Midwest | dko_scOH - 8/27/2024 09:26 My view: A certified scale will reveal a surprising amount of error in carts. Three carts here over a number of years...and a standard deviation of 350 to 400 pounds on loaded semis is what I have come to expect. Cart scales have their place, though, especially when weighing plots or splitting fields or when 15,000 pounds gets carried into the next field. Yield monitors are very valuable, not for tracking total bushels but for illustrating where it came from in each field. Calibration helps, but don't expect miracles. There are simply too many variables to control for. A yield monitor gives you the distribution of production, a certified scale gives you the amount of production, and a scale cart bridges the gap in your bookkeeping.
That last part is the key.
A calibrated yield monitor is great at showing the highs, lows, and in between areas. But certified scales tell you exactly what the field total was of course. Then you can go back and adjust your yield data to match so it's correct for fertilizer removal, year to year comparisons, etc. |