Gallaghers Geeks Put Notebooks on Notice

The days of using the notebook for animal data recording may soon be over.

Farmers are turning into software geeks in order to keep up with technological advances in animal data recording.

Animal management systems company Gallagher, which celebrates its 70th birthday this year, is helping farmers do just that.

Gallagher won the Software Entry of the Year Award with the SmartTSI — a tablet-style touch screen rugged computer integrated with weighing and animal management software -- at the 40th National Fieldays at Mystery Creek last week.

Gallagher product manager for weigh scales Geoff Pooch said software development had become a sophisticated market.

"It's quite a skill and I'm proud that we've been recognised. It's a wonderful moment," he said.

The SmartTSi combines three separate technologies — a weigh scale, computer and animal management software, to create an intelligent, sophisticated on-farm management tool.

The product was the result of three years of research and development for a company whose origins date back to the 1930s and were powered by the electric fence.

Mr Pooch believes the SmartTSi will help shape the future of on-farm animal management and identification, with the proposed rollout of the National Animal Identification Tracing (NAIT) scheme late next year.

The product was designed to provide farmers with the comprehensive livestock information necessary to make key farm management decisions.

"You can only manage what you can measure." While the electronic gathering and recording of liveweight data was nothing new, the features on the SmartTSi set it apart from any other product, Mr Pooch said.

These features include a full-colour touch screen and an all-weather rugged design that makes on-farm collection and viewing of data easy and virtually unlimited.

An internal lithium battery provides up to eight hours continuous use in the field, 512MB of memory and storage capacity for data on at least 100,000 animals.

Mr Pooch said the SmartTSi had been built rugged for New Zealand conditions and its large touch pad meant it could be used by even the biggest farmer's hands.

He believed the days of using a notebook for animal data recording would soon be over.

"You've got the risk of errors and writing things down wrong and paper will often get wet and crumpled.

With our product you're able to capture information out on the farm," he said.
 

Find out more about the SmartTSi.

Source: Diane Bishop, The Southland Times. Read original article here.