the many faces – and facets – of weighing -...

TRU-TEST Weighside | Issue 05 Spring 2013 |

The many faces – and facets – of weighing

Chris Barber of Limestone Downs near Port Waikato reckons being on target is the critical benefit: “We’ve paid for our investment (in the XR3000) ten times over in getting lambs to the right weights.”

Mark Bridges of Whatalotta Heifers near Waverley worries about those who are not yet weighing: “It (not weighing) is putting a hell of a cost on the industry. Too often dairy farmers are having to bring animals home and feed them like queens in April, May and June to try and play catch up.”

Chris Earl of the Longdown Maternals Stud at Scargill likes the growing body of information he and his wife Jane are accumulating: “What we like about the electronic tags (is) you can layer information on an animal year by year which gives incredibly valuable information.”

Richard Orr of Red Oak Stud near Waikari says his philosophy can pretty much be captured in just 10 words: “Record the calf at birth and you’re set for life’.

Roanne and Roger Lumsden of Ohinewai near Huntly reckon the stick reader is changing the game because of its ease of use: “It makes scanning the herd so easy that our 9 and 10–year–old children do it from the platform.”

Sam and Viki Holland from Hemingford in Culverden find having an EID–based weighing programme for their commercial flock is providing useful information for their stud clients: “Having a real handle on what’s happening out in the field helps give a better sense of the practical benefits of the stud breeding programme.”

We hope you enjoy Weighside, and that it helps unlock new possibilities in weighing and performance monitoring through EID.

Welcome to the latest edition of Weighside. The six ‘snap–shots’ in this edition focus on a wide variety of farming operations ... and just as many approaches to EID–based weighing and performance monitoring.

ISSUE 05 SPRING 2013

Weighside

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New Tru–TestXRP2 EID panel reader

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Minimising penalties, maximising growth

Limestone Downs near Port Waikato was established as a charitable trust almost 35 years ago to support the development of farming after being privately owned and farmed by the late C Alma Baker since 1926. The 2,500ha property runs 11,000 sheep, 1,800 cattle and a recent conversion has brought in 700 dairy cows (target 1,200).

Sheep and Beef Manager Chris Barber says regular weighing is helping get lambs to the right weight more efficiently and is minimising underweight penalties.

“We’ve paid for our investment (in the XR3000) ten times over in getting lambs to the right weights,” Chris says.

He reckons regular weighing also helps avoid jumping to conclusions.

“When you use the weigh scales regularly you stop assuming things, and wait for the results before making decisions.”

Limestone Downs is also doing a major ewe longevity, hogget feed management and performance trial with Massey University’s Dr Rene Corner and Dr Anne Ridler. They’re following hoggets’ performance through breeding, pregnancy and lambing over multiple years.

“We’re collecting scan data to help understand the effects of liveweight at various times,” Rene says. “We’re particularly interested in weaning weights and the weight gain between weaning and the next mating period

to understand the implications of breeding from hoggets.”

With three different age classes now part of the trial – all starting as hoggets – early evidence suggests there is little long–term negative productivity effects from breeding from hoggets.

Limestone Downs is also part of a seven–farm Massey University–led liveweight and condition scoring study to better understand the correlation between ewe hogget mating weights, condition scores and survivability.

“We’re already seeing a 15% difference in total survivability PD as a two–tooth between hoggets mated at a condition score of 2 and those mated 2.5. The message is fairly clear!” Rene says.

A slice of life on Limestone Downs – Clockwise from top left: The gang primed for action (Chris Barber middle back row); docking from a distance; docking up close; Chris loads

yet another; a mass migration; monitoring growth rates on the XR3000; investing in future growth; the ‘tidy up’.

Location: Port Waikato

Weighing/ EID Equipment Used:

Tru–Test XRS EID Stick Reader

Tru–Test XR3000 Weigh Scale

Tru–Test Load Bars

Racewell Auto Drafter

LIMESTONE DOWNSChris Barber


Richard Orr’s family has a 90–year history in stud animals. He farms Red Oak Stud near Waikari in North Canterbury – 3,200ha of largely limestone tussock country running up to 2,500 feet carrying Romneys and Angus.

He reckons his approach to weighing and recording for the Red Oak Angus stud can be expressed in just 10 words: “Record the calf at birth and you’re set for life.”

“With just three people managing 20,000 stock units, we can’t afford to be shagging around. Getting everything on file right from the start makes it pretty easy after that,” he says.

