Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 108: Is AI Coming for the Ranch? A Realistic Look at Tech in the Next 5 Years

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108: Is AI Coming for the Ranch? A Realistic Look at Tech in the Next 5 Years · CattleUSA Daily

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  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
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  the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
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  updates shaping agriculture today.
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  I'm your host Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
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  agriculture, here to keep you informed and connected.
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  Now let's dive into today's episode.
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  Welcome back to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily podcast.
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  Today we are talking something that tends to be one of my
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  soapboxes and I'm going to try my hardest to stay off of my
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  soapbox. Today I have an outline in front
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  of me and we're going to talk the real reel of AI.
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  What does that mean? What is it?
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  What does tech look like in AG right now?
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  And like what's what's going to be happening in the next 5
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  years? Are we going to see robots
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  checking calves and computers buying feeder cattle?
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  Like that's crazy, but AI is growing faster than you think.
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  The reality of it is we're not going to be seeing robots
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  checking calves or computers buying feeder cattle, at least
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  not anywhere that's not a research facility that is
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  researching those things currently.
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  But if you are wondering what is automation look like, what is AI
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  look like, and what do I need to be focusing on the next five
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  years, this episode's for you. So let's go ahead and dive right
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  in. Here's the thing, we have a lot
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  of AI and automation that are all that's already here and that
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  is already a big part of the cattle industry.
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  So what's here and what is worth watching?
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  So here's some examples of automation that's actually
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  working. Because often times when you
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  hear the words AI tech automation, our minds
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  automatically get turned off. And I want you to remember how
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  often we are using this already in AG and how over the next five
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  years we will have a lot of things be introduced.
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  And that's extremely exciting because we could get things like
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  this. Here's some things that are
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  actually working. We're seeing a big adoption and
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  great success with auto waters with alert systems on them.
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  So alert systems not necessarily for when your cattle are
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  drinking and how much they're drinking, but more for, hey,
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  it's alerting you on your cell phone if a pipe freezes and it's
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  no longer functioning or if a pipe bursts or things like that.
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  Alerts in those situations. The next thing that's really
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  working is GPS guided tractors and feed systems.
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  Almost every single large feed lot uses this.
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  It might not be a full blown GPS guided tractor, but you're at
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  least using some feed systems that have a ton of automation in
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  them to take out that human error.
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  And we've already seen the millions of dollars that are
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  being saved by having systems in place that take out the human
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  error side. We're also seeing things like
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  cattle scales and Eid tracking and just other remote monitoring
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  softwares that have seen some great success in recent years.
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  At the end of the day, there are always going to be pros and cons
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  of automation in rural settings. You're going to see things like,
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  yeah, you might save on labor, but what's Wi-Fi look like?
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  Do we have connectivity? What is the cost?
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  Those are all questions that are really important to ask.
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  And here's another thing, AI is very quietly involved in so much
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  of agriculture and we need to de sci-fi it, if that is even a
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  word. It's not science fiction.
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  It is a big part of this industry already and it is a big
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  part of the back end of this industry and it is going to
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  continue to grow and expand as years go on.
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  We're going to see things like predictive maintenance,
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  inventory alerts, and all of those things are things we're
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  already using, but things that we're going to be able to
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  continue to build and grow on. And here's the reality check,
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  guys. You don't need flying drones
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  doing chores, although that's the reality of it is with how
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  fast technology's gone. Heck, by the time I'm 50 years
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  old, we might have flying drones doing chores.
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  What you do need though is you need tools that reduce human
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  error and reduce labor strain. Whether you are a one man
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  operation or A50 man operation, it applies to you.
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  I also really want to emphasize that tech could save you money
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  or it could also make you more data collection Done well from
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  all of this technology that we have with things like feed
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  efficiency, rate of gain, market timing, all of these things can
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  save you money and or make you more.
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  And then we go into things like herd health monitoring tools for
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  early illness detection or just illness detection in general or
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  even just vaccination protocols. If we are leaning into the use
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  of Eid tags in those aspects. All of the software systems that
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  we have in place that we can then put in our vet barns and
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  sink to those individual cattle, sink to our online systems.
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  The amount of time and human error that that then saves
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  massive. And then I think it's important
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  with this to remember to sort the height from the help you got
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  to ask questions for an operation.
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  Every operation is going to be different.
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  And so here's the thing. On an average operation, are you
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  going to need a scanning software that scans an Eid tag
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  and tells you exactly how much water each of your individual
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  cattle are drinking throughout the day?
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  Probably not. On the average operation.
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  Hey, in a feed lot setting, that might be extremely helpful.
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  In a scientific setting, extremely helpful.
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  On the average operation, cow calf operation, feeder
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  operation? Probably not, or at least not
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  yet. But do you need better record
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  keeping that's mobile and shareable?
