Waikawa Farms finishes 1800 dairy bull beef on 450ha near Pukekohe.
IQ Farms – Farmers like you
Several groups of farmers across New Zealand have been helping FarmIQ work towards its aim of creating better information flows across the red meat industry.
These include the 11 IQ Farms. Six were set up early on and by the end of the third year (2013) another five IQ Farms had been established around the country.
The IQ Farms are all commercially operated farms that have been contracted to work with FarmIQ. They include a range of farm types, sizes and business structures, and all face the same challenges and constraints as any other commercial farm.
The IQ Farms have been an important reference for the development of the FarmIQ System.
Each IQ Farm works with a team of local rural professionals such as vets, agronomists and accountants. Their joint focus has been to drive the farm's performance, and as part of this they have assessed the value of measuring and monitoring.
Planning is key
The IQ Farms have shown the importance of setting goals and targets to get the best results from the FarmIQ System.
Like all farmers, they don't have time to spare for doing a lot of extra, so they work with their FarmIQ Business Manager ahead of each season to plan their measuring and monitoring activities.
Typically, the IQ Farms have started by collecting and entering land and animal information to establish their farm's base production levels – which is well worth doing. It helps to clarify relevant targets and also to track progress towards them.
The FarmIQ Business Managers talk with farmers about these questions:
- What are your farming goals?
- What are your farm production targets?
- Or – do you need more information to help you set realistic targets?
- What measurements do you need to do to monitor progress?
- When is a good time to collect these measurements?
