for the five workstreams has been done by contracted specialists, however it was decided that sales, training and support for the farm management software would be done in-house. In March 2015, an online farm assurance diary powered by Farm IQ was offered free of charge to Silver Fern Farms shareholders. This can cover a farm s compliance requirements by recording activities such as animal health treatments and staff training, replacing a paper notebook. The Processing Feedback workstream drew to a close during the year. This has broken new ground in electronic tracking through plants and investigated aspects of meat quality. We thank Grant Pearson for his able guidance of this work. Valuable insights gained by the Product Development workstream for how to add value to red meat products are now being implemented in markets around the world and a pipeline for generating new product ideas is in place. The Genetics workstream has developed a system for providing accurate and cost-effective predictions of sheep breeding values for meat quality. The next step now is to develop a commercialisation plan. The Farm Productive Capacity workstream has supported the rollout of the Farm IQ System by assessing how new measuring and monitoring tools can help raise farm productivity. The thrust of Farm IQ s work now is to get these powerful new tools working for farmers and the wider industry, and this was highlighted in the mid-term review of the programme undertaken by KPMG (see right-hand column). We wish to thank the many farmers and rural professionals as well as the Farm IQ staff and contractors for their commitment to the programme, which has made these results possible. Alison Paterson, Chairperson and Collier Isaacs, Chief Executive Commercial farmers pack choices (Not including Landcorp or IQ Farmers) Pack subscriptions Ratio (%) Starter 4.6 Animal 9.1 Animal Land & Environment 19.6 The Lot 45.8 Lot Lite (from Feb 2015) 1.9 4

5 FARM IQ STILL INNOVATING A review by management consultancy KPMG has confirmed that the Farm IQ programme is still doing work that is beyond business as usual for the red meat industry. This is one of a series of reviews of Primary Growth Partnership programmes commissioned by the Ministry for Primary Industries. KPMG aimed to give a sense of: whether the programme was still being sufficiently innovative, whether the expected outcomes are credible in the current context, and progress is being made. Overall Farm IQ has adapted appropriately to changes in its operating environment over the past five years and its expected outcomes remain credible, KPMG s researchers concluded. For example, the development of the Land and Environment module of the Farm IQ System supports farmers to meet increasing requirements for showing effective environmental management. The Farm IQ programme activities are ambitious, they say, and there is risk at this stage of not achieving short-term outcomes. A list of recommended actions includes (for the sake of completeness) many already underway, such as, accelerating farmer use of the Farm IQ System, data reporting for other processors and planning commercialisation of the Genetics project outcomes. KPMG notes that the programme s nature will shift over the next two years, from the current research and development focus to becoming a viable commercial entity. Valuable insights for how to add value to red meat products are now being implemented in markets around the world... 5

6 PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION CULTURE The Product Development workstream has now matured to a level where Silver Fern Farms has an embedded culture of market-led innovation. It is now business as usual for the Silver Fern Farms marketing team to be conducting regular consumer research, to use design thinking to create new strategies and to test new ways of creating value with red meat. A passionate Discovery & Development team are also continuously building prototypes of new products and packaging concepts aimed at maximising returns from across the entire carcass. As a result of their work, a number of new premium-priced products are being developed from lower value cuts that have traditionally been sold into lowvalue markets. These new concepts will be tested in the New Zealand market over the next 12 months. Following trials we will review these concepts and assess their potential applicability to provide returns from global markets. GLOBALISING MARKET PROTOTYPES Silver Fern Farms Market Development Managers are now actively globalising proven value-added concepts in key global hotspots such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, Middle East, USA and China. These new innovations include branded retail packs and premium-priced beef, lamb and venison targeting high-end hotels and restaurants in the food service sector. The keys to success as we enter new global markets with our high-value, branded programmes include: - An authentic Silver Fern Farms brand story based on a platform of being 100% Made of New Zealand. This provenance story is achieving good cut-through in the market. Silver Fern Farms has quickly become recognised worldwide as an expert red meat food company where passionate people on farms and in the production process create inspirational food. - High-quality product we are now seen by consumers as a world-class producer of grass-fed beef, lamb and venison. Consumers will pay a premium price for consistently highquality red meat, which is why our Eating Quality grading system is so important. It allows us to guarantee tasty, juicy and tender beef. The Premier Selection Reserve Beef product range is backed by the Eating Quality System. It has seen strong consumer acceptance, with 77 percent year-on-year growth since it was launched in

