MADISON — Technology is an integral part of animal management. Come to the UW-Extension Education Station at Wisconsin Farm Technology Days and visit with UW-Extension state specialists and county agriculture educators about innovative technology for your farm operation. Interactive displays include the use of iPads to score hooves for digital dermatitis also known as hairy warts, infrared cameras to detect infections, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), ATP meters to determine cleanliness, and gas monitoring systems and masks.
Over the last few years, some dairies have looked for ways to increase income and reduce heifer-raising costs. New technology enables dairy farmers to breed for increased female calvings and /or beef cross calves to sell. Getting heifer calves from the top end of your herd and beef calves from the bottom cows has become an option. Visit the crossbreeding display outside of the UW-Extension Education Station to understand the economics of what this would mean for your dairy operation and see how this worked for Ebert Enterprises, 2017 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days host.
This area will highlight some 400 weight crossbred calves and posters to see how this might work on your farm. Laptop computers will be available to run the spreadsheets and look at breeding strategies. A budget will be available to look at costs and income possibilities of feeding black hided cattle that can bring more at market time.
Owning your own flock of chickens has become the rage. Whether as a hobby or as a source of food or extra income, the raising of poultry must be carefully considered and planned. Learn what it takes to raise poultry on pasture. Come, explore the options for housing, and ask your poultry questions to local agriculture educators and specialists.
Another highlight will be a demonstration of how Spanish-English interpreters use technology to mitigate communication barriers in real time. Many sectors of the agricultural industry have a linguistically diverse workforce, and sometimes language differences can create a barrier to providing training on farms and other workplace settings. Interpretation services are a resource for providing on-site trainings and communication in multiple languages. Cooperative Extension’s Language Access Team will have a display that allows participants to see the equipment and processes involved with interpreting and translating.
Wisconsin Farm Technology Days will be held July 11-13, 2017 in Kewaunee County. For more information about Wisconsin Farm Technology Days, visit www.wifarmtechnologydays.com.
— University of Wisconsin-Extension
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