FENN AG COMPANY PHOTOS BY TINA THOMPSON
We sat down with Steve Fenn at a recent trade show to catch up and learn more about his business Fenn Ag Company. Steve, how did you get into livestock water monitoring? Many years ago I got involved with soil moisture monitoring devices. I worked with these technologies for many years, and finally saw that this technology would work for the ranching community. Ranchers check water daily. This involves covering many miles and requires many hours especially when stock is at critical time of need. Time could be better spent if the rancher knew the water levels at his stock tanks without having to go there in person, to check. I have now adopted technologies available to farmers to monitor soil moisture in service of ranchers and their stock. The technology allows a rancher to monitor water levels in stock tanks virtually via your smart phone. This service notifies you when a tank reaches a critical level at the time it’s measured which takes place hourly. If you’re running pumps to fill the tank you can see, or be notified that the tank is full. This can save you money if you are using electricity to run the pump. With higher resolution probes one can measure the water used with accuracy. The system would be the same for most of the probes we use. PG. 36 :: SPRING 2019
The challenge is “fitting” the probe to many different tanks used today. Uploading the data requires the tank to be in a cell service area. Satellite modems are available, but the monthly fee may make the service too costly for some ranchers. If you would like more information on how Fenn Ag Company can help your operation contact: Steve Fenn: 520-507-2286 or fennagco@vtc. net “Fenn Ag’s Water Monitor System has been immensely helpful to our ranch operations by keeping our water supply more reliable and helping to prevent water crises. Because of our stressed water resources we rely on elaborate pipelines and water storage tanks to provide the wildlife and our cattle a reliable source of water. Before the Monitoring System, when a float was broken or a pipeline busted we would easily lose 24,000 gallons of stored water within 24 hours! Even though we religiously checked our pipelines and tanks every 48 hours, something would break right after we were there and dump all of our water storage by the time we checked again. With this system we are alerted right away when we are losing water and gives us the opportunity to fix the break before we lose all of our water. Having this system has also relieved us of checking every 48 hours. We can go 3 or 4 days now which allows us more time to work on ranch improvements.” -David and Tina Thompson, Cochise County, Arizona
