TSi Enables Accurate Throughput for Supermarket Contract

Being able to weigh 500 cattle in three hours is a major advantage of the TSi Livestock Manager for Phil Redding.

Phil is Farm Manager at Corumbene Stud in the NSW Central West, which runs 1,000 Hereford and Angus cows and 7,000 ewes, half Merino and half first-cross, as well as all their progeny.

Corumbene has an on-farm feedlot, putting through about 1,400 cattle a year which they turn off at 500 kilograms for a supermarket contract.

"We get docked if they're over or under weight, so we need to get it right. We had an old set of load bars, but they were nowhere near accurate and were really, really slow."

After looking around to compare, they chose the Gallagher TSi, panel reader and weigh feet.

"We also have quite a few Gallagher energizers on electric fencing - an MX7500 and a few MR5000s and 5000 i Series. They're good products. All that equipment is for the farm paddocks, keeping the cattle and sheep in, and we have one running through the feedlot for a stronger voltage; it's good."

Each fence has four to five hot wires, with an earth return. While Phil doesn't use the fence monitors for the 5000i that powers the feedlot fencing, they are very handy for the paddocks, indicating exactly where there's an issue should one arise.

And just as the energizers had proven good value, so has the TSi.

"The beauty is the accuracy and the speed. I'm miles in front from before.

"We grow our own feed, but we don't want to overfeed cattle, because we're docked when they're too heavy. Because the TSi is so accurate, we sell cattle that yield very close to the mark of the specifications.

"The TSi also allows us to record a lot of information on each individual animal - daily and overall weight gains, just a whole lot of useful data. And it does it all very fast."