Continuous Weights, Better Heifers
In the Mid Canterbury foothills, Mt Somers Station's dairy heifers walk themselves onto the scales and Farm Manager, Scott Paton, says the continuous liveweight data they receive from their Auto Weigher is driving better daily feeding decisions to uplift stock performance.
The heifers at Mt Somers Station weigh themselves. There is no yarding, no mustering and no waiting until the next animal health event to establish their liveweight gain. The dairy heifers simply walk onto a platform in the paddock for a lick of salt and the StrongBó Auto Weigher does the rest.
Mt Somers Station is a 3800ha family-owned property in the Mid Canterbury foothills, owned by David and Kate Acland.
It is a diversified operation, running more than 13,000 sheep, 200 Beef cows, 900 R1’s & 350 R2’s, 950 dairy cows, with Farm Manager, Scott Paton, overseeing the youngstock coming through as the dairy herd's replacements. Until the station bought the Auto Weigher 18 months ago, heifer liveweights were only recorded when the animals came into the yards which meant time, labour and close to a day off feed. With our cattle yards in the middle of our farm, stock can travel up to 3-7km each way.
"Previously, we would only get data at the yards at an animal health event," says David. "Now we can make a management decision on selective drenching, or draft off lighter animals for preferential feeding."
Rather than treating a whole mob average, the team can target the individual animals that need it – and lighter heifers can be drafted off and preferentially fed before they fall too far behind their mates/target. The heifers run in four mobs and the Auto Weigher rotates between their paddocks over a seven-day period. A salt lick in the integrated trough draws each animal onto the platform where the EID reader identifies her and a weight is recorded.
Many heifers step on numerous times a day, so the system strips out the anomalies and averages the results before sending the data to a dashboard. Solar-powered and towable, the unit shifts between paddocks and is set up in minutes. “Over a 24hr period, 48 animals, or 40% of the mob, had weighed themselves, 200 registered visits to the weigh crate.”
For Scott, the move from snapshot weights to continuous liveweight gain data has changed how the team allocates feed to the virtual fencing breaks. We can monitor growth rates and refer back to residuals left and/or pasture quality eaten to upskill staff on the importance of feeding. "Continuous liveweight gain data lets us make more accurate virtual fencing decisions – how big a break to feed them and whether they are fully fed, or under or over on their pasture utilisation," says Scott.
The dashboard gives the team mob averages over 7, 14 and 28 days, which Scott uses to forecast feed requirements and line them up against approaching weather events. Rather than reacting to a poor average weeks after the fact, the team can see a trend forming within days.
"We can see the drop-off in liveweight gain during a cold snap almost straight away and adjust the breaks accordingly. That is far more timely than waiting until they are next in the yards."
The gains are not just in the data. With no mustering, the heifers stay on feed and hold their condition. "There is less energy burned in the travel to and from the yards. They are being weighed regularly while they are on feed, so they are conserving weight."
For David, the payoff shows up where it matters most for a dairy business – at mating. Heifers tracking to the station's target of 500kg PSC is one of the strongest levers on a heifer's first lactation and her survival in the herd, and continuous data takes the guesswork out of the run-up.
"It has helped us predict our rising two-year-old (R2) heifers' (300kg PSM) weights going into their first mating, so they are in optimal condition," says David. The Auto Weigher does not sit idle once the heifers head off to the milking platform. It shifts straight onto the station's dairy bulls, which are carried through to 18 months, keeping the same continuous liveweight data flowing across the wider dairy and dairy-beef system. “The bulls give it all their might too and it holds up well. It’s great for forecasting numbers of your drafts for the works more accurately too.
“Last year, we sample weighed all R1 mobs with the Auto Weigher over winter and had brought mobs back to the home yards to compare weights over 900 animals. It was only 6kg off the total average which is very impressive. This gave us confidence in its accuracy going forwards.”
