Progress 09/01/18 to 12/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience were small and mid sized farmers.Pete Lowy, our partner in this project was our specific category expert who consultted with us during the project. Pete and his staff use our product/system daily for feeding poultry. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been reported to our network of small farmers during development. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We want to improve the economic viability of small pasture-based farms by creating equipment that increases farmers efficiency during feeding and watering. Every day, small pasture-based farmers feed their animals by hand or with inefficient systems. This puts them at a disadvantage competing against large farms with automated indoor feeding systems doing routine tasks more efficiently with easy access to electricity. Our invention proves small farms can experience an 86% reduction in time feeding pastured poultry. The system has been operational for 407 days and made atremendous dailyimpact on the small farm staff by reducing the amount of time they spend feeding their chickens. Before our system the farm staff drove to the fields and manually feed 10+ 50 lb feeders 7 days/week. Today, with our system that is down to 1 time/week. This efficiency allows the farm staff to invest their time to other new projects, farm repairs, community outreach and farm sales, and has experienced an increase in quality of life by reducing drudgery tasks.All 8 objectives listed in our proposal were met. 1. Chassis design:Our goalwas to research and design an affordable, durablechassis frame that would accept our feeding/water system and be mobile/durable enough to be moved through rough fields while feeding animals on pasture. We designed a cost effective chassis that sits on top of an existing,readily available agriculture product called a Running Gear.A Running Gear is a heavy duty steel framed wagon. On top of this we designed a wood/steel platform capable of holding our feed bin, water tank and the technology package we developed and named "The CRICKET" (see #5). Through a series of tests we determined our feeding tubes required 30 degrees at a minimum to maintain the flow of feed into the troughs.In order to achieve this correct feed angle we designed an elevated platform in which the food/water is stored. Our platform had to be lifted at least 1.5' above the wagon deck in order to maintain the proper angle for feed flow. 2. Feed storage: Our goalwas to design a system capable of storing 1 ton of pelleted feed and automatically feed up to 800-1,000 chickens while being easily moved throughout fields and pastures.A gravity flow container manufactured by Buckhorn was the best starting point for this system.They are proven, rugged, and have 2 million in service worldwide today.In combination with our CRICKET system we are capable of feeding upto 1,000+ chickens!We were able to accomplish this by utilizing feed sensors in the feed troughs thereby ensuring the feeders were continually filled when nearing empty.Lay rates for the hens were monitored and remain stable. 3. Scalability: Our goal was to transition from a gravity fed system (no motor) to auger fed system (motor, sensors, solar panels/battery) allowing the system to grow with the flock. Our design centers around the dropout opening of a Buckhorn gravity flow bin. We used this single source container to provide feed for small flocks of 0-100 chickens (via gravity, very simple, low cost) to large flocks of 800-1,000 utilizingmultiple feeders. We designed a custom gravity dropout diverter, connecting the Buckhorn bin to our feeders, allowing a small flock to be fed via gravity. If the flock grows bigger, this gravity connector is removed andtheauger system is installed in its place. The auger system drops feed down six additional dropouts which connect to the center tube. The auger is powered by a commercially available electric motor, which is powered by a series of deep cycle batteries, capable of running the motor for up to one week without being recharged. The batteries are charged and managed by a series of solar panels and a controller.This system has been operational for over a year with no intervention regarding power management and has been very successful. 4. Gravity water system. Our goal was to integrate a no-hassle gravity fed water system centrally located with food. We accomplished exactly that which has further reduced the monotonous task of water maintenance that used to be spread throughout the fields.We combined this objective (#4) with objective #8 (shade) into a single design that is simple, sturdy and effective.In order to have enough space for both feed, water and chickens all in close proximity, we needed to create space between both feed and watering containers. Not only was this a necessity, it was a welcome way to spread the chickens out and gave us a great opportunity to offer the chickens much needed shade in the summertime. We connected five watering containers to the ends of five long steel poles, and between the poles we put mesh shade tarp so hens had a large shady area. The poles were attached to our chassis on the Running Gear at a single pivot point, creating a "fan" that could be spread out on the side of our system, or "collapsed" while the farmers moved the system to fresh grass. A simple system of rubber tubes fed the bell waterers from the main water tank sitting on the running gear chassis. 5. CRICKET: Our goal was to get sensors, motor, solar panels, battery, communications to work/communicate together. We were unsure of their viability working in real world conditions.We successfully created the CRICKET creating a custom wired breadboard (prototype PCB) and Verizon cellular integration. We also designed an iPhone app that could log in remotely from anywhere in the world to check feed/water levels, battery level, and see live video of chickens to check if there were any issues. This made an impact on farmers because it changed their daily living routines. They no longer had to drive to the fields to check if there was enough water or feed. Instead they could simply open the app to check feed/water levels and when they needed to be replenished. This saved them travel/mental time dedicated to the discipline of feeding the chickens. Instead they had more time available for other initiatives on the farm. 6. Hardware Efficiency:This metric was self-imposed--a 75% increase in efficiency was our goal. Prior to this project the farmers fed chickens 7 days/week. 75% more efficient would require the system to operate independently for 5.25 days.For 400+ days this system has been operating with 1 feed/water check per week, 86% more efficient than previous feeding patterns. This has proven to be a steady, reliable time saver for the farmers and staff and allowed them to invest time into new projects on the farm. 7. Software Efficiency:This metric was self-imposed--a 15% increase in efficiency in trips taken to the pasture was our goal. 15% more efficient required us to reduce trips by 1 trip/week. Our system reduced trips taken to the fields by 6 days/week, a 71% increase in efficiency.The combination between the software and hardware of this system made a real-world impact on the farmers, changing their daily behaviors, tasks and increasing their quality of life and interaction with the community. 8. Detachable Shade: Dedicated shade for pasture-poultry does not currently exist for farmers. We successfully created a detachable shade system (as described in section 4 above) we affectionately call the "bat wing". This shade is critical to the health of the flock as summer temperatures increase stress on animals. This system has proved invaluable for our flock because it changes where the chickens rest throughout the day which in turn affects the land. Raising chickens in pasture tends to kill/destroy the grass in very specific areas (around food and under coops) because the chickens instinctually scratch the grass where they eat and rest.By creating a large, shaded area that offers food, water, shade and protection, we have created a broad space for the chickens to scratch. This system is mobile and can be moved in smaller increments, allowing grass to recover in a more predictable manner.
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