Technology has become a fundamental part of managing the farm. We are more data and technology driven than ever. Everything is right now; everything is today. For better or for worse, I have everything at my fingertips. As farms have gotten larger there is a lot more information involved.
Technology helps us keep things organized and structured so that we’re not stressed out under the gun. When split decisions have to be made, we have the information right away.
Even though technology helps us make decisions more quickly and more accurately than ever, the data that we have available to us is overwhelming. Time management becomes a key factor. We need time to analyze the data that we have. I can have all of the data in the world, but if I don’t know what it’s telling me, it’s useless.
When I look at the data, I ask myself, “Did the information do any good for the farm? Did it add value to the business?” If those questions aren’t answered, I need to go back and find out what I was missing. What can we do differently with the data we have? What additional data do we need?
At the end of the day, cow care is still cow care – you can’t replace the human element even though technology and data are important.
