CRS farm mapping

As part of the re-branding exercise, we have changed from the family name of ‘Concepts Rural Suite’ for Concepts Dairy, Concepts Livestock, Concepts Cropping and Concepts Horticulture to the group name of ‘CRS farm mapping’, with options for Dairy, Livestock, Cropping and Horticulture. This change will be rolled out with the next upgrade.

New Website

www.CRSsoftware.co.nz is central to the new products and services we are offering customers.

We have tried to make it a place you will want to visit, to help you make even better use of your software. It has a lot of information the general public can view, but when you log in (support phone number is the password) a wealth of further information is available.

Online Tips

The Users section of the CRS farm mapping website contains information that will be valuable to you. The Online Tips is one example. (you must log in) This is a knowledge-base of questions other users have asked and provides many useful hints and tips.

CRS farm mapping Research and Development

Every year we invest a large amount of time maintaining and enhancing CRS farm mapping. Currently the mapping area is being upgraded so that it can easily import and export maps in standard GIS formats. This includes maps gathered on GPS units, farm machinery etc. The upgrade also allows your computer to handle very high resolution tiled images. The look and feel will also change - especially the way overlays and overlay symbols are managed. It will also be less modal. Modality is a feature of most graphics software - before you can do anything you must set it to the right mode. Given that software cannot read your mind this is essential, but can be confusing to new users. A release date is not set because there is still considerable work to complete.

CRS Software Ltd

Back in 1981 Computer Concepts was formed. In 2005 the name was changed to Concept Rural Solutions. That name has further evolved to CRS Software Ltd.

The commitment to provide the very best software for the needs of Farmers and the Rural Professionals who support them is a founding value of the company and remains as strong as ever.

Tips and Hints

Property Planning
The mapping section of CRS farm mapping is a great tool for identifying existing farm assets and planning future development. Many farmers don’t know where their water pipes are, don’t accurately know the area of paddocks and haven’t identified soil types and land use capability zones within their farm. These differing types of information should be stored on separate layers so they can be displayed or hidden as required.

In Australia several agencies provide free property planning courses to farmers and Brian has been tutoring several groups using CRS farm mapping. It's a pity these courses aren’t available in NZ! It’s just amazing how after 2 days of computer work and 2 days of farm visits discussing theory, just how great a map many users are achieving.

Do you know how to shade any area on your map? (not on paddock boundaries). See the Online Tips for instructions.

Printing your map

If you download version 5.1c from the website, you will find that the "Page Setup" screen allows you to make the map print to the edges of the page. This stops the wasted space around the edges (because it printed to the edge of the photo)

Pasture Records

We are noticing an increasing demand for feed budgeting. The Pasture Walks section of Concepts Dairy has very good tools for recording pasture covers and creating a graph of farm pasture cover. It can also help estimate pasture growth and creates a feed wedge - a fundamental management tool for dairy farmers.
Feed budgeting requires good records of pasture cover and grazing records and the Pasture Walks module helps farmers achieve this.

Management Blocks

This remains a very popular section of the program because it allows you to colour in specific paddocks, print a map and hand it to the person about to do the task.

Support and Upgrades

PremierPac for CRS farm mapping has been replaced by a separate support and upgrade policy. Users who paid for PremierPac since January 2007 will automatically receive the next mapping upgrade. They will also receive access to support up until the date of the mapping release. Professional users on annual leases will also get a rebate.

Support can now be provided by joining the support club. This costs $100 per year. Pricing for upgrades will vary, depending on the content.

New Product Launch - CMR online

It is like Cashmanager RURAL but is also very different because it is an online product. It allows several people to access centralised data from wherever they live. It's this difference that offers major benefits.

This software has been trialled for nearly a year. The value of the benefits is quite surprising, whether used by owner operators, equity partnerships or large multi-farm businesses. The key is that different people can be involved in data entry, YTD review, forecasting and general management, each having their own access rights and able to access centralised data from anywhere.

Visit www.CRSsoftware.co.nz and go to the CMR online pages for more information.