Farmers lasso technology to boost cattle care and profits

Advances in technology are revolutionizing the way pastoralists care for their cattle, with many farmers embracing digital tools to improve efficiency and productivity.

Kim Forrester, who runs 10,000 head of cattle over more than 300,000 hectares at Winning Station in Western Australia's remote Gascoyne region, says technology has been a game-changer for his business.

"Before was either on the motorbike or in the aeroplane or in a motor car and driving vast distances," Mr Forrester said.

"Now we've got a pretty good handle on it from an iPad."

Mr Forrester's family has been at Winning Station for decades, and while his job is still driven by manual labour, he believes embracing technology is critical to survival.

"You're trying to operate with the least amount of labour you possibly can, purely to survive," he said.

"No doubt with AI coming along, the next 10 years will be an amazing development. Probably in 10 years we won't be using helicopters, we'll be sitting in shipping containers flying drones."

AgTech divide

The tech developments are helping tackle some of the biggest challenges in the agriculture industry, but challenges around distance and infrastructure have made it more difficult for farmers in northern Australia to adopt new technologies.

Northern Territory Department of Agriculture and Fisheries livestock team leader Christie Pearson said the scale of operations in the north was vastly different to southern dairy farms.

"If you think about a standard property down south, you've probably got less than a couple of hundred head, or you've got animals that you can physically see in the paddock," Ms Pearson said.

"Up here we're still having contracting camps out, we're still mustering, we're still using helicopters. It's still very much the Wild West in a lot of ways."

'Fitbits' help track losses

Researchers are using technology similar to Fitbit activity monitors to track the behaviour of cows and understand calf loss.

At Manbulloo Station in the Northern Territory, Ms Pearson is observing the movements of 140 cows wearing ear tags and GPS collars that track movement and behaviours.

"There's some cows that leave their calves out in the paddock, and they walk into water for up to a week after calving before they'll bring their calf into the water," she said.

"Then there's some calves who are born right near the water."

Senior researcher Anita Chang has been monitoring 100 cows at Belmont Station in Rockhampton for more than a year, with surprising results.

"Last year at Belmont we found that one calf was cross-suckling with two separate cows, so there were two cows that were equally invested in the calf's survival," Dr Chang said.

"In some instances it's as much about the calf as it is about the cow, so the calf is the one pursuing different nursing opportunities."

Kim Forrester believes easy access to technology could be a game-changer for his business.

"Surviving calves on the ground is our biggest profit driver," Mr Forrester said.

"One death of a calf means that cow hasn't produced a calf that year, so you're running that cow, but no income off it."