Big data is driving on-farm productivity by taking information about pasture growth, rainfall and water use to help predict things like daily weight gain, according to The Courier. The team from Farmbot water tank monitors in Ballarat, Australia, found a ready audience at the last field days and expect the same attention at Henty field days, with primary producers looking beyond this drought to capitalise on rain when it does fall. Farmbot managing director Andrew Coppin reported good interaction with several primary producers along with third party people interested in taking further the concept of on-farm data collection. "Water management in this drought is top of mind right across the country," said Andrew Coppin. "We can see a groundswell of appreciation for big data on farm and there are now a number of systems that can impact on production and profit." The Farmbot technology involves sending data in near real time with alerts about problems like leaking tanks sent as text messages. Individual units connect with satellite while multiple units can communicate to the base station through long range low power radio frequencies making a network of monitors robust and efficient. If water in any of those locations falls below 80 per cent he gets a text message delivered through the 3G network. Mr Austin said his tank monitors paid for themselves almost immediately during a time when a mob of 300 sale cattle were yarded together waiting for the truck to come next morning. One of them busted the trough float off its valve and very quickly the tank began to empty. "Instead of these cattle losing 5 per cent of their weight they would likely have shrunk a further 3pc without water that night, never mind the stress," he said. "When you add up the cost of that potential loss of perhaps 5 to 25 kg per head at 350c/kg, about $15,000, the price for a $900 monitor seems insignificant.