Wireless weighing helps protect angus farmers’ valuable investment

When Jackaroo Angus Stud decided to pivot their business into breeding high value registered Angus cattle, they started using Gallagher’s Wireless Load Bars as part of a total weighing and data management system to protect their investment.

The business located at Bredbo in New South Wales is run by Harrison Allan, his father Mark and business partner Rob. Their property is home to a high value breeding stud with a herd of up to 100 registered Angus animals, which they breed using AI only from premium Angus sires from the United States. “When we decided to pivot the business into breeding registered Angus, we realised we needed to focus on the specific metrics of every animal in our herd, so we needed the right gear,” says Harrison.

Angus Australia has strict requirements and breeders must provide the organisation with data about their registered animals, including their growth performance. Among the data required is the animals’ weights at birth and then again at 200 days and much more. “There are a lot of details and tracking required for our business and that’s why we decided to bring the Gallagher weighing and EID equipment in. You can’t do it all by pen and paper,” says Harrison.

Jackaroo Angus Stud has a concrete pad in their cattle crush and work area with Wireless Load Bars permanently set up. They use an EID tag reader which is fixed to the crush, and a TWR-5 weigh scale. “All we have to do is put the one cable into the bottom of the TWR-5 and simply connect via Bluetooth to the scales and it’s ready to go. It takes a couple of minutes, and the battery lasts for ages,” says Harrison.

“There are no messy cables with the Wireless Load Bars. They’re so easy to use and we’ve been thrilled with them.” The Allan’s generally weigh their herd every few weeks, but they also run any new animals through the system when they arrive on the farm. “We got a new heifer the other day, so the first thing we did was run her through and make sure there is a full record of her set up, her weight, her NLIS and ID tag, any important traits and other features about her including vaccinations. It means all that information is immediately available every time she’s in the yards,” says Harrison.

They also use the system to make sure their calves are growing as expected and weigh them every few weeks. “The system is so simple to use and it’s intuitive. The Bluetooth is super handy, and the Wireless Load Bars make weighing hassle free. All the information is right in front of you, easy to read, easy to edit, easy to track and see progress,” says Harrison.

Jackaroo Angus also sync the information from the Gallagher Animal Management App to their phones so the data on their herd can be accessed from anywhere. Harrison says the system also helps them with their breeding decisions. “Because we’re measuring growth from birth, we can look at the performance of breeders and their calves. We can then use that information to match the right sires with the right dams and make accurate breeding decisions. “Our commercial breeding business relies on solid data, which we can collect easily, and being able to easily access the information when we need it. The Gallagher wireless weighing system provides us with that.”