Data sharing initiative wins national award for saving farmers time
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
It says more than 8,500 farmers are now using MINDA LIVE, and 10,000 farmers and their staff are using the MINDA app to record animal events and access their data to make informed decisions on-farm.
Kelsey Thompson, a Stratford-based farmer, says MINDA LIVE and the app are all she needs on-farm in terms of information requirements to manage her herd of 170 Holstein-Friesians and make recording simple this calving.
"You can do what you need to on-the-spot, on the farm, in the cow shed; it's all done in one go - and that includes your matings, your calvings, and any health treatments.
"Last spring I recorded all my matings, every day, straight into my phone, and then it was updated in MINDA LIVE when I got home every day. It's very simple.
"During calving I still use the yellow notebook a bit, but I transfer the information straight to the app in my phone, then it automatically goes through to MINDA LIVE."
Kelsey believed it was a matter of diving-in and getting used to the software, most of which was intuitive.
“LIC keeps updating the software too, which helps – little things get refined to make the reports better and information more relevant.”
Jessica Bedford, LIC MINDA product experience manager, said for calving, there were several reports and groups that would be handy to create.
“When it comes to groups, some of the key pieces of data farmers could use are the expected calving attributes; these will help identify animals that are expected to calve either early or late, or, for example, animals that are expected to calve to the short gestation matings.
“These groups will share with your MINDA app to ensure farmers have the right information on hand to make drafting a breeze.
“For those that prefer paper-in-hand, the expected calving by date or expected calving by cow reports will show the animals’ expected calving information, including an indication of which animals are expected to short gestation matings, and expected calf BW.
“Entering your calvings using the MINDA app will ensure there’s no doublehandling of that information during the calving period, allowing more time to do other tasks on farm.”
A number of MINDA learning resources are available on the LIC website lic.co.nz/minda.
