Back at the ranch house, wife fencestretchers Alice Koupal gets e-mails from the Angus Association with updated EPD stats on their cattle and downloads that to the Palm fencestretchers Pilot. She has data on 2,489 animals in the system now and can manage the information with a push of a button, rather than by pushing a bunch of paper.Chore timeProducts that add an extra hand at chore time score big on the nation''s livestock farms. ATV''s and skid steers add to the operation through their multipurpose value, producers say.Life gets easierFarm chores got a whole lot easier for Chad fencestretchers Willis (pictured above) two years ago with the purchase of a skid steer loader. "This is so much more useful than a tractor and loader," says Willis, who feeds dairy bull calves and raises crops near Willmar, Minnesota. "It''s handy and can get in tighter places; it''s just more maneuverable."

"We bought a For-Most squeeze chute this winter, and it has completely changed our operation," says Chad Sullivan, Campbellsville, Kentucky. "We actually look forward to working cattle."Randy and Minda Witt, Lamar, Colorado, say a recently installed livestock handling facility with sorting tub and chute "has made our life much easier and is safer and faster for everyone involved.""I recently purchased a new Prifert squeeze chute and sweep gate system and 20 canal gates, which helps me better care for my dairy and beef cattle," writes Mike Murphy, Mt. Sterling, Kentucky.Fence ''em inProducts tied to fencing systems, especially fencestretchers those related to management intensive grazing, are popular with survey respondents. Changes in grazing management are among those most-mentioned by producers as a way to improve their business.

Feedstuffs fixProducers putting up hay and handling feedstuffs often cite a particular machine as a key to their fencestretchers success.Bob Minner, Fallon, Nevada, depends on quality baling equipment for commercial hay operation. "You have to keep up with changes in the machinery," Minner says. And quality equipment is key to producing dairy-quality hay for his customers, he says. Good dairy test hay will bring $110 to $115, and he has received up to $117 a ton for some.Minner shifted from small squares to big square bales eight years ago to meet the demand of local dairy operations. He operates a Hesston 8450 self-propelled windrower and a Hesston 4910 baler to cover about 6,000 acres a season. He double-rakes with a rotary machine for bigger windrows and to better dry the hay. The bales, measuring 8 feet long and weighing 1,750 to 2,300 pounds, are then picked up with a tractor-pulled bale wagon that hauls four bales at a time.