Optiweigh debuts sheep unit to livestock industry at Henty

First time exhibitor at the Henty Machinery Field Days, Optiweigh debuted their game changing sheep unit to the industry at Agtech Alley.

AgTech Alley was a new initiative between Henty Machinery Field Days, the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and showcased over 20 specialist ag tech businesses.

Optiweigh sales and support manager Max Laurie was pleased with the positive feedback and interest from field day visitors. 

“It has been fantastic to have plenty of conversations with livestock producers at Henty,” Mr Laurie said. 

“We have been involved with NSW DPI for quite some time and have had a lot of support from the Farms of the Future program, allowing producers to purchase units at a discounted price.

“There is nearly 1000 cattle units out in the field in Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, Canada, USA, Wales, and Czechoslovakia.”

A prototype sheep unit was developed about two years ago by the son of New England farmer and Optiweigh chief executive officer Bill Mitchell for a Year 12 project.

“Since then, we have refined the design but due to the nature and popularity of the cattle unit, it has taken us a little bit of time to launch the sheep unit,” Mr Laurie said. 

“It operates similarly to our cattle unit as a portable in-paddock weighing system giving accurate information, so the producer has more useful data to make informed management decisions. 

“There are already commercialised systems for use in a feedlot and the Optiweigh unit adds to that equation.

“The gamechanger is this can be used in the paddock and allows us to monitor our most valuable stock at particular times, whether that be ewes or trading lambs.

“It is measuring the liveweight of the animal and from that we can derive average daily gain, how the animals are tracking and performing, any animal health issues and pasture management.”

Mr Laurie said Optiweigh was originally designed as a tool for finishing animals to market specifications.

“Farmers quickly realised they were able to measure animals on a continuous basis to know how they were performing and if supplementary feeding, drench or paddock rotation was required,” he said.

The Optiweigh is highly portable and can be towed behind a buggy or ute, with set up taking less than two minutes. 

A dry lick, salts or molasses block is recommended as an attractant to encourage the sheep into the Optiweigh unit. 

The unit scans each animal’s electronic identification tag and weighs the front feet. This information is sent to the cloud and an algorithm applied to calculate total body weight. 

Liveweight information is updated multiple times daily and sent to an app, client portal and email. Users receive a daily email summarising the information gathered in the last 24 hours. 

“Farmers look at their email each morning to check the performance of their animals and make management decisions based on that information,” Mr Laurie said.

AgTech Alley was supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as part of its Support Regional Trade Events Program.