Back at the ranch house, wife Alice Koupal gets e-mails from the Angus Association with updated EPD stats on their cattle and downloads that to the Palm 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 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."

"I like Polaris fencingtoolsmaud because of the automatic transmission. Switching gears makes moving cattle hard when you are switching from 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 and then back down to reverse," says Green. "Polaris just goes from low or high range to reverse."The ATV accessory Green can''t live without is a mesh rack for hauling fencing equipment. The racks are made by Moose Utility Division and cost about $125.ATVs can replace both pickups and leg work, producers say. "The use of a Honda four-wheeler vs. my truck has saved big dollars," writes Brad Leonard, Holt, Missouri. Kim Queen, Old Fort, Tennessee, says buying a second ATV was a key management change, because "one of us always had to walk to the corral fencingtoolsmaud and check cattle."

He also likes the white polywire made by Premier because it "has a lot of give, even after it''s been out in the sun for months." fencingtoolsmaud The cheaper yellow and black polywire sold at farm supply stores is flexible when you unroll it, says Klocke, but fencingtoolsmaud it gets brittle out in the sun.Twenty years and still tickingDairy farmer Dan Johnson of Elk Mound, Wisconsin, has used his Blitzer solar fence controller for almost 20 years. It''s been hit by lightning twice, requiring replacement of the the solar grid and one other part, but otherwise, it''s worked fine, he reports. Johnson milks 60 Holsteins and grazes the hills of his 285-acre farm.