Agriculture technology company, Datamars Livestock, has evolved its Tru-Test cattle in-paddock weighing product line, Walk Over Weighing (WOW), with a number of key improvements, including permanent mobility and four-foot weighing options on the upgraded Flexi Mobile 4000C models. The company has also released the Tru-Test Dairy WOW system designed specifically for the harsh dairy environment.
Tru-Test WOW systems assist producers to collect accurate, daily data and insights on individual cattle weights, to make timely decisions on livestock performance and pasture management. The system also removes the need to handle animals, reducing labour costs and improving animal welfare outcomes.
The renamed lineup includes the Prime 4000C, PrimeDraft 4000C, Flexi Mobile 4000C and FlexiDraft Mobile 4000C and Dairy WOW – to ensure a comprehensive offering of weighing and data solutions for a diversity of enterprises across the Australian livestock supply chain.
Tru-Test Commercial Director of Smart Farming, Verne Atmore, said improvement of the WOW product line was invested in to better meet the needs of producers across the country, while strengthening the integrity of data collected by the system.
“WOW helps producers to accurately and easily capture valuable livestock data for better decision making to reduce labour costs, maximise productivity, improve animal welfare and enhance pasture management, to ultimately grow profitability,” Ms Atmore said.
“Importantly, producers can monitor the performance of their cattle and make these decisions, anywhere, anytime, through the web application.
“We also understand that mobility is key, especially in intensive grazing environments, and have focused our mobile upgrades of the popular Flexi 4000C WOW products.
“This includes the prefabrication of the product line and providing piece-of-mind that comes with unpacking a fully assembled product. It’s ready to use straight away.
The Flexi 4000C range provides farmers with the flexibility to choose a range of weighing options, such as walk-over-weighing or walk-on-weighing, with a four-feet configuration.
The Dairy WOW 4000 works with milking routines to automatically collect weights daily, removing the challenges of manually weighing a herd.
“For example, if a farmer wants accuracy and data on each animal, walk-over-weighing is the ideal solution,” Ms Atmore said.
“Those farmers wanting an indication of the overall herd’s performance, but who don’t necessarily require every animal to be weighed individually, can use the four-foot walk-on weighing option.
“The advantage of four-foot walk-on weighing is the accuracy. Two-foot weighing uses an algorithm to calculate the animal’s weight, whereas with four-foot the entire animal is weighed.”
Other key features include a gas-strut on the solar panel wing to make raising or lowering the unit easier when moved, and the concealment of data and power cables to protect them from the harsh weather and inquisitive animals.
The new Flexi 4000C has also been fitted with an exclusion cage to strengthened data integrity.
“The squares within the exclusion cage prevent Radio Frequency Identification or Electronic Identification tags being read from behind the antenna, meaning only the animal walking over or on the unit will have its tag read,” Ms Atmore explained.
“This ensures the weight that’s recorded will be matched the exact animal. This is particularly important when there are multiple animals around the unit at one time and the weight recorded matches the correct animal.”