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  Absolutely every single one of you does.
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  I am like so sick and tired of the only record keeping being
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  done is the piece of paper in the feed truck that's had coffee
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  spilled on it 6 times. Because as someone in the family
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  who takes that spilled on piece of paper and puts it into the
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  computer, it's not fun for anyone.
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  So do you need record keeping that's mobile and shareable?
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  Yes, every single one of us do. Because that's something that
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  can save time, money, labor and just get you ahead of the the
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  times. Because if you are an early
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  adopter of something like that, not even early adopter.
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  Gosh, we've had online record keeping software's around for 10
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  plus years now. And so if you were someone who
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  is adopting that as part of your operation now, it is only going
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  to continue to reap the benefits for you.
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  One major thing that you need to look out for when you're talking
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  tech is if this is a software system that is going to require
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  a full time IT guy on your operation or for you to be on
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  the phone with someone everyday. That doesn't solve a problem
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  that requires one like that makes a problem.
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  So it's not worth it. It is not worth it in those
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  situations or scenarios. Wait until that tech or that
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  opportunity is to a point where it is actually going to solve a
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  problem for you and your operation.
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  So should you buy into tech now or should you wait?
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  I think it's important the each and every operation looks at
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  their own standings and their own businesses as an individual
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  entity. Just because it works for your
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  neighbor or your friend or someone across the like states
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  doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to work for
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  you. So here are three questions to
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  ask yourself. Does it save time and labor or
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  improve decision making? If it does, that might be
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  something you want to lean into. We all know all too well that
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  labor is a major strain in this industry right now.
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  So is there a way that we can save a few hours of our days so
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  that we can do more as individual people?
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  Or does it just make your decision making easier when it
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  comes to breeding cattle? Are you now able to spend a day
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  making breeding decisions instead of three?
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  Are you now able to down your sire book to 5 really quickly by
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  just putting some filters on and calling it a day and letting AI
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  or letting an automation software go in and do all the
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  hard work for you? And then you can sit there as
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  the human and double check all of it and look at it and say,
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  OK, it got me down to 5. Now I can make I can be the
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  person that gets it down to three.
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  The next question, is it compatible with what you already
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  do? Is it something that is easily
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  going to integrate into your daily life?
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  Because I'm going to talk about this a ton, but small steps
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  built will beat big overhauls every single time.
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  This needs to be something that you can slowly integrate into
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  your operation, not something that you have to do a complete
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  overhaul all at once because that's not going to be
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  sustainable for you. It's not going to be sustainable
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  for anyone that works for you, and it is going to cause more
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  stress than it's worth. And often times what I see with
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  people that are anti AI or anti automation and anti tech and AG
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  are either people that are still having a hard time running their
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  iPhone or people that have done a big overhaul and then stressed
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  themselves out with it and done tried to do too much at once.
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  You don't need to do everything at once.
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  You need to pick one thing, overhaul that well, and then
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  move on to the next. Because no one wants to deal
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  with the stress of going through a breakdown or going through
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  tech not working in the middle of really important seasons.
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  So is it compatible with what you already do?
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  And then #3 can I get support if it breaks, if something doesn't
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  go right? What is the support system and
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  software look like? Do they have 24/7 tech support?
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  If not, do they have people that can come to your ranch and fix
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  things there? What what does that look like?
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  Because we are ranchers, not IT professionals.
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  We need to be ranchers, open to tech, open to AI, and open to
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  automation. But that does not mean that you
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  need to go to Stanford and get your tech degree.
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  It's not practical at the end of the day for anyone.
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  So in the next 5 years, we can expect AI in behind the scenes
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  roles. What do I mean by this?
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  I mean we are not going to see flying drones doing our chores.
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  We are going to see behind the scenes roles where we can
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  implement automation easily and use this technology to our
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  advantages, making more decisions or making more
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  informed based advice that they can give to us and then we can
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  be the decision makers. So you're going to see things in
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  kind of like what I touched on earlier, you're going to see
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  things in breeding decisions. You're going to see a lot of
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  tech and AI in feed formulation. We're going to see it in weather
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  and we're probably going to see a lot of it in market
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  forecasting as we continue to grow and develop these products.
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  In my personal business, gosh, I use AI every single day.
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  Every single day. ChatGPT and I are literally best
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  friends. If you talk to anyone, I prompt
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  anyone in my life, I promise you they will say the exact same
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  thing, that I use ChatGPT like a lifeline.
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  I use it so much, I pay for it like I have the pro version of
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  it because I use it so much. And it has made my business come
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  to a point where I as an individual can do the work of
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  four or five people and not have to pay four or five people to do
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  that and not have to train four or five people to do that.
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  I do a lot of things on my computer or in technology or in
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  marketing and sales and all those things.
