Much has been said about the tyranny of distance since the beginning of European settlement in Australia.
In today’s technological age though, such tyranny would seem to be disappearing in many circumstances.
A recent workshop held on the southern Monaro made it clear that the application of computer technologies on farm can revolutionise day-to-day practice.
Hosted by Mick Shannon on his family property, “Lowanna”, just near Cathcart, the workshop included presentations by University of Sydney information technology (IT) experts, who talked about setting up computerised and robotic systems to ease the pressure of many small – and large – jobs.
Set up around the farm at gates and dams for example, sensors can feed back data about water levels in dams, or even the open/shut status of a gate to a central hub at the homestead, making it easier to rectify problems.
Unlike drone technology, which has to be operated by an individual and only ‘sees’ what is happening in the area the operator sends it, sensors can be set up at multiple locations and give constant feed back as the property owner is left to get on with their work.
For Sydney University Vet Science students Joe Mallat and Genevieve Hughes the experience was a window into their possible futures as vets.
“We’re just a few weeks in to our first major placement at Craig Mitchell’s property, “Gaerloch”, near Countegany,” Genevieve said.
“We came with Craig for the day and it’s been really interesting to think about the possible applications for technology like this in our work in tears to come.”
