Ever wanted to know how the livestock are down at the farm? Lying in bed in the middle of the night wondering if you locked the chickens away? Sitting on the couch on a 40° day, too lazy to go down and turn on the irrigation system? Now you don't have to!
FARMS is a farm management and education system being developed by past student Kyle Harris at the Elisabeth Murdoch College School Farm. FARMS is designed to help the teachers and students monitor and run the school farm, as well as provide new and exciting teaching opportunities for students studying agriculture and horticulture.
The FARMS system incorporates a number of systems that are already helping the students and teachers manage and monitor the school farm - you may already be familiar with Pig-Cam, a demonstration of how FARMS will open up the farm to all students and teachers.
The following is a brief breakdown of the FARMS systems:
Remote Monitoring & Control of sensors out in the paddocks or in the animal sheds. This will provide possibilities such as monitoring paddock water-trough levels, polly-house climate (temperature, humidity, etc.), as well as controlling polly-house and paddock irrigation systems.
Live & Recorded Video via cameras placed around the farm. This allows almost anything to be visually monitored remotely, as well as provide security and surveillance options.
Farm Management Software to help organise and manage your farm. Animal databases, as well as general operation info and rosters for example, can be kept safe within FARMS and even viewed via the Internet. All data can be backed up remotely, for added redundancy. Students are currently using software while weighing their animals, which is linked to a database within FARMS, and provides information of all weights and tasks performed on the livestock, and allowing it to be viewed over the Internet.
Classroom & Education of animals and farming practices is made simpler thanks to FARMS. Information stored in FARMS can be made accessible to teachers and students, and displayed right there on screen. FARMS also offers teachers and students a web-space where it is possible to host web-sites for each class, giving the students that extra personal touch to their class work.