Farmbot trials on Aileron monitor remote water supply
7 January 2019 – Aileron Pastoral Holdings (APH), a Caason Group company, has partnered with agritech company Farmbot Australia Pty Ltd to monitor its remote water tank levels.
Aileron Station is rugged and vast; occupying 4000sqkm, 130km North of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Farmbot provides monitoring solutions that take the guesswork out of measuring and analysing water levels. Farmbot units have been strategically placed at APH’s four furthest watering points. After strong results, the team is about to deploy its fifth Farmbot unit.
Craig Astill, Managing Director and Chief Executive Office of Caason Group and APH, says: “We have realised the benefits of the Farmbot trial immediately. Normally, we check all of our water points twice a week; this takes the team four entire days and involves at least one person, a fully equipped vehicle and additional resources. There is a large associated financial cost to this work which we can now reduce.
“Farmbot doesn’t replace our infrastructure maintenance or animal welfare checks but the technology has reduced the amount of time we spend checking water levels.
“Our staff now log on to Farmbot from the homestead, look at the water levels, analyse trends and make water related decisions in about 10 minutes, every day. The Farmbot technology saves us time, resources and worry. We expect flow-on benefits will impact other work areas, such as our roads that might require less repairs and maintenance due to less traffic while also reducing potentially damaging erosion.”
Rachael Dunn, Farmbot General Manager, says: “It is wonderful to partner with Caason Group and APH who run an innovative and progressive station. Our passion is helping large properties ensure the stability and sustainability of their water supply. We are particularly suitable for livestock cattle farms in remote regions like Aileron Station.”
Next steps of the trial will involve Caason Group and APH reviewing complimentary technologies. This will further support Caason Group’s objective of being able to remotely manage and monitor station activities through the deployment of innovative technologies like Farmbot and Ceres Tag.