7 GOOD TO EAT Food service customers are showing strong interest in Silver Fern Farms Reserve Beef range. In total our beef value-added programmes now make up nearly 10 percent of all our prime beef sales. REPORT FROM GRANT HOWIE The food service category are customers who make ready-to-eat meals, including high-end hotels and restaurants. Silver Fern Farms Premier Selection Reserve beef programme is performing strongly in this category, with 77 percent year-on-year growth of the range overall. - Targeting the right market, the right customer and the right consumer. We know only specific market segments can afford and are willing to pay a premium price for our branded beef, lamb and venison. Therefore making the investment up front in detailed market research is vital to ensure we have the right customer in our sights from the start. - Building partnerships with passionate distributors, retailers and chefs. These are our brand ambassadors who we rely on to tell our brand story to consumers. Enabling these partners with resources so they can convey the key attributes of our products and the story of our brand is critical to establish a strong consumer following. Reserve is currently finding favour with restaurants in particular, due to its consistent quality in comparison to grass-fed competitor products. It is attracting a price premium in the market between 25 and 35 percent, and Silver Fern Farms is expecting a continued lift in volumes in the new season. Silver Fern Farms are expecting further growth in the USA through our partner Marx Foods. Marx are also substantial customers for our Premier Selection Grass-Fed Angus product range. In the Middle East and China markets we have started promoting the range to food service customers and expect good uptake. A number of new premium-priced products are being developed from lower value cuts that traditionally have gone to low-value markets, and these will be tested in the New Zealand market over the next 12 months. 7

8 PROCESSING FEEDBACK TRACKING AND MEASURING The Farm IQ Processing workstream completed its work during Year 4. The aim of this workstream has been to develop electronic tracking and measurement in processing plants, to provide more data and to support process improvement. There have been plenty of challenges getting new technologies to work well, but some good progress has been made in developing systems that collect information for suppliers and help improve meat yield and quality. The electronic ID (EID) scanning systems for cattle, deer and sheep are all working well. We worked closely with the equipment manufacturers to develop improved panel readers and get high read rates by dealing with electrical noise and interference. We now have radio frequency ID (RFID) tags in the carcass hooks to track carcasses through to boning rooms and use this to collect data on each animal. We are working with Oritain Ltd to develop a biochemical trace back system to prove product authenticity. Our main effort on yield measurement has been installing X ray grading systems in all sheep plants and getting them running reliably. As a result, we can now make primal weight measurements available to our suppliers. Work continues to move to the next generation of X ray equipment (DEXA), that will give meat, fat and bone proportions for each carcass. We also have a primal yield measurement system in place for all our venison plants that is based on the reduction of weight along the boning rail as each carcass is boned. Once we get the lamb yield measurement system advanced to the level where it can predict retail cut yields, we will be able to use this An experimental beef boning station at Finegand using RFID tags embedded in plastic trays for yield measurement. to ensure we make the best use of every carcass to meet market orders. There is real potential for increased market revenue long-term if we can get this right. Meat quality measurement has proved challenging, with none of the technologies tried proving suitable for high -speed on line measurement. We have decided to cease work on this project and keep a watching brief on developments in other countries so we can pick up promising new technologies when they are commercialised. We have learnt a lot about meat quality during the project and have fine -tuned many of our systems to optimise eating quality of beef, lamb and venison. The Beef EQ programme developed out of this work, with Reserve beef products launched in the markets. We also got good results from work on high -pressure processing of hot- boned beef to improve tenderness and rapid freezing technologies to capture the best quality attributes without the down-side of normal, slow freezing. REPORT FROM GRANT PEARSON grant.pearson@silverfernfarms.co.nz 8

