Tillage demos, biosecurity tech and body condition scoring: Day 2 at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show
With the weather in agreement for day two of Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, equipment demos were able to take to the field after the rain delay of day one.
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Cover crops get sown asunder
Many farmers were in attendance to watch eight manufacturers take to the field in the cover crop tillage demonstration to show how well their equipment churned up some earth.
Haven’t made it out to the show yet or planning to visit on Thursday? Glacier FarmMedia’s online editor Greg Berg made this video from Wednesday’s demo to give you a sneak peek.
Equipment demonstrations will continue on Thursday on the fields surrounding the show.
Take a break when body condition scoring
Farmtario senior editor John Greig found out that body condition scoring livestock is subjective process and there’s a point at which you won’t be able to trust your hands anymore and you need to take a break.
Delma Kennedy, OMAFRA’s sheep specialist, said at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show that her limit is about 90 sheep through the handling system before she knows she needs to take a break.
Most livestock body condition scoring systems, whether for cattle or sheep, is broken down into a one to five scale. Any finer a scale and it’s difficult for humans to consistently maintain the right differentiation between them.
If you find that you are having trouble feeling the difference between the gradients of body condition in the one to five scale, Kennedy says to take a break and to reconnect with a diagram or description of each point on the scale.
photo:
John Greig
Kennedy is hosting a body condition scoring workshop at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and will be doing so again on Thursday in Livestock Central.
Facial recognition to improve biosecurity
Farm Health Guardian announced the Canadian debut of its facial recognition technology Protocol during the Ag Tech Breakfast at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show.
Rob Hannam, Farm Health Guardian CEO said the technology simplifies biosecurity management, allowing producers to have full control of who can enter their barns.
photo:
Farm Health Guardian
Protocol automatically factors in criteria such as previous visits, downtime between barns and farm health status. Hannam said It is more secure than standard door locks, access keypads, or RFID cards because they lack the behind-the-scenes biosecurity information.
Protocol is being showcased at Farm Health Guardian’s booth in the Dairy Innovation Centre.
Source: Farmtario.com