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Weight Watcher - Growth Management System
The Osborne Weight Watcher™ Growth Management System provides complete growth management of finishing pigs in large pens. Weight Watcher is much more than just an auto-sort pig scale. The Osborne Survey Scale sorts by pig weight to enable targeted feeding and automatically sorts market hogs to cut sort loss and closely match packer’s matrixes.
Feed and water are essential to the Weight Watcher System and are spread out throughout the barn in areas or “zones.” The Osborne Big Wheel Feeder is a common feeder choice for the “feed zone,” and drinkers are balanced throughout the “water zone.” Animals are free to flow from one “zone” to another, and the Survey Scale uses this natural movement of pigs to automatically weigh and sort them as they pass through the scale.
“Lightweights” can be fed a high-performance feed to accelerate gain and cut time to market, while “heavyweights” can receive a feed that maximizes return on gain in separate “feed zones.” Both feeds can be automatically phased to match growth and minimize wasted nutrients. With the Weight Watcher System you can monitor the growth of each group, accurately predict marketing, and have the ability to sort animals at any desired weight range. Each system accommodates up to 500 animals.
The Osborne Weight Watcher System operates in two different modes: Weight Watcher Mode and Market Sort Mode. Pigs move freely between feed and water with the Survey Scale and gates while on the Weight Watcher mode. Animals are fed based on their actual weight: those under the pre-determined weight are sorted into the light hog pen and fed a high-performance feed, while those over the pre-determined weight are sorted into the heavy hog pen and fed a sustaining feed.
When it is time to market the pigs, switch to Market Sort Mode, and all animals meeting the sort criteria are automatically diverted to the pen ready to load, which eliminates manual sorting labor and errors.
The graphics below illustrate the Weight Watcher Mode and the Market Sort Mode.
WEIGHT WATCHER MODE:
In the Weight Watcher mode, the Survey Scale automatically diverts the pig to the appropriate feeding area based on the user’s pre-determined weight set point. Animals under the pre-determined weight are sorted into the light hog pen. Animals over the pre-determined weight are sorted into the heavy hog pen.
MARKET SORT MODE:
In the Market Sort mode, the Survey Scale can be set to detect animals which exceed a pre-determined market weight. Animals that have reached the targeted market weight are sorted into the market pen. The pigs sorted for market can then be easily loaded and shipped to market.
- Reduces feed cost through targeted phase feeding
- Cut market sort loss
- Market more pounds of pork by turning barns quicker and controlling animal growth
- Reduces weight variation by feeding pigs to weight
- Easy to retro-fit existing finishing facilities
- Easy to manage
- Mimics the natural movement and instincts of pigs moving from feed to water