9 THE FARM IQ PROGRAMME OUTCOME A logic model that summarises the thinking of the Farm IQ business plan. SUSTAINABLE GROWTH IN VALUE OF MARKET RETURNS FROM RED MEAT PRODUCTS (VALUE, NEW MARKETS, NEW PRODUCTS, EMPLOYMENT) LONG-TERM OUTCOMES 2030 Greater productivity Increased value of products Market growth or protection IMPACT ON WIDER ECONOMY (MEDIUM- TERM OUTCOMES) 2020 Increased volume of animals processed Increased conversion ratios (live weight to meat) New, higher value products produced Increased certainty of supply and consistency of product throughout value chain Enhanced reputation EFFECT OF ACTIVITIES (SHORT- TERM OUTCOMES) 2015 Increased uptake of smart processing techniques (off-farm) Improved animal heath (on-farm) Increased ability to produce innovative products, and to consumer specifications (value chain) Improved inventory management and traceability (value chain) Improved skills and farm management Improved breeding stock with desired traits Increased market knowledge 9

10 FARMER INSIGHTS DAN JEX-BLAKE Mangapoike, a 24,000 stock-unit operation near Gisborne, has started relying on the Farm IQ System for all its recording, says managing director Dan Jex-Blake (above right). For my business, this is the way of the future, he says. There are so many opportunities with this technology. He also uses Farmax software for feed budgeting. Since the beginning of 2015 they ve begun recording all aspects of the farm operations on the Farm IQ System. It s got to the point where they no longer need notebooks. Mangapoike consists of the steep hill country main farm, which has been in Dan s family for four generations now and runs breeding stock, along with another breeding block and two finishing blocks closer to Gisborne. It s staffed by a breeding manager, finishing manager, stockman, maintenance manager and cadet. Getting going with the Farm IQ System is a reasonable sort of undertaking to get everyone working with it; and comfortable and confident with it, Dan observes. Four of the staff are now using the Farm IQ app on their smartphones to record things like stock moves, animal health treatments and pasture covers as they go. It works really well, says Dan. When they re on a job they can enter in the information and it s done. They don t have to go back and do it later. It s a great way of keeping up with things. They also use Tru-Test 3,000 and 5,000 indicators and a wand for the beef, along with a three-way auto-drafter. He and the managers refer to a Farm IQ System map on a desktop computer when they re planning. It s a good visual and it s a user-friendly way of doing it. We can click on a paddock and discuss the size and work out rotations. They ve been recording EID information for the cattle and maternal lines of sheep into the System for the past three seasons, building up a database. I m confident enough about the value I ll get from it to put in the time and effort to record the information. They re tagging 20% of terminal lambs, and Dan is debating whether to tag all of them. He s interested in possibly using re-useable tags for finishing lambs to get more value for the $2 outlay. Dan s planning to start the next step of analysing the recorded information to help with decision-making. On the maternal side I want to make some calls about which ewes are worth keeping and breeding from. For example, we can look at the full history of the four-tooths and see which are the poor lifetime performers, so if we needed to drop animals they would be the first to go. You can make those calls based on objective information. We re lining up to do condition scoring twice a year as well at scanning and tupping. That s arguably the ultimate measure, because liveweight is a fixed target that can differ with the animal s size and frame but condition score is what will really deliver performance. The data could also give an insight into their cropping and re-grassing programme. They re growing a plantain and clover mix and a specialist ryegrass on 130ha of flats and this past season have tried renovating pasture on a small block of less Summer-productive hill country using a no-cultivation method. There s always a balance between cost and the feed value, he notes. Another balancing act is the ratio between sheep and beef. Angus cows have been used to control feed, with half their progeny finished and half sold store. With better beef prices relative to sheep he s weighing up the potential from finishing all beef young stock on the farm, which would mean reducing sheep numbers. At the end of the day the future is about technology and its practical application. Farm IQ, whilst requiring ongoing enhancement, is the future and has the capacity to add so much to a farming business productivity. As further technological advances are made, we are going to need a platform to capture all the information Farm IQ is that platform. 10

