30 March 27, 2014 2014 LOGAN COUNTY FARM OUTLOOK MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com
the gate and say they are just gonna take a
minute to put down some feed, and all the
while the cows are watching, and just as
soon as that gate is open they are moving.
It only takes 30 seconds to close the gate,
but it takes three hours to round up the
cattle when you decide to leave it open.”
There is money to be made feeding your
corn to your own livestock, Conrady says,
and if you currently have livestock, stay
with it. He adds, however, if you don’t
have livestock, don’t start now.
“It’s a huge investment and a lot of work
to get into the livestock business. It’s not
something to get into when the market
is high and get out of when the market is
low,” Conrady explained.
There is a cycle to it, a time when you
can make money on livestock, and a time
when the bottom drops out of it. Staying
in it as a lifetime investment is what
makes it worthwhile.
Most of the farmers interviewed for this
magazine said they weren’t even “gonna”
consider getting into livestock to boost
their profits.
For Wayne Conrady, raising livestock is a
way of life, not just a short-term scheme
to make a bigger profit. Raising livestock
is in his blood.
By Jim Youngquist
Drones fly into agriculture
Continued to page 31
T
he Federal Aviation Administration is predicting that the
use of drones will be in the tens of thousands by 2030. The
scope of these unmanned aerial vehicles is only at the tip of the
iceberg in their use in precision farming. A drone’s computers,
cameras and controllability can put them within inches of a GPS
marker.
There is great discussion about the use of drones for many
purposes. While some are used for surveillance of borders or
keeping an eye on large public events, there have also been
outcries concerning invasion of privacy.
FAA language is being explored to allow agricultural use of
drones under different guidelines. Corn, beans and weeds just
don’t mind being looked at. And that is the huge benefit to drone
usage for agriculture.
Currently, there are two more popular choices in drone design.
One is a fixed-wing aircraft and the other is a rotary style.
While the fixed-wing parallels an airplane, the rotary is more
of a cousin to the helicopter. Either style is capable of the same
workload, but the rotary is the one more often chosen.
Some experts are reporting that in the future, drones will
become flying tractors. They will posses the ability to distribute
fertilizers and coated grains through an onboard sprayer system.
One of those experts is Rory Paul, who started Volt Aerial
Robotics in Missouri. He was in Lincoln recently at a function
hosted by Perry Grieme and led the discussion on drones and
agriculture.
