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."

Willis bought the Bobcat and attachments used from his local dealer for about $11,000. Money well spent, he says. He uses it to move pallets of feed, move calf huts, and clean the barn. The green box shown in the photo above is actually a hog hauler Willis picked up at a local auction. It will hold four calves on the front of the skid steer when it comes time to move them from huts to the barn for weaning and processing. His older barn has been remodeled, and the skid steer slides postdriver perfectly down the aisles and into the pens for cleaning. Anything bigger wouldn''t fit, postdriver says Willis.Some producers cite purchase of a skid steer as their best recent management change.

"Changing from conventional to an intensive grazing operation," is the biggest management change for Robert Cessac of Higbee, Missouri. "This has saved on hay and feed costs by 75%," he says. "I feed hay only from February 1 to maybe mid-March, depending postdriver on snowfall. And the cattle handle much easier and are more gentle. I can handle my cattle mostly by myself now." Even relatively low-tech grazing systems depend on good technology. High-tensile electric fence, polywire, and solar electric fencers all get mention in the survey.Kim Klocke of Arlington, Iowa, likes his IntelliShock solar electric fencer made by Premier. He has had it four years and says it operates without a hitch. Klocke runs 75 stock cows and 80 ewes on 260 acres of grass and pasture.