11 MATT O BRIEN Matt O Brien, the manager of the large finishing operation at Lindis Crossing in the Cromwell area, says the Farm IQ System is hitting the mark for them. Matt has been on the 770ha property for six years and during that time they ve increased the irrigated area from around 100ha to over 400ha. This has enabled them to increase stock numbers and they are now finishing 23,000 lambs, 1000 to 1200 cattle and 750 to 900 deer a year. The Farm IQ System is providing us with exactly what we need, he says. And working with it gets easier all the time. For example I m using it to do stock reconciliations. It provides real-time accurate information, which is vitally important for this operation... It s all there for everyone to see. And once it s in the System, it stays in the System. Lindis Crossing is owned by three investors and they all have read-only access to the System. Matt says this saves him a lot of time in writing up reports. They can go in themselves and have a look at anything they need to know. Matt works with two staff. We didn t really crack into using the System until this past summer. I said to the second-in-charge, We re going to embrace this technology, and he s keen. We went to a couple of training days. We needed to get a bit done on it to show the owners what it can do. I think it s better to start putting a wee bit in and then more over time as you get more confident. We re slowly getting into it more and more. I can see in another 12 months we will be flying on it. The investors think it s great. One of them part-owns a dairy farm and they have been recording for a long time. He thinks it s good that sheep and beef get the opportunity to do the same and to use it to analyse the farm s performance. The farm team are all using the phone app for recording. It means it s done on the spot and nothing gets forgotten. They just do it as they go; click a few buttons and away they go. We are using the System to note information about individual paddocks. It is replacing the paddock book. We are noting things like the spray history. It provides an accurate record of what s been done where, and that can easily be accessed in future, for example if a new manager comes on. Matt is also using the System to run reports on stock sent for slaughter. He s keen to be able to compare how stock from different suppliers are doing on Lindis Crossing. They have EID tags on about 10% of the lambs and use a Tru-Test XR3000 to capture information, which they then load onto the Farm IQ System. They also have a wand for recording cattle as they come off the truck, as well as a sheep autodrafter, with a cattle one soon to come. They also have Cashmanager Rural financial management software and will soon start to use the new data sharing between that and the Farm IQ System. It provides real-time accurate information, which is vitally important for this operation... It s all there for everyone to see. And once it s in the System, it stays in the System. 11

12 GENETICS EARLY PREDICTIONS The Farm IQ Genetics workstream that aims to produce high-quality genetic and genomic breeding value predictions for growth, yield and eating quality in terminal sires is now moving into its final phase. This project has enabled an in-depth study into the genetic parameters of meat yield and quality in lamb. The first phase featured the creation of the Illumina high-density SNP chip in This has enabled us to predict an animal s breeding value for meat quality traits using DNA testing only. Further testing has showed that the breeding value accuracies being achieved are equivalent to the potential sire animal having been being killed and tested for the actual trait. The implications of this are that accurate breeding values for meat quality traits can be available for terminal sire ram lambs at weaning - so the breeding generation interval can now be significantly shortened. The researchers have been working with 11 New Zealand flocks that produce Texel terminal sires or composite-type genetics derived from the Suffolk, Texel, and Poll Dorset breeds; most of them part of the Focus Genetics network. It is a numbers game, as the more tests are done the more accurate future predictions will be. To date, the second phase of the project has entailed measuring eating quality and carcass yield traits in more than 15,000 progeny from 839 terminal sires. The automatic tracking of carcasses with electronic identification (EID) in Silver Fern Farms plants has helped with this. We have continued to collect DEXA and CT Wendy Bain of AgResearch analyses carcass CT images for meat yield. measurements on 50 carcasses per year to allow calibration of the system and integration with subsequent years measurements for meat yield traits. Indicators of eating quality such as meat tenderness, ph, marbling, colour and colour stability have been measured, along with using the Illumina highdensity SNP chip to probe 600,000 DNA variants from each individual animal. Together, this has enabled the development of prediction equations for meat yield and quality traits that have been used as part of a pre-commercial beta test this year. Specifically, born terminal sire ram lambs were genotyped both for parentage and genomic selection, and meat quality molecular breeding values were produced. This has enabled an interim index of desired gains to be constructed, and this was used for the 2014-born ram lambs (used for mating in 2015). This work is now moving into the final phase of testing results in commercial terminal sire breeding flocks to ensure the new system is accurate, practical and cost-effective. This wider testing will be assisted by the development of a much lower cost SNP chip that 12

