<div class=”Section1″>
<p>Earlier this month, I had the good fortune to attend a couple of days of <a href=”http://www.gallagherusa.com/” target=”_blank”>Gallagher-USA’s</a> sales meeting where the company officially unveiled the <a href=”http://www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/portable-electric-fence-system.aspx”>SmartFence</a>
<span class=”SpellE”> and several other new products</span> to regional and district managers, key dealers and a few members of the press. The high point of the meeting, for me, was learning about how the <a href=”http://www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/electric-fences-help-keep-deer-out-of-garden.aspx”>Gallagher Food Plot fencing system</a> works so well for keeping deer out of everything from vegetable gardens to farm fields to orchards to hunter’s food plots. It turns out that deer proofing your garden is pretty easy to accomplish with the right selection of Gallagher posts, conductors and chargers arranged in a very specific layout. And to top it off, the garden deer-proofing fence system is easy to set up and take down and is quite economical to boot. As part of the deer proofing presentation, I was also delighted to hear a dynamic and informative presentation on how the deer proofing fence works, by whitetail deer expert, <a href=”http://www.deermanagement.net/index.html” target=”_blank”>Dr. Grant Woods</a>. I came away from the Gallagher meeting excited about the company’s commitment to effective and economical fencing solutions, integrated livestock weighing solutions and livestock farm/ranch management computers and software.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Gallagher’s <a href=”http://www.gallagherusa.com/weighing/” target=”_blank”>weighing systems</a> include several models of load bars and a number of electronic scale heads, which are also quite powerful data loggers. The scale systems interface with your personal computer and are compatible with electronic animal identification systems.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Gallagher’s <a href=”http://www.gallagherusa.com/files/smarttsi-infosheet.pdf” target=”_blank”>SmartTSi family</a> of data-logging computers come fully loaded with powerful database management software that allows farmers and ranchers to collect weights directly from the scale (via Bluetooth technology in some combinations). But that’s not all. Savvy users can employ the data to learn everything from which paddocks offer the highest rates of animal gain to which groups of animals next need working to which pastures and groups of animals generated the most profit. The TSi is an amazingly robust, weatherproof computer that makes it easy to figure out whether subtle tweaks in farm or ranch management actually pay off.</p>
<p>I have been a fan of Gallagher products since I first employed electric fencing on my own farms almost 20 years ago. I was impressed by how many of the company’s sales and marketing staff in the U.S.A and New Zealand are also livestock practitioners. These folks really know what works.</p>
</div>
<p>
<hr />
</p>
<p>
<a href=”http://www.grit.com/biographies/oscar-h-will” target=_self>Hank Will</a>
<em> raises hair sheep, heritage cattle and many varieties of open-pollinated corn with his wife, Karen, on their rural Osage County, Kansas farm. His home life is a perfect complement to his professional life as editor in chief at GRIT and Capper’s Farmer magazines. Connect with him on </em>
<a title=Google+ href=”https://plus.google.com/u/0/117459637128204205101/posts” target=_blank rel=author>Google+</a>.</p>
