When livestock production is a part of the farming operation or when it is the focus of the operation, having the right scale and equipment is important. This means upgrading from old styles of agricultural scales to the new options allowing the best use of technology.
In today’s farming industry data should drive decisions. This is true in grain farming, feedlots, cow-calf operations, pig barns or even with chicken houses. Having the right agricultural scales to both weigh livestock, as well as weigh feed, will be instrumental in making accurate and informed decisions about best practices for improving efficiency and decreasing the cost of production.
Weight Gain Evaluation
When using different feeds, different feeding methods, or even when evaluating weight gain between different pens or lots in a feedlot, having the ability to quickly and efficiently weight the feed in prior to feeding and then also weight the animals is critical.
When using agricultural scales for this option, several things are important. It is essential to choose scales that can be loaded with your farm management software, avoiding the need to manually enter data or try to work with integrating data from multiple software programs.
For many farm options having a display at the scale, or in the tractor on the cart or at the bins, makes sense. This allows a quick verification of the weight plus also provides the transfer of the data to the software system.
Once you have the information from the grain scale on the input side and the livestock scale on the output side, comparing weight gain between breeds, lots, feed types or other variables is a very simple operation. Look for agricultural scales that can provide multiple duties as a great investment.
Use Conditions and Durability
One very important consideration with any type of agricultural scales is how they will be used. Some scales are permanently mounted, which may be a good option for weighing grain into the mixer or cart and for weighing livestock before shipping or through a central location in a feedlot or farm.
On the other hand, portable agricultural scales are also a good option. Having scales on harvest equipment and carts as well as portable scales for livestock may be essential for cow-calf operations or purebred operations.
Before buying agricultural scales take a close look at the big picture. Scales that are designed to integrate with other systems, such as your herd management software or crop production software are always good investments for long-term ease of use and versatility.