The weigh scale is pre–loaded with tags and the team scans and tags all Angus stud calves at birth, recording their age, sire, dam, birth weight and sex before downloading all tags into the memory file.

“It all comes up on the XR3000 and we can transfer it directly to Herdmaster. It works really well. I know I can ring

Paula (at Tru–Test’s support line) if there’s any issue, but we’ve really got it nailed. The back up service is outstanding.”

“Doing all the recording at birth can seem time–consuming at the time but in the long run it pays off. It certainly beats the notebook!”

Get in early…

Location: Waikari, North Canterbury





RED OAK STUDRichard Orr

Richard Orr – never wants to use a notebook again!


Chris and Jane Earl’s Longdown Maternals Stud produces rams that are sought–after by farmers who are looking to increase lambing percentages and growth rates with easy care.

A couple of key philosophies quickly become clear when talking with Chris

– the importance of operating their stud and their commercial flock in an integrated way, and taking a long–term view of gains in particular traits.

“It’s very easy to get quick turnaround and quite accurate data on growth rates, for example, but you don’t want to be in a rush to cull any animal until you understand the full picture,” Chris says.

“Chasing growth rates is fantastic but the higher the growth rate the bigger the mature ewe. We have to balance that up – we want fast growth rates but don’t want massive ewes.”

The North Canterbury property was a monitor farm before the Earls purchased Michael Talbot’s Longdown maternals stud. The Earls are well used to weighing by mob. Weighing at an individual animal level is a newer experience.

“That’s what I like about the electronic tags, you can layer information on

an animal year by year which gives incredibly valuable information. It also helps us learn more about how different parts of the farm perform under different conditions.”

The Earls weigh their stud ewes four times a year. A key time is mating when they are sorted into mating groups before being wintered with the commercial ewes.

“Four times–a–year weighing helps us strike the right balance between the various things we’re looking for.”

Weighing also helps them better understand which sires are breeding lambs that are stacking on weight while their mothers are simply maintaining weigh.

“We’re learning lots. The key to it all is EID and accuracy.”

Location: Scargill, North Canterbury





Bar code scanner

Prattley Manual Drafter

LONGDOWN STUDChris & Jane Earl

Keeping both eyes on the long–term

Jane Earl – taking every opportunity to weigh and measure


Sam and Viki Holland have a lot to weigh up – as well as to weigh – on Hemingford, their 950ha flat–to–steep hill country property near Culverden.

In 12 years they, with Sam’s father Alistair, have taken Hemingford from a traditional store operation to a four–breed stud – Charolais cattle and Suftex, Romtex and Texel sheep.

With FarmIQ they also plan to tag and weigh all commercial ewes within the next two years.

Sam says three things help keep these balls in the air – a love of sheep and cattle, technology and Viki’s data skills.

The Hollands weighed their commercial lamb flock at weaning last year and the next progression is to weigh and condition score the commercial as well as stud ewes pre–tupping and weaning. With all ewes having EID tags, a lifetime record can be kept to allow decisions to be made on actual performance alongside type.

Sam says the Romtex are their ideal maternal breed because they thrive even in harsh conditions. Weighing helps identify ewes which have the efficiency traits they are targeting with optimal tupping weight–to–scanning ratios through to ewes which wean well in excess of their body weight year in, year out.

Sam believes there are “huge gains” to be made with genetics alone on hill country farms.

“The technology Tru–Test has along with the expertise of its back–up staff is helping us make rapid progress with genetics as well minimising the time spent recording.”

Weighing and monitoring both the commercial and stud flocks provides useful information for their stud clients.

“Having a real handle on what’s happening out in the field helps give a better sense of the practical benefits of the stud breeding programme,” he says.

HEMINGFORD STUDSam & Viki Holland

A four weigh operation…

Location: Culverden, North Canterbury





Racewell Auto Drafter

Sam and Viki Holland – commercial flock performance useful for stud clients

Two decades of weighing pays off

In September Mark Bridges of Whatalotta Heifers addressed 75 dairy farmers in the Waikato. He asked them how many of them weighed their animals.

“When only a third put their hands up I was a bit gobsmacked, to be honest. We’ve been weighing our stock every 60 days for the past 20 years and we thought it was now standard practice,” Mark says.

“It (not weighing) is putting a hell of a cost on the industry. Too often dairy farmers are having to bring animals home and feed them like queens in April, May and June to try and play catch up.”

