AMES, Iowa – Precision farm equipment on Iowa State University research farms is enhancing efficiency and accuracy for research trials.

One example of these innovative technologies is the automated C-Lock Super SmartFeed System, which arrived last year at Iowa State’s McNay Memorial Research Farm near Chariton, Iowa. It is being used to monitor cattle and calves’ feed intake in research trials.

“One of the great things about the smart feeder is you can do supplementation trials without splitting cattle into different groups,” said Logan Wallace, McNay farm co-manager. “That’s especially helpful when studying animals on pasture where intake is hard to track.”

The solar-powered feeder has four stalls that use wireless data from the cows’ electronic identification tags to allocate a specified amount of feed. It also records the amount consumed and tracks the number and timing of an individual animal’s visits to the feeder.

Wallace added the information can be tracked by smart phone and through a website that includes an easy-to-use dashboard.

Led by Patrick Wall, Iowa State beef field specialist for southeast Iowa, Wall and his research team have been using the feeder for cow-calf studies with the farm’s registered Angus herd, including a creep feeding project designed to study use of a supplement fed to pasture-raised, spring-born calves and fall-born calves raised in a dry lot.

Funded by the Iowa Beef Center and the Illinois Beef Association Checkoff Division, another study is looking at cows and calves’ mineral intake. Wall is working with Wallace and other collaborators, including Beth Reynolds, Iowa State extension beef program specialist, on the projects.

According to Wall, the studies have shown much greater differences between the animals’ feed intake than the research team would have expected.

The first couple of trials showed the calves’ intake varied widely – between 0 to 15 pounds per day (the maximum they were allowed) – for calves that had the same weaning weight and were all healthy.

He said the information can help breed associations rethink their expected progeny differences, or EPDs, to better tailor management recommendations – and encourage producers to be more selective in purchasing breeding stock for more efficient livestock.

“Particularly in periods like this with higher grain prices, animals that can do more with less are much more desirable,” Wall said.

Currently, he said the smart feeder can only be used for up to 100 animals at a time and would be cost-prohibitive for most on-farm uses, although he expects the technology will soon filter down to the high-end seed stock sector.

He said there are already some versions more suited to farm use that can read ID tags to tailor the amount of feed to the animal. For example, to supplement feed for heifers while they’re still growing.

According to Ryan Bergman, technical project specialist in Iowa State’s agricultural and biosystems engineering department, it’s this kind of intricate and innovative agricultural machinery such as the automated C-Lock Super SmartFeed System that is helping farmers more accurately operate their farms.

“Precision agriculture generally refers to a set of practices or management strategy that involve precisely managing land, inputs, crops, etc., involved in an ag operation,” he said. “This management is typically driven by analyzing geo-referenced spatial data to make decisions tailored to each acre.

“The term precision agriculture also often encompasses many of the technologies that enable this precise level of management,” he added. “Some of these technologies might be variable rate application, yield monitoring, auto steer equipment, etc.”

He said precision agriculture helps farmers better manage their input costs to produce the most profitable harvest off each acre.

“Initially, this technology was driven towards achieving higher ROIs (return on investment), lower production costs, while maintaining or increasing yields,” he said. “In recent years, another growing focus of precision agriculture is the emphasis on increasing environmental sustainability of modern agriculture.

“Precision ag technologies can not only help increase sustainability,” he said, “but also provide a highly effective means for documenting it.”

However, precision agriculture is not without its shortcomings, such as the current computer chips shortages.

“Similar to other industries, computer chips (i.e., microchips, semiconductors, etc.) are used in many everyday tools on the farm,” Bergman said. “In the past year, the pain point has mostly been around the availability of GPS (global positioning system) receiver units, as well as in-cab displays.

“Farmers needing to replace these types of items, or looking to upgrade to newer technology, have faced shortages of equipment, long lead times, and higher prices – especially in the used market,” he said.

He said farmers have also likely been impacted by the recent vehicle shortage caused by a lack of microcontrollers, which are embedded inside devices to control the actions and features of a product.

“If the shortage continues, I expect we will start to see this impact ag machinery more as well,” he said. “Nearly all ag equipment today (i.e., tractors, combines, etc.) contains dozens of microcomputer chips in them.

“Everything from the engine and hydraulics to the headlights and radio, utilize these types of chips,” he added. “A shortage of a single type of chip could cause disruptions to production lines and impact the availability of new ag equipment.”

He said many consumer electronics also use microchips, which, he added, play an important role in agriculture operations today.

“Farmers often use cell phones, iPads, etc., to manage their equipment, fields, market grain, and many other tasks,” he said. “A lack of computer chips to supply these devices may be already (causing) – and could certainly cause – pain points for farmers.”

But, he added, many farmers he has talked to wouldn’t want to farm without the technology they have today.

“I wouldn’t say we are relying on (computer chips) too much,” he said. “This technology allows them to be better and more efficient farmers. This issue (of computer chip shortages) is hopefully a short-term issue caused at least in part to the supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One thing I have learned over the last six months is that many common computer chips can take months to produce, and the process is complex, using highly-specialized production facilities,” he added. “This makes it difficult to scale up production quickly to overcome the supply chain disruptions and meet the demand.”