Field Trip

I was privileged to visit the Hall farm in Lewiston, Utah. They are using
a variety of tools on their farm that I was unfamiliar with. On the Hall
farm, tractors are the number one tools used. One of the newer tools
they have used is a GPS driven tractor. My tractors we use are
equipped with GPS units and their automatically steered through the
field. We set up the implement width that were pulling - the implement
width would be the thing were pulling behind the tractor. We set up
the width so that when we get to the end of the field we manually
override the GPS, we get it to within 3 feet of where we want it to be
and we push a button and it steers through the field. The savings of
fuel besides the precision of farming to have the row crops properly
spaced as far as for spraying and for seed it has just been huge. We
adapt to technology here sooner than most places. That might be a
detriment because some of the technology we jump on is maybe not
as proven as what we would like it to be but we still have adapted
quicker rather than later. (Hall)

This picture of a tractor was taken on the Hall Farm and should not be reproduced in any form. I took it
while I was visiting the Hall farm and have permission to use it for this paper.

The automated tractors that the Halls use were beyond my imagination
but my wonder did not stop here. On the dairy side weve just put
robotic milking machines in. We were the first dairy in the
intermountain west to put these in. There are now three in the
intermountain west, two in Utah and one in Idaho. Here again we
probably jumped on it sooner than most but I think it is the future of
milking cows. All of the cows have an electronic pedometer on their
front leg. Its a unique identifier. The computer knows exactly which
cow is being milking. The machine knows the exact position to place
the robotic arm so that it can clean all the teats and can prepare them

for the laser guided milking process. Every time successful milking
occurs, it creates a map of the udder and of the teat placement and
then it knows where to start the next time that particular cow comes
in. The machine is constantly updating; it keeps six maps of the udder
and teat placement. It always discards the oldest and replaces it with
the newest scan. Its the most cool thing Ive ever seen in my life!
(Hall)

This picture of the cow and robotic milking machine was taken on the Hall Farm and should not be
reproduced in any form. I took it while I was visiting the Hall farm and have permission to use it for this
paper.

I found the robotic milking so fascinating! I had never considered this

type of technology so to see it truly was impressive. The Hall farm is

unique because on their farm they, have the robotic milking parlor
and we milk about 200 cows through that but we are still milking
through our conventional parlor. Most robotic dairies dont have
conventional milking. (Hall) The robotic milking expense is a huge
contributor to why more farms have not equipped their farms with this
technology and why the hobby farms dont have them.
For someone to walk into the farm life and start up a new farm it would
have some definite challenges but those difficulties can be growing
point as well. There are some people who have very limited
knowledge who can participate in this. This job like any other job on
earth, the more knowledge you have the more successful, and the
better prepared, and more efficient you will be at your job. There is a
lot of information that is passed down, there is defiantly is a lot of
information from a book but the new technology we try to implement
on this farm is not learned from a book or passed down. Its something
were learning as were going. The newer the technology the more
hands on that were learning as we go. (Hall)

The people who participate on this dairy farm vary in the age. Mr. Halls
father who is 72 helps with the feeding of the cows on the farm and Mr.
Halls youngest son who is 10 is helping as well. The 10 year old knows
and is able to identify all of the cows in the herd just by looking at
them, this is impressive to me but shows how involved the whole

family can be in the farm. One of the beauties of agriculture is that

you can learn it at a young age and you can still be actively involved
even when you are in your 70ies. (Hall) So often in jobs of today the
experience others have is overlooked with greater skills and new
learning techniques. In this career the experience only adds to your
abilities and contribution.

The weather is a huge contributor to the challenge dairy farmers face.

Some of the biggest challenged we have is with the temperature. We
half to build facilities and manage cows for 30 below in the winter.
When its 30 below in the winter you dont want a lot of water in trough
space per cow. The same pen of cows has to be able to house the cows
when its 100 degrees in the summer and then you want a lot of water
in trough space per cow. We want a place thats cool in the summer
but it cant be cold in the winter it has to be warm in the winter. For
example - water we want excess capacity in the summer but as soon
as it gets cold if there is excess capacity all the troughs freeze. So that
is one of the challenges in dealing with animals. A couple other
challenges we have are with equipment. Some of my most costly
equipment well use 10 days a year. Those are pieces of equipment
that cost $100.000 dollars. Its important equipment we cant do
without. Theres a 30-45 day window when we put up a quarter to a
half a million dollars worth of feed. We work long days and use a lot of

equipment. We have a lot of people we have hired to help but a lot of

people that just volunteer. We pay the insurance and upkeep on the
equipment 365 days in a year to be able to use it 50 days. (Hall)

Most of the big equipment used for this short time is used for the feed
of the cattle. Our goal is to produce the feed that we feed the cows.
We only harvest what we use for feed. (Hall) I love that this farm is
able to maintain their own needs on their own farm.

I learned a lot from my field trip to the Hall farm and I am grateful that
they shared their time and insights of their career with me. The Halls
emanate a great sense of care for the work that they do. They enjoy
their work, they work hard, and they produce quality milk. Carnation
Milk says it best: Contented cows give better milk. The Halls truly
have contented cows.

Hall, Jeff. Personal interview. 11 September 2015

Included are the questions I asked Mr. Hall during my visit with him.
Equipment
What tools are participants using? Are they specific to a task?
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Describe the equipment used. Is it mass produced or handmade?

How often during the year are these tools used?
What power drives the equipment, include animals.
Do you need special clothing to participate?

Knowledge
How much knowledge does one need to actively participate in
the work?
Is the knowledge traditional (passed down by word of mouth) or
academic (learned from a book)?
How was the knowledge acquired?
Do you hear unique terms used during the work? Ask participant
to define the terms for you.

People
What is the demographic of the people participating (young/old,
male/female, race, etc)
Are they related? Describe those relationships
Are they employed by the event organizer? How were they hired?
Are they employed by the farmer or rancher full time? If not full
time, where else are they employed? Are they contracted to
multiple farmers or ranchers?
Did you feel like an outsider or were you included as an insider?

Location
Describe the location in detail. Include a map if necessary
What is the environment like?
If they are working outside, what is the temperature?
If they are moving from place to place (long or short distance),
why?
Is the location owned or leased?

Work
Describe in detail the work that is being performed
How often during the year is the work performed?
Is it cyclical in nature - performed a specific time of year?
How has it changed over time?