New technology makes weighing easy: from notepad to cloud

How well do you know your animals? Can you tell your herd apart and know their origins and offspring? Then you have come a long way. But do you also know what you don't know?

Did you know that many decisions you make for your animals every day are based on a standard weight at a certain age? Like humans, no animal is the same and each develops in a unique way. By making your decisions not based on age but on individual weight, you can make better decisions around feeding, growth, medication, breeding selection and the best time to sell your animal.

And one last fact: did you know that Gallagher is not only market leader in electric fencing, but also in many countries with its animal weighing solutions?

From notepad to cloud

‘That age is linked to weight is very logical from history,' says Frederik Dijkstra, product manager at Gallagher. 'Although it has been possible with manual weighing systems for decades, one thing always stood in the way: convenience. Because who feels like wading through piles of paper to check how an individual animal has developed in recent years? In 2023, this paperwork will take place in the cloud. With an EID reader, you simply read the electronic animal number and the weight from the scale is automatically stored linked. This allows you to see at a glance how the weight of each animal develops.

New entry-level weighing systems

'In New Zealand, Gallagher's home country, weighing with advanced systems has been the most normal thing in the world for years. Most weighing systems were therefore aimed at that. In recent years, Gallagher has particularly focused on making these weighing systems accessible to starting weighers,' continues Dijkstra. 'In response, we have developed a number of products that have been greatly simplified. In 2022, for example, we launched the world's first wireless loadbars and our W1 scale. We have also been working for years to make the software around our systems a lot more intuitive. This may sound difficult, but this software ensures that all weighings are collected and automatically processed into analyses. These analyses then give the farmer valuable insights that allow him to make better decisions. Better for the animal, but also for the farmer's wallet.'

Why weigh?

1. Determine best time to sell
2. More control over growth and nutrition
3. Monitoring animal health
4. Determine optimal moment for mating
5. Investigate which animals produce best offspring
6. Determine medication volume
7. Determine best time from milk to roughage
8. Comprehensive logbook at transfer or slaughter


Getting started

'We get more and more questions from farmers who see the benefits of weighing, but find it difficult to actually get started with it. What all can I start measuring? Which analyses can be of value to me? What equipment do I need? What does it cost, and what does it yield? Because business operations differ from company to company, it is difficult to come up with standard answers to these questions. That is why we always advise: if you want to start weighing, request a free consultation with one of our specialists. They will map out your needs and come up with personal advice on how weighing animals can contribute to your business.

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