more data. “Once you’ve collected
the information, you sim- ply let the animal go, the weight’s recorded, the scale zeroes out and it’s ready to weigh the next animal,” he says. “You don’t have to push a lot of buttons. Our software starts memorizing the sequence in which pro- ducers are collecting infor- mation, so it helps speed up the whole process of collect- ing animal data. There are dropdown menus, there are repeat features. The scales offer different calculations and predictions. “All of this information is designed to be available
to the producer chute-side so as soon as that animal’s weighed, within a second of typing in that animal’s ID number it will calculate the average daily gain, so you instantly know by looking at the scale how that animal’s performed since the last time you weighed that cow.” A Canadian producer, Mike Klink of Gull Lake, Sas-
katchewan, says he’s thrilled with his Tru-Test weigh scale system. “We installed the Tru-Test indicator and load bars in the chute ahead of the squeeze, to weigh for individual performance, and it was all very easy to install,” says Klink, who runs 350 cow-calf pairs on rolling pastures in a region where the average annual rainfall is about 10 inches. Schweiss says, “Most of our market is the cow-calf
producer, and that ranges in all sizes from a small opera- tion of 25 head to one that has several thousand head.” Klink went on, “We started using the XR3000 in-
dicator as soon as we got it set up, with very few problems. As with any new setup there was a short learning curve at the start. It was made a lot easier with the comprehensive manual and easy-to-navigate, on-screen help menu.” The XR3000 is Tru-Test’s top indicator. It’s integrat-
able with Bluetooth and can hold IDs and weight data of up to 50,000 cattle. It also holds customized statistics. Four other indicator models range from a basic Ezi-
tscra.org
Get a true weight and administer the proper dosage of medicine.
Weigh5 Weigh Scale System up to other Bluetooth mod- els. Klink says he checked the accuracy of his new sys- tem against a government approved weigh scale and had no problems. Klink also bought a sec-
ond set of load bars to put under a 75-bushel feed hop- per bin mounted in the back of a truck. He reports, “It runs perfectly and with the weigh scale mounted on the feed truck, we can regulate the amount of grain being fed without the huge ex- pense of a commercial feed unit.”
He weighs calves at weaning and periodically while
on feed and uses the data to help balance the ration to get the daily rate of gain that they want. They also use the weaning and yearling weights as a tool to rank the cows for culling purposes and to choose replacement heifers. He reports the Tru-Test scale has been so ac- curate, his repeat customers for yearlings accept the fi gures he gets from it. The data are stored in the indicator, which is simply
disconnected and brought back to the computer. The Link3000 and EziLink programs serve as the data in- terface and sort it in either a .csv or an Excel format. Data can also be imported to third-party management programs like CattleMax or Cow Sense. Schweiss says Tru-Test launched an app interface in
March. It’s designed to work on Android platforms, so it will work on smartphones and tablets and allows the producer to download data from the device in the fi eld via Bluetooth, without the need to bring the indicator to the computer. In the end, says Schweiss, “The scales are a manage-
ment tool. Whether it’s measuring your feed intake or just keeping track of your average daily gain, they’re designed to help the producer manage your animals and make better decisions. It’s all about increasing their profi tability, maximizing their production, and just making the whole process of animal management and data collection easier.”
June 2014 The Cattleman 103
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