Whatalotta Heifers is an equity partnership of eight Taranaki dairy farmers. The 250ha property at Waverley Beach is putting an average additional 1.08 bodyweight per heifer over the year, equivalent to a 240kg heifer leaving at 500kg after 12 months.

“Weighing regularly gives us early warning signals when animals are not on track and it allows us to do trial weights of smaller groups of cattle every 14 days. We’re also increasing summer cropping and palm kernel reserves with the aim of having between 4kg and 5kg of dry matter per animal per day of supplementary feed on hand.”

Mark says the biggest benefits of weighing consistently for so long is that Whatalotta understands the likely response from

nutritional or management change based on past history. It’s like a big database of responses and reactions.

“Weighing is absolutely central to our operation – it’s based on the results that we make almost all our decisions.”

Location: Waverley Beach, Taranaki





Te Pari Cattle Master Stock Crate

WHATALOTTA HEIFERSMark Bridges

Whatalotta Heifers on the way to 500kg


Hands–free EID–based monitoring and weighing is becoming even more convenient with the launch of the Tru– Test XRP2 EID Panel Reader.

The XRP2 brings two of the key features of the award winning XRS EID stick reader to a panel reader – Bluetooth® and an internal memory – in line with the growing demand for ‘hands free’.

The internal memory means the XRP2 can be used independently of a weigh scale to record tags, providing an easy way to capture animal movements. Using the Tru–Test Datalink app installed on an Android smartphone you can register animal movements with NAIT directly from the yards, or email them back to the office.

Enhanced read–rates, a diagnostic function for identifying the ideal location for the panel and a new more rugged body with industrial strength connectors are other features – all of which are at the same price as the XRP2’s predecessor, the XRP.

The XRP2 is available from all rural retailers from late October.

New EID panel makes ‘hands free’ EID even easier

Step by step…

Roanne and Roger Lumsden have had a Tru–Test XR3000 weigh scale and XRS EID stick reader for 18 months and freely acknowledge they’re not using all it has to offer.

The way they see it, it’s a step–by–step process.

“We try to keep things as simple as we can,” Roanne says. “It’s got more technology than we need at the moment but we’re finding more and more uses for it.”

The Lumsdens, who farm 800 cows at Ohinewai south of Huntly, were among the first to link their XR3000 to MINDA, uploading weight files to MINDA Weights using the interface.

“We had a few hiccups initially – I guess we were guinea pigs in a sense but it’s all up and running and saving us a lot of time now. The Tru–Test Technical support team was really helpful.”

They’re now monitoring the performance of their heifers against target weights, as well as condition scoring.

Roanne says their greatest gain has been from the XRS.

“At the moment the wand is even more important to us than the weighing system because it makes scanning the

herd so easy that our 9 and 10–year–old children do it from the platform.”

On the recommendation of their vet, the Lumsdens plan to scan their cows weekly in calf to track individuals and groups’ performance at different times and under different conditions, for future management decision–making.

“That’s a long way from recording our cows in different colours in a notebook!” Roanne says.

Location: Ohinewai, Waikato





Manual drafting

Roanne & Roger Lumsden

Roanne and Roger Lumsden – step by step towards their technology’s potential.

Key Features of the XRP2 EID Panel Reader

Superior read technology ensures quick and reliable tag reads

Internal memory provides the capability to use as a standalone EID reader for recording ID’s

Bluetooth® technology for wireless connection to weigh scales or Android™ smartphones

Easily manage data. Transfer via the Tru-Test Android App

Display screen provides key information such as session count, session number and scanned EID tag


Want fast, accurate tracking tools built to last? Improve your bottom line with these.

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How are you tracking?Let’s talk. 0800 263 278

* Offers and pricing valid from 16 September – 31 December 2013 except for the XR3000 and ID3000 which now becomes the everyday pricing. Pricing is GST inclusive, subject to change and includes delivery to the retail store.

XRP2 EID Panel Reader

$2,295

NEWAVAILABLE

OCTOBER

XR3000 Weigh Scale

EziWeigh5 Weigh Scale EziWeigh7 Weigh Scale

XRS EID Stick Reader

$2,295New Everyday Low Price

ID3000 Weigh Scale $1,345

New Everyday Low Price

$1,895

$1,095

SRS EID Stick Reader

$1,095

$595

MP600 Load Bars

$1,095

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the many faces – and facets – of weighing -...

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