Using farmOS to track rotational grazing

Using farmOS
1

Kristi Peyton prepared a document that outlines the steps involved in using farmOS to track movements of animals through paddocks, as part of a presentation we gave to Stonyfield dairy farmers. She gave me permission to share this with the larger community, and integrate it into the farmOS.org user guide if we want. Posting it here as a first step… :slight_smile:

2 Likes
2

Wow, that’s awesome!

Perhaps transferring this over to farmos.org could be a good task for someone for It’s My farmOS!?

1 Like
3

I was thinking that too! Maybe we can start a little list of things in the It’s My farmOS post.

4

Nice work, @kpeyton ; very easy to follow. Seems a much easier approach than what is specified in the “Grazing Plan” module. Thanks for sharing it here!

Question: are you using this method to not only track animal moves after they happen, but also to plan moves ahead?

1 Like
5

@walt Yes! This document was created to help a group of organic dairy farmers begin tracking their rotational grazing, so the hope is that they could plan out movement logs ahead of time and then mark them as completed once the herd was moved. Setting these up multiple at a time should help save them time in the long run.

1 Like
6

@kpeyton : cool! If it works for such purpose, then it will probably work for mine (Holistic Planned Grazing with donkeys, sheep and chickens). There are some specific metrics about HPG -e.g. ADAs, or Animal Days per Acre (assumptions on which the plan is based, which get refined based on actual experience)- that the Grazing Plan module does implement, but in rather a heavyweight design that i’m afraid may prove too much work for us to maintain. I like to think that your more agile workflow could work for the essential data we want to track in the database (i.e. actual moves), and then simply update our planned moves by updating dates on the “Not Done” logs, once they get too far out of whack.

Anyway Kristi, i am curious to know if you have tried or looked into the Grazing Plan module, and if so, then why you decided not to use it.

1 Like
7

curious to know if you have tried or looked into the Grazing Plan module, and if so, then why you decided not to use it.

I worked with @kpeyton to figure out what the farmers needed to collect. The grazing module provides a lot of additional features for calculating grazing time, but it requires an extra layer of data entry and management too. For these farmers, the primary need is recording the movements - so keeping it simple keeps the barrier low for them to get going. But I did mention the grazing module as a next step, for any who want to go beyond the basics and would find that process valuable.

1 Like
8

On this topic,

  • I would assume planting and crop management would be hay management for livestock.

  • With the future of livestock requiring RFID tags in the next 3-4 years, what are we looking at for inclusion? I also understand they are still figuring out the veterinarian aspects of this. My fear is that it will cost money to get simple things updated in records for tags and become a barrier for medication administration and vaccinations. Anyhow…

  • With regards to animal management, why aren’t we using aggregate data yet to auto fill in fields from calculations available all over the extensions. Like -> bull turned out, then i could just quickly check on logs for preg check, auto calculate expected calving, etc, see metrics on cows for history -> disease-> calving ease -> lb/acre on feed, etc.

  • since we are open source : RFID -> wifi/cell -> through arduno to track rotational paddock movements with a sensor at the gatepost or a wand for later. I’m thinking some sort of detailed API once the phone app is in version 1.0+ to write back simple things. Currently RFID for small and middle people like me is cost prohibitive and I refuse to do it due to the amount of money I need for decent antennas to read and tags. I think planning could begin, but would be infancy until USDA handed out RFID format for storage.

Any thoughts or other people running livestock?

9

All great thoughts @tool172 - we’ve talked about many of these ideas - now we just need someone to build them! :wink:

I’d love to see a workflow like: scan an RFID tag with your phone, it brings up the animal record in farmOS, enter a medical log (or weight, observation, movement, etc)… done! Voice activated would be even faster (and perhaps helpful while your hands are occupied with the animal).

I’ve heard of a few people playing with DIY sensors to track animal movements via tagged collars. Not sure if it’s documented anywhere. Check farmhack.org. I’d love to see something like that integrated with farmOS to auto-generate movement logs.