Truck Supervisor™ Truck Scale Interface Expedites Harvest Data Entry and Monitors Feed Inventory
Minglewood, Inc., located in Deer Park, Wis., is a dairy farm and custom harvester of forage crops for other local dairies. With harvest seasons that may result in a few million pounds of feed gathered in a month, Minglewood’s revenue relies heavily upon knowing the types and weights of collected crops. Though critical, this information was difficult to determine through traditional means.
Truck Supervisor gathers and records weight information about the purchased crops from feed delivery trucks. The driver simply stops on the scale and enters the crop type into the scale head. After delivering the feed, the driver returns to the scale so that the empty truck can be weighed, and Truck Supervisor calculates the net weight of the crop. Truck Supervisor then sends the collected data via cable or radio frequency signals to the Feed Supervisor system, which houses and manages comprehensive feed inventory and recipe data.
“We would occasionally take a truckload of harvested crops up to the feed mill, weigh it and use that number as an average value for the forages,” said Jim Mayer, herdsman at Minglewood. “The problem was that the weight of each truckload could vary tremendously, and we wouldn’t know how much each differed from one another.”
Incorrect estimates, when added up, could result in a significant loss in revenue for Minglewood. In addition, it was difficult for Minglewood to track the amount and variety of harvested crops, as all information had to be entered manually.
To improve the simplicity and accuracy of harvest data entry, Minglewood purchased the Truck Supervisor™ truck scale interface from K.S. Dairy Consulting. Truck Supervisor interfaces with a durable, high-accuracy truck scale from Avery Weigh-Tronix to deliver a comprehensive feed management solution, monitoring incoming feed and accurately documenting inventory. It pairs with Feed Supervisor® software—also offered by K.S. Dairy Consulting—to significantly improve feeding operations by optimizing ration management and inventory control.
Truck Supervisor gathers and records weight information about the purchased crops from feed delivery trucks. The driver simply stops on the scale and enters the crop type into the scale head. After delivering the feed, the driver returns to the scale so that the empty truck can be weighed, and Truck Supervisor calculates the net weight of the crop. Truck Supervisor then sends the collected data via cable or radio frequency signals to the Feed Supervisor system, which houses and manages comprehensive feed inventory and recipe data.
“The ease with which we can record the harvest weights into our records was a big selling point for us,” Mayer said. “The radio frequency data transfer particularly helped expedite the process.”
Truck Supervisor also features “Click and Go Technology,” which allows users to employ a smart card reader so that the weight of each individual empty truck may be preconfigured. Truck Supervisor is then programmed into “Harvest” mode, in which the user selects the feed ingredient being delivered. With this combination, delivery trucks only need to be weighed once, resulting in a fully integrated feed weighing and management solution that expedites feed delivery and improves inventory accuracy.
Minglewood began using Truck Supervisor in 2008 to handle the company’s hay crop and corn silage harvest. After Truck Supervisor collected all of Minglewood’s harvest data, it was automatically transferred to Feed Supervisor—which is available as a standalone system or partnered with a robust Avery Weigh-Tronix Model 2040 scale indicator. Feed Supervisor is used to advise Minglewood’s operator on the amount of each feed ingredient needed to accurately mix rations for their dairy herd. Mayer said they also use this data to verify the accuracy of the feed ingredients that are loaded into the company’s mixer to produce feed for their own dairy cattle.
“Through the different reports Feed Supervisor is able to provide, we can track feed consumption, cleanup, feed efficiency and more. We also use it to keep track of our ingredient inventories,” Mayer said. “When we first started using this software, we noticed that our operator’s accuracy improved overnight.”
Mayer said Minglewood has now used Feed Supervisor for nearly a decade. With the addition of Truck Supervisor, Minglewood is now able to accurately determine the amount of feed collected, optimizing revenue without slowing operations during busy harvest seasons. In June 2009 alone, the company collected close to 200 truckloads, or just short of 3 million pounds of feed. Before Truck Supervisor, Minglewood could only have guessed the exceptional results of that month’s harvest.
“We have a much better handle on the feed that we have available,” Mayer said. “Plus, we can determine how to feed it at the proper rate of inclusion to last us through the next harvest. Our inventories are now up-to-date, and we can forecast our future feed needs.”
For more information, contact Avery Weigh-Tronix at www.agscales.com or K.S. Dairy Consulting at www.feedsupervisor.com.
Technical Points: Truck Supervisor
• Smart card reader allows delivery trucks to weigh in without pushing buttons
• Records harvest weights on the move with “Click and Go Technology”
• Harvests multiple crops at the same time
• Deliveries can be made without interrupting the harvest function
• Calculates shrink within Feed Supervisor