By Farmhelp
09/06/2012 The Eureka moment triggering Baletwine's Farmhelp app was when an
inexperienced farmhand forgot how to measure out a pasture break, the
cows went hungry and lost production cost the farmer big money.
The
farmer was a friend of Richard Brown, and he thought "if only the
farmhand had an easy way of reminding him of something he had learnt,
but forgotten".
The Baletwine Farmhelp app is Brown's answer. It combines his thirty
years of practical farming information with technology, delivering step
by step prompts for 67 daily farming situations and 15 calculators by
smartphone.
Brown explains that his friend told his trained but
inexperienced farm worker to "give the cows one and a half hectares of
grass". The farmhand couldn't remember exactly how to set the fences,
and guessed rather than going back and asking. Unfortunately his guess
was wrong, and only discovered when milk production dropped from the
hungry cows.
"I realised that if the youngster had been able to
get a quick and simple reminder out there in the paddock, he would not
have made that mistake. Marrying the practical information to a
smartphone was the next step, to create a 'pocket prompt'.
"With most packs priced under $10, the Farmhelp app would have paid for itself immediately. ," says Brown.
The
rapid rise of smartphones and their appeal to youngsters made the
decision about how best to deliver the system simple. Once the app is
downloaded, it is not dependent on cellphone coverage – a major plus for
rural users and especially remote farms.
"It can be used
anywhere, anytime. It's like having a pocketful of farming advice, and
the information is all solid and practical, based on thirty years of
farming experience," says Brown.
The Farmhelp app currently has 9
different farming packs that collectively cover 67 common farming
tasks. People can 'try before they buy' by downloading 14 free tasks
from Google Play. Brown is confident prospective users will see
Farmhelp's true value and go on to buy packs suitable for their own
situation.
Originally a sheep and beef farmer in the Rangitikei,
Brown says he "learned by doing it" after leaving school and went on to
convert the property to dairying in the 1980s. Staying with agriculture,
he has worked for spray and spreader equipment manufacturer C-Dax for
20 years. In area and market development management roles, he exported
to the UK, Australia and South Africa.
"The growth in corporate
farming, and lifestyle blocks, means overall the level of experience on
farms is dropping. Many young farm workers have done some training but
they are generally inexperienced.
"Often farmers get impatient
and are not actually that good at communicating how to do tasks around
the farm. Many lifestyle block owners with the best intentions don't
know the practical things like swinging a new gate or quickly
recognising animal situations. Farmhelp gives them that 'pocket prompt'
so they can either do it, or call in more experienced help". Either way,
valuable time and money is saved.
Brown acknowledges having the
app on a farmhand's smartphone does not guarantee he or she will use it.
But he argues if the farmer ensures his employees have the app and know
they are expected to use it when questions arise, not doing so can form
part of an employee training programme or disciplinary process.
Farmhelp
was developed in New Zealand, but Brown sees it having "application out
in the wide world of agriculture", and it will be marketed
internationally from the outset.

Farmhelp - Your Fingertip Farming LibraryFarmhelp is a great resource for information on farming and livestock tasks, using methods that have been tried and tested over 40 years - right on your Android mobile phone and at your fingertips. Whether you're an experienced farmer or starting out with a s…