Automation

[Klause]

If you could have a machine that works by itself without an operator what would you want to automate on your farm?


Let's have a non political/enviro conversation... That doesn't stress anybody out (I hope)

[TASFarms]

Sprayer

[15444]

Money printing press.

[Sheepwheat]

If you could have a machine that works by itself without an operator what would you want to automate on your farm?


Let's have a non political/enviro conversation... That doesn't stress anybody out (I hope)

Hauling bales.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

If you could have a machine that works by itself without an operator what would you want to automate on your farm?


Let's have a non political/enviro conversation... That doesn't stress anybody out (I hope)

Great idea for a topic.

Not so much a machine, but a system.

I want every cow to be equipped with GPS, communications, the ability to monitor vital signs in real time, plus a shock collar integrated into the system.

Then I want to remove all fences, and rely on the shock collar and training to rotationally graze cows, move them, bring them to corrals for processing etc. Send me a message when they have a temperature, under stress, calving.

Then never have to go out to find a dead cow who laid down in a hole, got on her back and couldn't get up, no more paranoia about when they will break out and go marauding through the crops. no more checking calving cows constantly in cold weather just in case, move cows or chase them with one person and a computer.

This would be to the cattle industry, what GMO and No till was to the grain industry.

Being a herd animal, all you would have to do is train a few and they would train the rest.

What I envision is progressively larger shocks when going the wrong way, and perhaps a reward (hormonal?) for going the right way.

I would happily get back into cows in a big way if this was possible.

[Misterjade9]

Like you mentioned before Klause, rockpicker and the roller.

[wmoebis]

I always enjoyed running equipment. I think the most $ could be made in having a fully automated grain handling system like high throughput elevators. Being able to direct grain to cleaners/driers and blend to very bottom of grade when shipping or blend up to exact specs that the end user or buyer wants. All at the push of a button and very little shovel or broom work.

[GDR]

Shoveling shit, don't mind cleaning corrals but using a pitch fork cleaning shit is my least favourite job.

[workboots]

Why not a more simplistic approach to bringing automation into our farms

A system that cover a range of important low broadband data points.

Bin temp/moisture fan control
Soil moisture and nutrient profiles.
Fuel tank level monitoring security
Home monitoring, temp or door alarms.
Water bowl monitor
rodent control

Right now it cost an absolute fortune to monitor all these things through individual cellular modules.. but we do it.

We haul little envelopes of information with cellular frequencies, virtual freight trains build for huge bandwidth.

All this happens yet there are technologies equivalent in efficiency to email for sending that same data to an cellular end piont (the freight train)

The systems we have are primitive. Why not improve them 10x first.

[Rareearth]

Ideally “app like functionality” intuitive, user friendly, easy, looks nice, available on all operating devices.

- rock picking, with a simple app like rock marking system all people same day in different fields can mark rocks so it’s easier for the rock picker to locate them. Once they are picked, machine or half ton they can just as easily be deleted. The app will keep background layers for the future so every one and every thing can look in the areas where rocks usually “show up”

- land rolling, harrowing, spraying, fert spreading, etc. manually do headlands and obstacles( poles, rock piles, sloughs, etc) the machine will fill or paint the rest.

- grain cart

- disking sloughs

- I like the cattle monitoring thing, maybe easier for farmers to have someone’s else’s livestock on our land ( income) for self feeding , and cowboy takes them home for the winter. Better land utilization, free range, income etc. Free range chickens, sheep would be nice around the farm, also for the dogs.

- all in one app. To monitor every thing. Farm security, grain bins (level, and temp), vehicles (location, speed, stop signs-stopping), equipment, application rates and error messages in equipment used by hired labour ( seeding, fertilizer, spraying etc)


The technology is all there now, so it’s the software, integration, debugging, redundancy, training, service, and most importantly cost. Will it be a 2 year pay back or 20? It better be closer to 2 years or Farmers will not adapt the technologies.

Farmers are not technology technologists. Sensors fail, wiring shorts, sun spots, cell towers, power outages, etc etc the systems better have built in testing and diagnostics to point to the faults and recommended repairs or what the failure is ( no codes thank you), or a central call Center that monitors everything where a person technician will call you ( like a security system call Center)
- machine down, emergency service only happens on fridays long weekends, when time is of the essence, and they are swamped with all the calls because every one is busy.

[bgmb]

I would like to have automatic seeders, sprayers and combines. I think the way to build them is have the implement and a common genset to run them. Move more towards electric controls and power instead of hydraulic.

[Sheepwheat]

Interesting thoughts. I am so 1940. I am a young guy who just doesn’t find it appealing personally. I am a misfit in today’s world. I enjoy little more than walking about the sheep, looking for issues, inspecting the bees, toddling around picking rocks. I worry about my ignorance sometimes. Ok a lot of the time I do...

Born a generation, maybe two, too late. Overwhelmed with how far behind I am technologically.

[Partners]

Even with current tech..life not that hard.nice cabs on most machinery.gps..bins monitored..hopper bins..if getting older hire the sprayer..grain hauled..
The younger generation will even have it easier..all at a cost though..

[fjlip]

"Farmers are not technology technologists. Sensors fail, wiring shorts, sun spots, cell towers, power outages, etc etc the systems better have built in testing and diagnostics to point to the faults and recommended repairs or what the failure is ( no codes thank you), or a central call Center that monitors everything where a person technician will call you ( like a security system call Center)
- machine down, emergency service only happens on Fridays long weekends, when time is of the essence, and they are swamped with all the calls because every one is busy."

That is absolutely necessary! Currently have a dead tandem nobody can fix...electrical! Son is auto tech, constantly upgrading. Everything is getting more complicated, scary shit he says. Just open your Duramax hood, can't hardly see the engine for sensor harnesses, pipes, wires! Just close it and call service!
Ford/GM 8 speed transmission they designed in common, has a chain drive oil pump...great idea... will see.

[Tucker]

You know Klause it's noble to want to try to design something to help fellow farmers but you have to ask why all this technology was created in the first place. I love autosteer. I love section control. I love all that shit. Makes my life heaven compared to those ****ing long days up and down the field in the old 4450 working summerfallow years ago. My current truck has an autoshift tranny now. It's a Meritor 12-speed very similar to the Volvo I-Shift. Heaven. It's 2018, **** off with stirring my own gears. That transmission wasn't designed to make my life easier even though it did. It was designed and implemented in trucks now so that any steering wheel holder could take 100k pounds from point A to B. Kinda like the Humboldt accident truck. We can. Should we? Maybe keep some skill required in farming.