“ RUNNING THE FARM WAS A FULL-TIME JOB , BUT NOW WITH AUTOMATION , WE CAN CONCENTRATE ON OUR OTHER FARM ,” ROSS SAID .
“ At nine o ’ clock at night , just before we go to bed , it ’ s a matter of just ripping around and making sure everything ’ s running as it should .
“ There ’ s no more changing clamps and changing cups , no more walking along the bottom and making sure all the furrows are all out , paddling through the mud and peeling spiders off our faces .
“ We have only automated part of the farm , but now we want to do all of it .”
Ross said the farm was a jigsaw puzzle with lots of inconsistent block sizes and row lengths , old leaking pipework and a fair share of soakage problems .
“ We have been a little bit of a guinea pig because we ’ ve got a lot of challenges you would see on a typical Delta farm .”
“ You need to have good fluming and you have to be careful to prevent cups being sucked into the fluming , as well as be mindful of issues with variable pressure from bores and so on .
“ WE ’ VE LEARNT A LOT ALONG THE WAY TO SHOW AUTOMATION CAN AND DOES WORK , EVEN ON THESE SMALLER DELTA FARMS .”
CHALLENGES Their first year as part of the BIP has not been without its challenges , however , some of these were expected given the farm ’ s location and soil type .
Lisa and Ross Parker with dog Cooper