From the Barns: Going high tech

February came in for us a little nicer, but we remain in drought mode. It is a continuing concern as we rapidly approach early spring and a real need for our ponds to be replenished for this year’s grazing.

I just returned from a quick trip to Nashville in Middle Tennessee for CattleCon, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s annual meeting and trade show. We drove down Tuesday, spent all day in the trade show Wednesday and drove home Thursday. It was an expensive three days, but I had not been for a few years and wanted to take in at least one more trade show. It was a tiring day to try and see all there was in one day of a 7-acre exhibit floor and spend some extra time seeing friends or new friends or taking time to ask questions of some of the exhibitors. Overall, it was not only enjoyable and worth the effort, but very educational, as well.

The cattle industry is rapidly growing with technology. With our drought situation, perhaps we should be using available risk management tools and I certainly wish I would have invested there three years ago when this situation really began. There were a number of companies promoting electronic or even solar-powered ear tags capable of providing multiple data streams with a lot of information you want to know about your cattle, including calving alerts, health, welfare and disease alerts, estrus alerts, mounting alerts, feed efficiency, grazing and pasture quality, predator alerts, location and even methane monitoring. These tags are still pretty pricey, but should move to more affordable as development improves. Some of these tags are already reusable as durability improves.

I would really like to tag a few head for our summer annuals grazing project to find out more about grazing patterns, forage quality, and forage and water intake. I think just 5% to 10% of the herd could provide a lot of information or you might want to just tag the bull or a favorite cow to see what’s happening out there.

The time has come to pick up frost-seeding needs, that being for us a good supply of red clover to cover all our fescue pastures at 3 to 4 pounds per acre. With the open winter we still have cows grazing stockpiled fescue, so we may be seeding ahead of winter grazing or certainly right behind a graze.

It is also the month to be busy attending to cattle and grazing events. Bring some rain and stay safe and sane.