The incredible convesion of sod to crop land is actually picking up steam

[CatMan2]

You are right Catman. I've lived my live both ways and I'd rather take **** off a cow than from another a$$hole. R7

You got that right... LOL As My Dad always told Me that cow s**t wipes right off...

[Ghost Ryder]

Here ya go Rog,

In 2004, researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences successfully trained cattle to approach a feed source in response to auditory signals. To help improve cow traffic in automated milking systems, these heifers would approach a feeder in response to a audible stimuli being emitted from a collar.[6]
[edit]

This article is amazing. They are doing this is Aussie and I'm doing it next year!


A GPS based invisible fence can be used to virtually herd cattle through the automatic and gradual shifting of the containment borders. Cattle react to their environment by being attracted to, or repelled from different features of their environment. Cattle can be repelled from geographic features such traditional fences, rivers, rocks etc.[2] and are attracted to other cattle for protection and to fulfill their innate desire to gather. Virtual cattle herders use various sounds that are transmitted to a RF receiving device located on a collar that emits sounds that may occur in nature such as a roaring tiger, a barking dog or a hissing snake, to move cows in a desired direction. Electric stimulation is only applied if movement in the desired direction has not been detected by a GPS location processor. The least amount of force needed to get an animal to change its location usually occurs when the collared animal is already in movement and not at rest; thereby making audible and/or electric stimuli to moving.

Loads of info by google: "Virtual fence cattle".

[Ghost Ryder]

Here ya go Rog,




This article is amazing. They are doing this is Aussie and I'm doing it next year!


A GPS based invisible fence can be used to virtually herd cattle through the automatic and gradual shifting of the containment borders. Cattle react to their environment by being attracted to, or repelled from different features of their environment. Cattle can be repelled from geographic features such traditional fences, rivers, rocks etc.[2] and are attracted to other cattle for protection and to fulfill their innate desire to gather. Virtual cattle herders use various sounds that are transmitted to a RF receiving device located on a collar that emits sounds that may occur in nature such as a roaring tiger, a barking dog or a hissing snake, to move cows in a desired direction. Electric stimulation is only applied if movement in the desired direction has not been detected by a GPS location processor. The least amount of force needed to get an animal to change its location usually occurs when the collared animal is already in movement and not at rest; thereby making audible and/or electric stimuli to moving.

Loads of info by google: "Virtual fence cattle".

That was from wiki virtual fence.

I was thinking of training dogs to wear the collar and herd the cows but evidently cows are smart enough. Training and equipping two dogs would be cheaper for sure.

[CatMan2]

That was from wiki virtual fence.

I was thinking of training dogs to wear the collar and herd the cows but evidently cows are smart enough. Training and equipping two dogs would be cheaper for sure.

Cool!!!

[SDakotan]

I think this old saying can somewhat translate to the use of invisible fencing and other high tech things in the future for cattle. "You know what a hired man and a electric fence have in common?... They both quit working as soon as you leave the yard."

[nlballard]

IT really depends on where you live and how much rain you get.In the western part of the plains where we may get 10 to 12 inches of rain a year, it is difficult to harvest anything except forage . Cattle will also go where there is forage and a shock collar would have to have a pretty good jolt to keep then in,if they are hungry. I have seen cattle have bleeding from barbed wire where they have leaned thru a tight barbed wire and eaten grass on the other side. I also deplore the breaking of sod. My creek, when it ran years ago was clear and could be forded easily, is now clogged with mud. I do not think that is very smart. Beavers built a dam and before long moved out because the creek silted in. However it is the young farmers doing it. The insurance game is too profitable right now. $8.00 wheat will not last.

[CatMan2]

Also it's pretty hard to jump into the cattle business. Even a small herd requires a lot of acres and capitol. And up until recently return was minimal. I've seen a few people start up and most of Them are gone.

[Ghost Ryder]

I'm thinking a person can get very rich very fast doing rotational grazing if the labor leaves the equation. The early adapters are the only people to ever make it in production Ag because once new tech is common the ensuing raised level of commodity flow sends net profits back down again.

The boundary fence issue is not an issue, that's just silly. My hope and dream is to install a super new boundary fence made of Red Brand wire and new posts. That's a given.

Getting filthy rich comes from the power of range management that comes with moving the cows into the next virtual paddock at sunrise each AM. The paddock will be a sliver of land inside my 500 acre continuos pasture on the Jim. They hammer a spot of land one day per year very hard. The stocking capacity will in one year make a quantum leap past what the croppers have done in the past 25 years.

Talk about a money printing factory!!!

I really think well-trained dogs that never got a bond to humans since birth are the answer. That's what makes a Great Pyrenees sheep dog. Ignoring it and making it live with sheep. Absolute windfall and I can't quit shaking!!!

[roger7]

In the 90's only 15% of all farms were able to produce enough profit to sustain a family without one or both of the parents holding off farm employment or income. You are right Catman2, it is a tough row to hoe,but some will do it as long as their health holds out. R7

[IA CORN FARMER]

In the 90's only 15% of all farms were able to produce enough profit to sustain a family without one or both of the parents holding off farm employment or income. You are right Catman2, it is a tough row to hoe,but some will do it as long as their health holds out. R7

Very interesting number, only 15% in the 1990's. I assume this is a national number. Boy things have sure changed. In Iowa today, if you owned just 100 acres, and it was debt-free and you custom-farmed it. The profit would put you in the average income level using a $65,000/year household average income. Thought I read that $65,000 was the median household income these days, maybe it is much higher than that today, not sure. It would be interesting to pull the data from the 1980's and see how many acres of good-quality farmland it took to produce a net profit equal to the Median Household income of the average American family. It would give you a rough estimate of the progress of a farmland investment needed to support one family at a inflation adjusted $65,000 family income.