13 USEFUL SPIN-OFF One spin-off from the Farm IQ Genetics project is an efficient method for Genotyping by Sequencing (GBS). REPORT FROM SHANNON CLARKE Farm IQ contributed to an early exploration of this technology in sheep, cattle and deer in 2012, before favouring the SNP chip technology as being more ready to deliver. Some GBS technology had been developed overseas for cattle but not for sheep or deer. The early work by Farm IQ created the basis for further, separate development of GBS, through a project funded by the Ministry for Innovation, Business and Employment. AgResearch has produced a method that enables high throughput of test samples, which is therefore more costeffective. This could mean that by spring 2017 it may be possible to combine genotyping for parentage and genomic selection for little more than the cost of existing parentage genotyping. The data produced is not as goldstandard as the SNP chip method, but statistical analysis has been developed to deal with that. essentially contains all the information of the high-density SNP chip but is more practical to use as part of an expanded parentage test. A smaller number of progeny tests will be done for the season with Kelso, Suftex, Dorset and maternal sires in addition to Focus Genetics Primera, Lamb Supreme and Texel sires. We need to formulate a plan for a transition to ongoing commercial use by stud breeders over the next two years. The work has been valuable in bringing science-based meat quality measures into sheep breeding and developing methods that make them accessible for commercial breeders. Accurate breeding values for meat quality traits can be available for terminal sire ram lambs at weaning. The next step is to develop this technology for other species of economic importance to New Zealand, such as clover, ryegrass and salmon. This is a good technology for smaller industries, such as deer or aquaculture which won t have the volume of testing to justify the large upfront capital cost of an SNP chip. There is potential for combining the GBS and SNP chip technology, because the GBS technology involves going through parts of the genome each time so further relevant variants could be discovered and these could be loaded onto a chip. 13

14 FARM IQ SYSTEM WE HAVE LIFT-OFF In August 2014 the Farm IQ System was launched as a commercial product, offering farmers a range of five packs to suit their individual requirements. The Farm IQ System is comprehensive farm management software that s unlike anything else on the market, because it encompasses all aspects of the farm land, feed and animals. The general view of the Farm IQ System is that it s pretty straightforward to use. Most farmers report they re working initially with a few of the functions and will develop their System use from there. The System received recognition in the Wellington business community s 2015 Gold Awards, winning the Discovering Gold category for recent research & development projects. We are continuing to develop and improve the System, and ensure that it connects with its potential market the farmers who could benefit from using it. The ultimate aim is that it will be a commercially sustainable software product, serving farmers needs well into the future. NEW FUNCTIONALITY Since the launch, Farm IQ has continued to develop the System, working with its developer Fronde. There have been three more major software releases containing many new features and delivering ever-increasing value. For example, reporting functionality has been taken to a new level, with a customisable management Dashboard enabling a range of key indicators to be selected for an at-a-glance view of farm performance. We have also introduced a set of Tools and Calculators, currently comprising planning tools and a gross margin calculator for assessing store and finishing stock options. Our free companion mobile app has also evolved, so a wider range of data can be recorded in the paddock and it is now available for iphone as well as Android smart phones. In the past year we have developed two key integrations with third-party software solutions: integration with Cashmanager Rural financial management software was ready for full release on 1 July 2015, and integration with Farmax feed budgeting software is expected to become available later in Both integrations enable automated flow of data from the Farm IQ System, so farmers enter data once, leveraging more value from the data captured in the Farm IQ System and improving data integrity across multiple systems. These integrations support Farm IQ s philosophy of maximum value for minimum effort and further extend the range of reporting and decision-making possible with the Farm IQ System. While we continue to add new functionality requested by our customers, an ongoing improvement programme runs alongside the development programme, identifying opportunities to improve the interface and usability. DATA STANDARDS Farm IQ continues to support the NZ Farm Data Standards initiative and has already adopted the data standards in a number of the integrations developed in the past year. We await confirmation of our accreditation to the NZ Farm Data Standards Code of Practice, which is to be reviewed by an Accreditation Review Panel due to be appointed in the near future. FARM IQ SYSTEM PACKS A Pack to get you started Manage your animals for profitable production The Animal Pack with even more value Manage your land for profitable and sustainable production The complete System that gives you the full picture 14

