ON FARM NORTHERN CATTLE Making connections When it comes to on-farm It connects a network of sensors “Producers in remote and isolated research, producer and IT monitoring weather, pasture growth, areas have just as much access to entrepreneur Will Wilson water flows and soil moisture and this technology which is so important,” (pictured below right) is a hard combines this into a single platform he said. man to impress. (e.g. desktop computer or hand- ‘Connecting Calliope’ is linked to held device) to help inform producer another on-farm data collection and “To be worthwhile, projects must have decisions on present and future analysis project that concentrates value to producers and must deliver a stocking rates, rotations, trading and on an autonomous drone platform return at the farm gate,” he said. to forecast feed budgets and water (see separate story). This project is It’s no surprise Will, who created the supplies. Feeding into this system applying advanced drone and data stock management program iHerd, will be data from outside sources, collection technology to extensive beef didn’t rush to give the integrated such as livestock market reports and farming operations. on-farm data project, ‘Connecting weather forecasts. Calliope’, his seal of approval. “These elements on their own have Will Wilson However, after spending time with its minor value but when you combine E: will@calliopestation.com information support at his fingertips, hethem, they become very powerful and admits now he would hate to be without it.you begin to see the potential of what LESSONS this project can deliver,” Will said. LEARNED Will believes it’s “high time producers For Will, just being able to monitor water started embracing data”. remotely will be a major cost saving in “The rest of the world demands it. terms of labour and time. > The value of ‘Connecting Calliope’ Producers – if they want to influence is the integration of information their market – have to be able to supply“Being able to use the information to applied on a grand scale. it,” he said. help predict when to sell off and buy in > The end-user interface needs to stock will also give producers added be simple to use and understand. ‘Connecting Calliope’, a joint proof- confidence in their decision making,” > The project needs to prove of-concept project between Hitachi he said. its value in terms of return Consulting, Vodafone and MLA on investment for wider, Donor Company, is an integrated Will is keen for the final-user interface of the Calliope project to be made as ongoing adoption. data collection and analysis platform being tested on Will’s family property, producer-friendly as possible. ‘Calliope Station’. The premise for the “Information needs to presented with project is to develop systems – which a sense of scale, say one to 10, that may draw on multiple sources – which producers can comprehend and use, can be rolled out to improve on-farm or even in simple colour form – green, connectivity across Australia. amber, red,” he said. It’s a co-creation project between “It can’t be too overwhelming, it has to be Hitachi Consulting and MLA utilising simple or producers won’t embrace it.” Hitachi’s Smart Farm Control Centre, which is hosted on Google’s cloud Will said, for him, one of the most platform. Vodafone Global Enterprise impressive aspects of ‘Connecting teamed up with Hitachi Consulting, Calliope’ was its ability to operate providing sensors and LoRa in areas without mobile phone or communication systems. internet services. SNAPSHOT:Will Wilson, Calliope Station, east-central Queenslandl Area: Enterprise: Livestock: Pasture: Soil: Rainfall: 21,000ha at Breeding 3,800 Jarrah Spear Granite to 800mm Calliope plus grassfed trade (Hereford- grass and alluvial finishing blocks and heavy Brahman-Santa thatch grass at Wowan and heifers and Gertrudis (Hyparrhenia Baralaba to steers for the composite) rufa) total 48,563ha feeder market breeders 37