increase font size
Fed up with the chore of moving electric fences, two Irish brothers came up with an easier way.
It's not uncommon for farms to be a family affair, but the Drumm family at Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Ireland, have taken this to new heights with their own agritech invention.
Fed up with the chore of moving electric fences — often in the rain and when they would have preferred to be at football training — brothers Charlie and James set out to develop an easier way. Parents Thomas and Laura encouraged them, and the result is Fresh Graze (patented), a device that takes the drudgery out of strip-grazing and helps improve crop utilisation.
It won two awards in the recent National Ploughing Championships Innovation Awards -- the Agri-Tech Start Up Award and the Overall Start-up Prizes.
The system automates the movement of the ‘hot wire’ using a pair of robotic drive units at each end of a run, allowing grass to be allocated to a mob of animals on a continuous basis, at a rate that ensures the entire area is consumed before moving again.
Three years have been spent on development, and Thomas Drumm says it should be on sale within two years and their costs recouped in 18 - 24 months.
In operation, the drive units run on a high-tensile steel wire along opposite boundaries, able to work in ‘breaks’ of up to 300m depending on undulations. The ‘hot wire’ is supported across the span by six-sided spider wheels, and the units are powered by 18V rechargeable batteries that last up to two days.
An integral GPS unit shows where the device is operating.
It saves time and can be programmed to calculate the best timing for a move, using integral software pre-programmed with stocking rates and a measurement of grass cover.
The system can be used to prevent selective grazing and contamination by stock meandering over the crop they should be consuming. This leads to better overall utilisation, better implementation of management decisions and the ability to supply data on where, when and how to whoever needs it.
Live data can be delivered to the operator’s phone or tablet to show progress. Also, production data from the milking parlour can be compared to start and end covers to improve sward utilisation, and this can be monitored to see the effect on milk production or liveweight gains.
In the rural landscapes of New Zealand and Ireland, a shared agricultural heritage thrives, built on a strong mixture of tradition and innovation, with mirror image climates earning both countries global acclaim for their food quality and sustainable agriculture.
Sean Leslie and Casey Tilson from Middlemarch, with horses Beau and Dough, took out the Rural News Horse Plough award at the Power Farming NZ Ploughing Championships at Horotiu, near Hamilton, on April 13-14.
The mood is relaxed as father and son ploughmen Paul and Derek Houghton get some practice in, but when the national championship starts this Saturday it will be a different story.
MPI director general Ray Smith reckons NZ has a lot to learn from the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority – called Teagasc (pronounced ‘Chog us’).
Police in the Waitematā North district are urging landowners to ensure their fences are secure after several complaints about wandering stock.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) chair Kate Acland says there are clear governance processes in place to ensure fairness and transparency.
This International Women's Day, there are calls to address a reported gender disparity gap between men women New Zealand's horticulture industry leadership.
WorkSafe New Zealand is calling on farmers to consider how vehicles move inside their barns and sheds, following a sentencing for a death at one of South Canterbury’s biggest agribusinesses.
Now is not the time to stop incorporating plantain into dairy pasture systems to reduce nitrogen (N) loss, says Agricom Australasia brand manager Mark Brown.
Building on the success of last year's events, the opportunity to attend People Expos is back for 2025, offering farmers the chance to be inspired and gain more tips and insights for their toolkits to support their people on farm.
Ballance Agri-Nutrients fertiliser SustaiN – which contains a urease inhibitor that reduces the amount of ammonia released to the air – has now been registered by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI). It is the first fertiliser in New Zealand to achieve this status.
OPINION: Donald Trump's focus on Canada is causing concern for the country’s dairy farmers.
OPINION: The fact that plant-based dairy is struggling to gain a market foothold isn’t deterring new entrants.