15 REPORT FROM MARK JOHNSTONE Mark Johnstone with views from the Farm IQ System BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE (BI) The past 12 months has seen significant development of our BI platform. This now gives us the opportunity to leverage the data recorded in the Farm IQ System and undertake more complex analysis and data mining not available in the standard suite of reports in the Farm IQ System. This can be done at individual farm level or across any set of aggregated data, such as organisation, region or stock class. It offers the opportunity to quickly prototype reports and explore their potential value, and also to start looking for patterns or relationships in the data to test theories about how apparently unrelated factors influence outcomes. It is still early days in the process, but we are starting to see some useful outcomes from this tool. CUSTOMER TRAINING PROGRAMME In addition to the initial training that Farm IQ provides to new customers, the Training & Support Team is running a rolling series of free seasonal workshops. Many farm activities are done only once a year, so the seasonal workshops are focused on upcoming farm activities, such as weaning, and cover the related System tasks and reporting. This gives our customers the opportunity to refresh their skills, spend time with our knowledgeable team and cover off any other training requirements or System issues they have; and also to meet and share ideas or solutions with other customers. CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE BASE The Training & Support Team has further developed the Farm IQ System on-line help documentation, which is available on the Help section of the Farm IQ website. The range of subjects covered is now extensive and we will continue to grow this on-line resource. It encompasses all aspects of the farm land, feed and animals. 15

16 FARM PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY DRIVING FARM PERFORMANCE The Farm IQ programme aims to build a value chain for New Zealand s red meat industry based on integration of on-farm and processing data. At this stage, the Farm Productive Capacity workstream is focused on using the existing Farm IQ System features and testing the integration of all parts of the value chain right from the quality of the finished product back to the soils and plants used to grow the animals. THE FARM IQ SYSTEM From the outset the Farm IQ System has been designed so farmers can compare and contrast farm management options. Now that we are five years into the Farm IQ programme, some farmers have been using the Farm IQ System (and its pilot predecessor) over several seasons. These farmers have a clear understanding of their farm s base performance, have set targets and are now monitoring progress towards them. As a farm gets bigger in size so do the number and types of livestock, staff and land blocks. This is where the Farm IQ System comes to the fore, as it makes it easy to record and view farm management data (such as livestock tallies, sales and purchases, pasture covers, health treatments and land applications). Because the System is online and live, key staff can look at the most recent data. It eliminates second-hand information or copies of files. Over the past year, there have been several enhancements of the Farm IQ System and new features have been added that deliver further value to farmers. Whangara Farms staff talk about using the Farm IQ System to track ewe performance during a field day. These include: - Integration with Cashmanager Rural, online farm financial software from CRS Software - Tools for feed budgets, stock rotations and gross margin calculations that help the farmer plan and identify the value of farm management decisions - A tool to create farm activity plans such as a schedule for animal health treatments or a plan of weighing and condition scoring, to make sure things happen at the right time - The ability to set up planned farm activities with tasks that can be allocated to staff and synched with the Farm IQ mobile app - Enhancements to the mobile app and the development of standard codes for tag files for easier data entry - An in-the-cloud library for safe storage and easier sharing of tag files - A straightforward process for creating drafting files that contain animals farmers want to identify and physically separate on the farm. The change in early 2014 to simpler management of animals in the System as a result of decoupling individual records (EID tags) from mob records (tallies) has proved to be a good one for farmers. Improvements to the System will never really stop: in particular there will be more integration with other farm software and more functionality on the mobile app. But the aim will always be to keep it simple to use. 16

