Shaun Neeley, GM of Aquila Sustainable Farming explains how using the FarmIQ software is a "massive" help in his journey to convert six Southland dairy farms to organic certification. 
Shaun Neeley is GM of Aquila Sustainable Farming − established in June 2017 to take six farms to organic certification.Using FarmIQ is saving Aquila time as well as improving the accuracy of information, says Shaun. The software gives them easy recording, good control and effective reporting.
To achieve certification, Aquila need to not only switch to organic farm practices but also keep recorded evidence of what is being done. At the same time, the company wants to keep up farm performance.
As if that wasn’t enough, Aquila also made a switch to a new employee structure on 1 June 2017, from using contract milkers to employing farm managers. It meant several staff changes and this was turned into an advantage. “As part of the recruitment we talked to them about the need for good data,” says Shaun, who is based in Winton. “With organic certification you can be spot-audited on any day and you need to be ready for that… Luckily for us FarmIQ is easy to learn.”
To make sure that everyone knew exactly how to record this vital information, Shaun invested in on-farm training sessions to get his staff up and running as quickly as possible. Shaun worked with the FarmIQ trainer in the weeks leading up to the training sessions to tailor the workshops to fit the needs of the staff and the goals of Aquila.
Recording on the spot
Using the FarmIQ mobile app they can record on the spot. “Usually on corporate-owned farms it’s the farm manager doing all the data recording. With FarmIQ, you can get more of the staff doing recording. For example, if a cow is moved from one mob to another it is better for the 2IC or the herd manager to do the record right there – and that will stand up to scrutiny from the company or anyone else.” And, when compared to paper-based recording fewer errors are creeping in, he says.
They’ve got “pretty good” phone connectivity generally on the six properties. “It’s touchy in spots but not enough to cause an issue.” This is helped along with wi-fi at the sheds, and recording can be done offline for syncing when back in range.
Easy access to information
With several years of experience in corporate farming, Shaun is highly aware of how FarmIQ is making it easier. “FarmIQ is saving us a massive amount of time as a corporate business. That’s for everyone, from the farm manager and right through.
“For example: for each paddock we’ve got all the soil tests loaded and proof of placement for anything applied. All the data is right there in FarmIQ. You can drill down and see what happened a year ago, for example, in a minute or two.
“It means the on-farm guys don’t have to do a weekly or monthly report – we just capture everything through FarmIQ as we go. It’s all live and up-to-date. Instead of having to wait till next week for report to come through, we can look on any given day.
“Also, the information can all be connected up when you need. And it loads up reports on a management dashboard.”
“Previously it would have been in spreadsheets. There was a lot of room for error, and when you wanted to analyse the information you had to find a way for the spreadsheets to talk to each other or find someone to do it – which was very time-consuming.”
Shaun particularly appreciates the management dashboard that gives him a high-level view of how everything’s tracking. He uses that view to report both to a board that oversees the farm operation and also to the investment managers in Hamburg.
Along with pasture information, the Aquila farms are recording stock transfers – sales, purchases, mob changes and so on – to keep accurate real-time stock reconciliations in FarmIQ. Both the stock and the pasture information is matched against milk production data that is fed in through a data link from the dairy company.
Keeping on the same page
Shaun says that’s helping everyone stay close to what’s happening on the farms and helping the team work together. “These are the key things that tell you the cows are well looked after and milking well – that indicate good performance and what we can influence. This is what we and our managers can look at and think about. We can all react if we see an issue. This is a difference in corporate farming – all needing to be on the same page and identify possible issues early. If something is not quite right, we try to then make it a question of what support is needed – what we can do.
“At certain times of year, like spring and with cows coming up to peak milk, we want our guys thinking about this every day.”
Looking ahead, Shaun wants to use the FarmIQ software to develop feed inventories and also add more map layers. “We want to capture as much historical data as we can in FarmIQ, such as the location of waterlines and tile drains. Then it’s all in one place and always accessible. When someone takes on a farm, they don’t know where everything is and this will help.”
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