Types Of Scales For Agriculture

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Agriculture has a multitude of important uses for scales. Crops that are produced must be accurately weighed to be sold for the highest amount, livestock must be regularly weighed to monitor health and to determine the appropriate time for sale or slaughter, and weighing is also crucial to ensure that the right amount of feed is administered every day in consistent amounts. Many different types of scales are utilized for agricultural purposes, from truck scales to seed delivery scales.

• General Livestock Scales: Large livestock (horses, cattle, etc) are typically weighed using floor scales, permanent or portable platform scales, or load bars. These scales are all used by getting the animal to walk onto a platform (scale platform, or platform atop a set of load bars). Floor scales are usually used to weigh many animals at once, and then the animal’s weights are averaged to get an approximate weight for each animal. The other scales typically weigh one animal at a time, and frequently are outfitted with some sort of cage or crate. Small livestock includes sheep, llamas, hogs, goats, dogs, ...
... and more. These types of animals are often weighed using the same scales. Hanging scales are also occasionally used. Pig sorting scales are used in the hog industry, and will typically sort animals into feed areas by their weight. Any scale that is intended to weigh an animal should be waterproof and rust proof, will be equipped with some sort of averaging and hold function to account for animal movement, and should have a very low profile, so that the animals can easily step up onto the scale platform.

• Chute Scales: Chute scales are intended to help weigh difficult to manage livestock, and can often be created by an electronic conversion from a hydraulic or manual squeeze chute. Weigh bars should be installed parallel to the chute to lessen shock on the weigh bar when livestock get to the head gate.

• Grain Cart Scales: Grain cart scales can greatly improved load time and accurate measures of load volume. They also allow weighing of crops in the field. Many have very high accuracy levels. Often, even outmoded models of grain carts which were not intended for use with scales can be converted for use with grain cart scales.

• Indicators: Every agricultural scale is meant for use with a digital indicator.They are sold with the scale or may be purchased separately. Indicators should be compact and small to fit where space is limited. The digital display should be large and easy to read. Gross, net, and tare functions are crucial, and the indicator should ideally have an RS-232 port, or preferably, a USB port, so it can be attached to a computer or printer.

• Planters/Seed Delivery Scales: These scales lessen clean out times and simplify plant out by permitting the worker to deposit an equal quantity of seed in each seed tank. They are also able to accurately gauge the amount of seeds when working in bulk, as well as give the worker exact data regarding the numbers of remaining seeds in a machine. Ideally, these scales should help the worker determine how many acres of seed are remaining to be planted and also how many acres seeds have actually been planted.