17 ANIMAL HEALTH This work aims to give farmers information for managing animal health. Using reporting through the Farm IQ System, farmers can now analyse and contrast the incidence of carcass disease and defects between different suppliers of animals and compare their disease and defect incidence against regional averages. The development of the planning feature in the System has provided a facility where farmers and their vets can create an Animal Health Plan for all their stock classes on farm. Farm IQ is currently involved in using the Farm IQ System as part of an AgResearch trial that is testing the efficacy of a sheep vaccine to reduce pneumonia in lambs. Developments in this area in the near future will include being able to compare the incidence under other management variables such as different breeds and forages and more how-to-guides that provide management information to help reduce the incidence of diseases and defects. EQUIPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE Data capture from weigh scales for easy liveweight recording is essential for an efficient farm information system. Last year our technology partner Tru-Test released a new range of scale indicators, the The XR and ID models were developed as part of the Farm IQ programme and represent a significant advancement in animal data capture and management. The 5000 s are easier to use, with features such as saved favourite set-ups, an easyto-read screen and the addition of a wi-fi antenna. This last has been important for Farm IQ users because it means they can now transfer indicator files to the Farm IQ System using Apple mobile devices. IQ FARMS Farm IQ continued its partnership with 11 sheep, beef and deer farmers to run IQ Farm projects. These farmers represent a good range of commercial farms as their properties vary in location, size, focus, governance, topography, climate and potential productivity. They include intensive cattle finishing, sheep breeding and finishing, deer and high country farming. What is consistent, though, is their focus on lifting productivity by measuring and monitoring to get good, objective farm information and make better decisions farming with facts. Toward the end of the farming season, in May, we held a meeting where the IQ Farmers presented and discussed what they have found. They are also providing ongoing feedback on what works, what s missing and what needs improving in the System. One interesting observation from this group was that farmers can use the System to support their management of employee health and safety through the new Tasks feature. Activities such as meetings can be recorded and hazards can be marked on the map, and this information is easily accessed for future reference. The IQ Farmers are conducting some interesting on-farm projects. One is using electronic ID (EID) technology to remotely identify which lambs belong to which REPORT FROM TODD WHITE todd.white@farmiq.co.nz mothers, enabling them to calculate the total lamb liveweight weaned by each ewe. Most IQ Farmers are monitoring soil moisture and relating it to measured pasture growth. There is also a project where EID and DNA technologies are being used to identify sires and determine their performance based on their offspring s liveweight gains and carcass data. Several farmers have used Farm IQ to identify which forage options are best for their situations. Outside the IQ Farm network other farmers are also using the System in innovative ways. One North Island sheep farmer, for example, is using Farm IQ to determine the impacts of early weaning and indoor lambing on lamb growth and incidence of carcass defects and disease. These farmers have a clear understanding of their farm s base performance, have set targets and are now monitoring progress towards them. 17

18 FARMER INSIGHTS BRYAN LORENZ Farm manager Bryan Lorenz says the Farm IQ System has been designed by farmers for farmers and it shows. Bryan has been managing Landcorp s Huirimu property near Te Awamutu for the past 3 and a half years, and is a member of a Landcorp user group that has been providing feedback since the beginning of the System development. I quite like the tech side of things and could see its potential Seeing it evolve has been exciting. It has become a really good tool. Huirimu is on good finishing land, so they breed and finish their own stock as well as bringing in store stock to finish, sending off lambs, 120 yearling heifers and month steers a year. Bryan got panel readers installed in the cattle and sheep scales, and they took the farm recording to another level. They tagged about a third of the lambs as a sample and for brought-in stock they marked the breed and where they got them from. They also regularly weighed about a third of the finishing cattle. I ve got it set up so the sheep crush is automated, including an autodrafter, so we don t touch it: they just go through. With the cattle we just manually draft them according to weight or whatever we want. It s about using data and being able to show benefits from that. For example, with the cattle you get to point where the schedule is starting to drop. With the System you know what rate they are growing and you can make informed decisions about whether they can outgrow the schedule and you should hold them or whether the schedule is dropping faster than you can grow them. You will know, not guess. With our suppliers, we want to work together with them to lift quality if they are interested. You can investigate what s behind any differences like what drenches the animals got. We re trying to help productivity all over. Bryan is now moving to Landcorp Tarawera, a 2600 ha effective property near Mt Ruapehu running sheep, beef and deer. I don t know what equipment there is on the new farm but will set it up the same and I am being supported to do that. Bryan has been using the app on his smartphone to record information. We don t have reception at the yards but we have wi-fi at home and as soon as I get in range it updates the System. I can record stock sales, animal health treatments, pasture covers or put in rainfall just check the gauge and put it in straight away. I have got the map set up with the different grasses and cropping, I record things like chemical applications and I have used the feed budget tool. I have marked all waterlines on it, so when I leave there is a record of where they go. There s nothing worse than starting on a new farm and not knowing where anything is. Another good tool that I use is the measuring tool. I find it s really accurate for measuring fencelines for subdivision. The map said a fenceline we made would be 1260 metres and we actually fenced That makes your financial budgeting really easy and it doesn t take long at all to do. Landcorp requires its farm managers to sign off on the farm s stock rec each month. It s really good and easy to do. Also, you can look back six months and see what your deaths are tracking at... The way things are going for farm businesses with more compliance and more recording needed, I feel it s more beneficial if it s all done from one programme not 13 or 14 different folders with all your different compliance things. And it doesn t take a lot of time. I think it s a great farming tool it s another tool in your toolbox. If you utilise it you re going to get results from it. 18

