Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA

G'day all, here we are in Oklahoma at Ardmore visiting one of the seven research ranches that the Samuel Roberts noble foundation own and operate.

In the photo above, you will notice the feed bin's, that only one beast can utilise at a time, each bunker is set on scales which is accurate down to 1 mg and is constantly full with a basic ration of animal feed.  As the animal puts its head into the feed bunker its RFID tag is recognised and recorded in real time along with the current weight change in it's feeding habits. This means that the research and development team can determine what different genetics, ages, sexes have the best feed to weight ratio, they can also record how stresses from various backgrounds effect their eating habits.

In the above photo they have a half scale in front of the trough which weighs the front half of the beast as it comes in for a drink. It also has a RFID tag that records in real time how many times the beast will drink and with the use of a flow meter, how much water it consumes.

I questioned why they were using half scales and the reply was, ease-of-use, limiting competition at the trough. And their results so far have proven their weighing results are consistent with the beast overall weight.

We met with the Samuel Roberts noble foundation directors, scientists and consultants for a discussion on current US cattle trends, future direction and also the geographical differences between the US and Australia.
Here is the meeting room after its 100 million-dollar upgrade.

We then walked via a private tunnel from one end of the campus to the other stopping in the auditorium to deliver my own presentation.

20 miles out of Ardmore. We investigated some of the improvements the research ranch has made on its infrastructure, the backyard worker can operate all gates from the last receiving yard (Correll ) through the force (pushing pen) and up the race (the snake) to the crush (squeezebox) all with the touch of a portable remote.  Everything operates at the touch of a button from the last receiving yard right through until the crush releases the beast. 



One of the sqeezeboxes



The Snake

When I asked the question what their return on investment would be and how long it would take to pay for itself, they simply replied NEVER.

Awesome Technology!

Catch you later, Rob.