The demonstration farm’s business manager, Stacy McNaught, came up with the idea of the app last year and Invercargill software company Digital Stock made it happen.
“We were taking a lot of time coding and processing wages for the farm and staff were taking a lot of time filling in the timesheets so I wanted something the employees could fill in quickly on their phones and then we could access the data for easy analysis,” McNaught said.
The farm started using it last winter and it became available for free a few months later. It is now being used on more than 250 farms throughout the country.
“We haven’t really advertised it, except through the demonstration farm’s notes, so probably a lot of it is word of mouth. It must be doing what we wanted it to do otherwise that many farms wouldn’t be using it.”
Employees filled in hours worked on their phones with the Android app for each activity as they do them. Jobs such as effluent, tractor work and weed and pest control could be further broken down into shifting pods, taking out balage and spraying gorse. Lunch and other breaks were also recorded.
If employees forget, the app would prompt them at the end of each day.
Farmers could then upload what has been recorded on to their phone, tablet or computer to use for paying wages as well as recording how much time each activity took.
Graphs and reports could be generated for a single employee or all employees.
The app cost the demonstration farm more than $20,000 to develop but the upgrade was costing substantially more and farmers would be charged a subscription fee to use it. The price would depend on the level of functionality they require.
Farmers would be able to customise the app by selecting the most relevant job descriptions for their farm.
“One of the key and unique features of this app is the ability to benchmark across, not just your own farm, but with others within regions and herd sizes.”
McNaught was aiming for the benchmark data to be fed into DairyBase so everyone in the industry was talking the same language when it came to productivity and compliance.
But his plans for it were not stopping there, hence the need for further development.
“If farmers want to, they will soon be able to budget hours needed for a particular activity and then show that against the actual when the job is done. There is nothing out there that can do that at the moment.
“We could also have it become part of the farm’s health and safety with the employee’s phone vibrating whenever they are near a hazard to warn them.”
Digital Stock’s Jim Dowling said the dairy industry’s use of apps was growing.
“We seem to have found our own niche in the industry. We don’t have farming backgrounds but we now know what a cow looks like and how farms are run,” Dowling said.
The company started last year with two software developers and now employs six, all in their 20s and 30s.
“This app is a really cool solution for farmers to save time and money. People can spend hours recording time worked on pieces of paper and then that information goes to an accountant and to payroll but now it can all take seconds.”
Dowling said the software also ensured farmers were compliant with the Employment Relations Act as timesheets were generated each week, signed by the employee either digitally or on a paper file, and then stored.
“It also makes sure all employees are getting paid the minimum wage for every hour they work, which has been a big problem for employers who have farm staff who work long hours for parts of the year and then not for the others.
To download the free app go to: www.timesheet.demofarm.co.nz