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  So there's a lot of opportunity where tech has already been
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  implemented for years. And so for the average rancher,
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  it might not look like you were placing four or five people, but
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  it will look like you are able to get a few hours back in your
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  day or you're able to make quicker decisions.
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  Something that may have taken you 3 hours previously is only
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  going to take you 30 minutes or an hour now.
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  All of the research that I am able to do, all of the
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  information that I am able to gather because of AI that takes
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  my work out of it in the front end is phenomenal.
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  I'm still the decision maker. I'm still the one going through
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  and making the decisions, but I no longer have to be the one
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  doing all of the research. I no longer have to be the one
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  that is compiling all of the studies or I'm doing all the
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  things like that. I now I'm able to lean on
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  technology and systems that are able to assist me in all of
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  those aspects and ways because that is the reality of it is AI
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  is not coming for our ranch. It is coming and an aspect that
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  is going to continue to help us grow as operators, as ranchers
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  and lean into the future. Whether you like it or not is
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  the future and we all have got to get on board.
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  Otherwise you're going to find yourself in a scenario like when
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  Google first came out in the 1990s, I believe is when Google
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  came out and everyone thought it was the devil and was like, Oh
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  my gosh, run away. Don't use it, don't use it.
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  It's not like it's not the thing.
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  It's got glitches, it's not working, all of these things.
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  And then you're going to be that person that didn't use it for
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  five years and you're left behind where everybody else
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  already knows how to use Google and you're the one still trying
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  to figure it out five years later.
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  You will be left behind. Well, everyone else already has
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  it figured out, understands the basics of AI because we took the
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  time to grow with it instead of waiting for it to be perfect.
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  Is AI perfect? Absolutely not, Absolutely not.
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  But it saves me more hours at the end of the day than it costs
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  me. There are times where I will be
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  proofing something and it gets something wrong.
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  I then have to take the time to go and correct that.
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  But all of the time that it saved me by getting the other
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  90% right, Oh my gosh, saved me hours, hours and hours and hours
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  of work and labor. And don't even get me into the
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  mental health aspects of then saving time and labor.
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  Because if we're able to take some time back for ourselves and
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  be doing doing what we love instead of having to stick
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  behind the computer and do all of the mundane software things
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  like no one wants to sit there and organize their accounting
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  software. That's another aspect that I use
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  my AI a ton. I have an AI automated
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  accounting software, so it links to my bank account.
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  And then for the first few months, I had to go in and
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  manually do things while it was learning and what goes in what
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  buckets. And now I have my QuickBooks set
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  up on an automatic thing where it just goes and does it for me.
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  If I go and spend $60.00 at Casey's, it knows that I'm
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  getting fuel and it's putting it in the fuel bucket and I don't
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  have to go in and organize anything anymore.
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  It's pretty stinking phenomenal. Because guess what?
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  I hate taxes. I hate tax season.
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  I hate all of it. And so for me, that brings me
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  joy to my life and it helps my sanity because I am able to lean
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  on technology where it is doing good.
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  So don't be afraid of it. Don't be afraid of AI, don't be
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  afraid of technology because all of our research institutions are
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  leaning heavily into it right now.
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  And that's another thing, our everyday average ranchers are
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  not the ones that are being the people that are the test dummies
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  and the Lab Rats on all of this. When it's coming to the market,
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  it's gone through multiple years of testing.
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  And so lean into what our research institutions are doing.
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  If you're in Kansas, lean into Kansas State.
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  What are what are they doing? Lean into your extension agents.
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  Ask them like really just put your finger on the pulse and get
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  involved in this so you don't get left behind and start
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  looking at your operation now and asking yourself, where can I
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  start involving technology and AI in my operation That makes
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  sense for me. It's not going to make sense for
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  everyone, but find places that you can start implementing it in
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  your life right now so that you are not that person in five
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  years that is left behind. The reality of it is AI is not
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  coming for the rancher, It is coming for the clipboard and
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  that might not be a bad thing. Thank you guys so much for
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  listening to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily Podcast.
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  I hope you enjoyed today's episode and I hope I didn't get
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  to off topic or tangity at times because this is something I'm
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  passionate about. I love technology, I love AII,
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  love what it can do for our industry.
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  And this is kind of one of my soapboxes like I said in the
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  beginning. So I hope that I didn't go too
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  off topic with you guys and was able to leave you all with some
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  great things to think about and some ways that you can start
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  implementing AI into your operations today.
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  So without further ado, I hope you guys have a great rest of
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  your day like subscribe rate review, do all the things.
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  Seriously, I appreciate it so, so much If you just take a few
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  seconds out of your day to go and leave a five star review
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  like this episode, whatever that may be.
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  We really appreciate it here at the team.
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  So thank you so much again for listening to this episode and
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  we'll see you all tomorrow on another one.
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  Have a good one y'all.