The Origins of Optiweigh.
Optiweigh is the brainchild of Bill and Jacqui Mitchell. Alongside their children Sophie & Henry, they run a grass fed backgrounding and fattening operation based in Northern NSW.
Optiweighwas born.
Northern NSW beef farmers Bill and Jacqui Mitchell started adding up the benefits that could come from in-paddock weighing of cattle when they first saw a walk-over-weigher for sheep about 12 years ago.
Not long after that the same sort of systems emerged for cattle but the problem remained – how to implement such a solution efficiently, and without having it take more time and effort than it saved.
The genesis of Optiweigh was Bill’s idea that cattle could be enticed to stand on a platform in the paddock with the use of a lick block. This led to about 5 years of trial work, resulting in finding that:
- Cattle will happily place their two front feet on a weighing platform to get to an attractant – but would not go on with all 4 feet; and
- That the front feet weight of the animals has a very good and reliable correlation to whole body weight.
Bill and Jacqui used their home-made front-feet weigher on their farm during that whole period and it provided a breakthrough in the management of their beef business:
- They no longer needed to yard cattle for weighing in order to make selling decisions;
- They were better able to meet target sale specifications and avoid weight penalties; and
- They were better able to monitor weigh gain over time and better understand what was driving differing levels of average daily gain. In fact, Bill and Jacqui no longer bother about weighing cattle in the yards other than for induction and drafting.
The Optiweigh has proven to be a much better solution than yard weighing because it allows for much more regular and better decision making – and they were keen to see other farmers be able to realise the same benefits.
When the drought of 2019 forced them to destock they took the opportunity of a bit of spare time and launched Optiweigh.
TheOrigins.
Around 12 years ago Bill saw a prototype walk-over-weighing system being developed for sheep, the problem being how to make a system like that work in multiple mobs, multiple paddocks and with multiple water points.
ProductEvolution
Since the first prototypes the Optiweigh system has developed rapidly, our latest units deploying our own indicator, EID and satellite communication module.
The Optiweigh is designed and built to withstand the harshest treatment and will happily weigh cattle out in the paddock 24/7, 365 days a year.
We now have over 400 units across Australia and units in New Zealand, Uruguay and Canada weighing over 400,000 cattle every month. Multiple research bodies have validated the Optiweigh front foot weighing system and have found it just as reliable as yard weighing.
Our office is located in Armidale NSW. Optiweigh units are fabricated in Guyra NSW and our electronic components are made in QLD. Optiweigh is proud to be a family owned business supporting jobs and manufacturing in regional Australia.
The Optiweigh has proven to be a much better solution than yard weighing because it allows for much more regular and better decision making – and they were keen to see other farmers be able to realise the same benefits.
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