19 JEFF CLEVELAND With the Farm IQ System, the facts are right in front of you, says North Otago farmer Jeff Cleveland. Jeff and his wife Di are regional winners in this year s Silver Fern Farms Plate to Pasture 2015 competition. It recognises farmers who consistently supply quality stock to meet consumers needs. The Clevelands run 7000 stock units of sheep, cattle and deer on a 400ha home block near Oamaru that s been in Jeff s family for 42 years, along with a 320ha lease block. The couple have been involved with Farm IQ since the pilot phase, which started in Jeff says they re interested in being able to benchmark and to track individual animals. They re on the hunt for the good performers and the under-performers in their farm set-up. as hoggets, then they go on to the dryland and they take a wee while to adjust. Their scanning as two-tooths wasn t as high as I would like, so we decided to check what was happening. We thought maybe the ones that produced twins as hoggets were producing singles as two-tooths. With the Farm IQ System, we saw that 84% of the animals that produced twins as hoggets also produced twins as two-tooths. And, the ones that were dry as hoggets produced only a single as a two-tooth the following year. So there seems to be a genetic element to it. We ll select from the ones consistently having twins. The facts are right in front of you. His next mission is to use the Beef EQ reporting through the Farm IQ System to increase the number of beef animals they are getting into the Reserve Grade. I want to see what s behind the ones that are getting in is it hereditary? Are the same cows getting progeny into the grade all the time? MAKING DECISIONS One big decision the Farm IQ System helped them with was comparing the two maternal breeds of sheep they were using. We want to produce an 18.5 to 19kg lamb, and one breed seemed to be taking longer to achieve target weight. They used the Farm IQ System to compare lamb weaning weights and growth rates through the season. It confirmed what Jeff had suspected: One breed was holding us back. Eighteen months ago they shifted to using only the other breed. A lot of things on the farm, you have an inkling yourself about them in your own mind, but with the System you use facts to confirm your thinking or show you something different. I m targeting it to help me make decisions. Another scenario was we wanted to check the performance of our replacements as hoggets and twotooths. We run the ewe lambs on irrigation and lamb them PLANNING The addition of further planning tools to the System in early 2015 is valuable, he says. They re currently a family farming operation, but he envisages employing staff in the future. The new tools, including calculators and scheduling, can assist day-to-day operations as well as strategic and seasonal planning. Planning is particularly important when you want to develop or increase the size of your farm business, he points out. With the System, all the farm information is in one place. You can see where you can extract more from the operation. Their longer term planning typically happens during the winter, Jeff says, and involves the ownership group himself and wife Di and his parents Ross and Mary. They also bring in a consultant as needed. We sit down and think about what we want to do. We set goals and then make a plan for how we want to go about achieving them. 19

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