Creating Peace of Mind
“We all want to go away for a weekend from time to time, and now with INCYT we can check on our tanks and troughs even when we’re on the coast, instead of losing sleep while wondering whether the cattle have water or not.”
The Lean family used to use a legacy provider’s tank monitoring products on their operation, but they were having issues with satellite connectivity reliability. Every time they would have a cloudy or rainy period, they would not get tank monitoring updates for up to a week, negating any benefits that they could derive from this equipment.
After attending an INCYT presentation at the local show grounds as part of New South Wales’ Farms of the Future grant program, they decided to switch to a different supplier and chose INCYT due to its competitive subscription rates and equipment that is made to last.
Now that the Lean Family have a reliable tank and trough monitoring system in place, they can go away for a weekend and sleep at night, knowing that they’ll get an alarm if a problem arises. They no-longer have to wonder how long water infrastructure has been broken for when something has stopped working, or try to work out the level of stress in the cattle which can result in weight loss.
An optimised livestock operation
James Lean, together with parents David and Wendy, runs a beef trading and breeding operation at Ebor, NSW. On approximately 2,000 acres divided over 2 separate farms the family runs a herd of Angus breeders and buys store cattle around 250 kgs to grow them out to 550 - 600 kgs to then sell them to processing facilities. All their processes are optimised as much as possible, starting at the cattle they buy from the sale yards, explains James: “We buy on price and we buy picks of four or five head out of a yard to make up b-doubles. We find that, instead of buying complete lines, this way we get them 20, 30 cents (per kg) cheaper at least.” After cattle are bought and brought onto the property, it is key to keep the production costs as low as possible. James: “We’re part of a cost-of-production group run by Bill Hoffman, Hoffman Beef Consulting, where we have people come in to educate us on different topics and we submit our cost of production to the other group members and we compare and contrast our cost per kilo of beef. This provides us with a benchmark that we can measure ourselves against, which is very useful when trying to optimise our profits.”
Choosing technology to suit the operation
James had been using digital tank monitoring equipment for quite some time already but found that he had issues with the reliability: “We get a lot of cloud cover and low rain here and every time it was cloudy for a week, we wouldn’t get an update on our tank monitor. The data went from the water tank to a satellite (instead of a telecommunications tower), which in our case doesn’t work well and so it was pretty much useless to us. Not getting an update for a week, or even if it’s just for a day, is no good to us as then we’d still have to do manual checks, and the ‘trust factor’ is just not there and so we didn’t get the peace of mind that we were looking for when buying those tank monitors.”
When the New South Wales government opened up the Farms of the Future grant for producers in certain areas, including Ebor, James decided to investigate the different offerings so he could replace the tank monitoring equipment that wasn’t working well for the family and add some trough monitors to the system as well. James: “After applying to be a part of this grant I was able to access the AgTech catalogue and look at what’s available to us. When I saw INCYT’s offering, I noticed that the subscription rates were lower than other providers would offer. I then went to the local show grounds where INCYT was doing a presentation as part of their Farms of the Future grant road show to meet the team and see what they offered. When I saw and touched INCYT’s products, I noticed how well-built they are, and so we decided to go ahead with INCYT’s tank and trough monitors.”
Another important factor that lead to James’ decision to work with INCYT, other than solid equipment and low subscription rates, are his interactions with INCYT’s team he says: “I had emailed quite a few different companies, but INCYT were the first company to get back to me and they were very engaged. Other companies were not quick to respond and I ended up having to chase them up instead, so I prefer to work with INCYT where I got quick responses right from the beginning; it gave me confidence that they would also help me quickly with any issues once I bought their equipment.”
Creating peace of mind
Every farm has its own unique challenges, and the Lean family’s operation was no different when it comes to installing tank and trough monitors, recalls James: “We had some issues with the connectivity, the water in the trough was bit murky which was causing issues with the water presence sensor’s sensitivity for displaying ‘full’ or ‘empty, and we needed a few adjustments on the water tanks as well. As soon as I spoke to the INCYT support team they were able to dial into our equipment remotely and make the needed adjustments without even having to come out in person and look at it, so that was very quick and helpful and gave me confidence that INCYT helps me if I need anything - which creates peace of mind for us that we’ve partnered with the right organisation.”
Adopting digital tank and trough monitoring can be done for many different reasons, but for the Lean family creating peace of mind was the main factor according to James: “We all want to go away for a weekend from time to time, and now with INCYT we can check on our tanks and troughs even when we’re on the coast, instead of losing sleep while wondering whether the cattle have water or not. So I know how full the tanks are as a percentage, and I know whether 4 (of the 70 in total) troughs have water in them; we’ve picked these 4 as they are at the end of the line from a specific water tank, and so we know that when it’s got water in it, the others will have water in them too. And then when something does break, we know that we’re onto it early and that we can fix the issue before it becomes a bigger problem where cattle are losing weight or even die because of dehydration. It’s happened before and I can tell you that even if you prevent just one of your cattle from dying because it didn’t have water, it’ll pay for having INCYT for years!”