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Monitoring your farm by computer

By David Mason-Jones

The internet is providing the ability to dial up through a computer and check the status of your water troughs, dam levels, automatic irrigation, stock condition, farm security and weather conditions.

This is achieved through the use of remote sensing devices and cameras, solar panels, mobile phones and short distance wireless technology. All the information is accessible from your personal computer from anywhere in Australia.

The modern camera has been miniaturised and digitised and is no longer the bulky apparatus it once was. It no longer depends on film. The still or video images can be transferred electronically through telephone lines or via a mobile phone link to a computer located on the farm or located somewhere else even a city office. The technology behind the security camera in a city shopping mall, bank or petrol station can now be brought to the farm for a host of roles.

Farm security. Your stock are valuable. Stock thieves and poachers realise this and stock losses are a constant risk of farming. The security problem is that stock thieves do not drive to work through the front gate of your property but may come at night via a secluded gateway.

Miniature cameras can be sited to observe these gates. They are so small that the thieves are unaware of their presence. The cameras can be linked with laser beams which detect the movement of a vehicle at the gateway much like the laser beam that sounds the buzzer when you drive through the bottle shop. As soon as the laser beam detects a vehicle it starts the camera and dials into the computer by mobile phone, land line or wireless technology. Images showing who is entering your property and when are recorded for your immediate response or to assist with police investigations.

Using the internet it is possible to dial in to the remote sensors and take a routine look at what is going on.

The usefulness of remote sensing devices becomes more important as the value of your stock rises. For the highest value stud animals the use of internet monitoring becomes essential and cameras may not only be located at the remote entrances but also around stock pens and stables. The view from the sensors can be accessed at any time via the internet.

Concealment. The type of camera that can be used for security purposes is getting smaller. For such purposes as detecting trespassing the small size gives an advantage that the camera can be easily concealed. For a security purpose it may be more effective having a concealed camera rather than a large camera in open view. With a concealed camera the thieves can be observed remotely without them knowing they have been detected.

One method of concealment may be to hide the sensor split log or fence post near a gateway so only the tiny lens is visible. Other methods may include hiding the camera in an old can, in a nearby shed or in objects like mail boxes.

Water troughs. The need to know the state of water troughs is critical for stock management. It is even more critical for a stock owner who only visits the farm on the weekend and spends the week days away at another job. Stock left without water for a week will uncertainly not be alive when the farmer calls out next weekend. The farmer faced with this situation can dial up the sensing devices using the internet and down load images of how the water troughs are looking at any particular moment. If the troughs are fine then the farmer can relax and get on with his/her other work. If there is a problem the farmer can phone a contractor or neighbour at the farm and arrange for the problem to be fixed.

When using a remote camera to check on things like water troughs, it is not necessary for the camera to be hidden. What is necessary is for the camera to be located so that it is stock proof. The structure supporting the camera - such as a steel pole - should be in such a position that the camera can get a wide view of the trough generally and that the viewer can also clearly see the water level. The structure must be sturdy so that it can with-stand the occasional steer having an afternoon rub and it must hold the camera high enough above the ground so to be out of stock reach. The lens needs to be protected from bird droppings.

Monitoring other farm sites. The same technology used to monitor security and water toughs can also be used to monitor a whole range of other aspects such things as; birthing yards, dams, machinery sheds, irrigation lines, crop progress, fence lines, windmills and the homestead.

Internet climate monitoring. Using a different range of sensors the internet can also be used to monitor the weather and growing conditions on your property. A sophisticated series of probes and sensors has been developed to report environmental conditions in the fields on your property.

The types of sensors can detect current temperature, recent temperature movements, rainfall, soil humid-ity at different depths in the profile, wind speed and direction, relative humidity, evaporation rate and hours of sunlight.

All the information gathered automatically by the weather station is fed back to a computer on the property by low power wireless technology or though landlines.

On extensive properties where the sensors may be many kilometres away, satellite technology may be used to transmit the information from the site to the computer. With small farms, however, low power wireless or landlines may be more appropriate.

The information stored in this way can then be down loaded automatically. In this way it is possible for you to access the information over the internet from your remote location. It would even be a simple matter to monitor the precise weather conditions on your farm from overseas.

A few problems. Most of the sensing and reporting devices require power and this may mean the installation of a small solar panel and battery.

Where the sensors need to be hidden as with the detection of illegal incursion onto the property, the problem of hiding the solar panel can be difficult.
It may also be advisable not to site solar panels close to roads and boundaries where they can be seen by the general public because this can lead to a theft problem.

Sensors need shielding from wind, sun and rain and need to be sited in a position where cattle and stock do not damage them. Solar panel and sensing devices need to be cleaned of bird droppings from time to time.

Conclusion. Modern remote sensors and internet technology have given us the ability to dial up our farm from anywhere in the world. It is easy for us to have a look around even though we may not be there is person or be likely to visit for days or weeks.

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