Grass Budgeting and Techno-Cowboys
Host: Mystery Park
Written by Tess Camm – Owner, Mystery Park.
‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’
At ‘Mystery Park’, measuring the volume of pasture we have produced during the wet season allows us to evaluate the number of stock we can safely run through until we anticipate the next wet season beginning. All members of the family contribute, whether it is stepping out the required area for a Stock Day (how many metres squared will feed one Livestock unit (LUS) for one day), or observing the ground cover or how many species are present.
Eliza’s chore of choice is running amuck with her partner in crime, Jane.
After assessing all the paddocks, we use a Microsoft Excel model to translate the number of Stock Days per hectare of feed available in a paddock into the number of days a paddock should be grazed, based on the amount of stock in that particular mob.
We are also working on integrating the FutureBeef iPhone application called ‘Stocktake +’ into our system. Mum is a passionate advocate for incorporating technological capabilities into our operation. She is the first to try a better way of recording stock numbers, animal data and treatments, or any tool that helps us make better management decisions. We also use the iHerd app, allowing us to keep track right then and there of the shifts between paddocks in our rotational grazing system.
Surely there is time to update my Instagram account with #sunset photo too right?
