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Central East River South Dakota | We have been using digistar (now Topcon) forever and using TMR tracker to input rations/and some of their reports. Our feed wagon tractor has a one of their touchscreen displays and the rations are all uploaded via USB and you can modify the load size from the touchscreen. The Loader has a cab control where you can see the scale readout and can advance to the next ingredient if you get close enough. Our touch screen is getting issues and we want to know what other people are using besides TMR tracker? Read about and talked to people at feed by milc and their "one" setup where you use android devices instead of scale heads and like what i hear about phone use for modifying pen load sizes and such...but what i understand is you need to have data or wifi in your feed yard if you want to have a display in both the feed wagon tractor and the loader. We sometimes feed with 2 people and was wondering if you both guys can see what the load needs simultaneously? my understanding was it was one or the other...does anybody else use this program? What other programs to people use that i could ask some more in-depth questions about? Websites don't seem to offer alot of answers other than try our demo. |
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| There is a guy running around our area pushing this program.
Don’t know if he got any one to sign up or not.
https://feedlync.com/en-us/ |
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Bethel, PA | I just ordered one feed, so I guess I'll see how it works. I demoed Topcon's new TAP Feed software, but you have to use the same phone or tablet for the entire mix. With one feed you can switch devices partway through and have more than one device connected at once. They have hardware for the mixer and the loader that are connected with mesh wifi and Bluetooth connects it to the tablet. You don't need a constant connection to wifi while you are mixing if I understand right. I can tell you more once we start using it. I expect the stuff to come in a week or so. I uploaded the pdf they sent me.
Edited by Glendon_B 1/26/2024 21:47
Attachments
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 one feed [DEMO] (4).pdf (6852KB - 58 downloads)
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Thunder Bay, Ontario, Great White North | Been using milc feed for about a year, working very well for us.
I have android tablets in loader and feedtruck, they have data plans on them that run under $15/each per month
Small price to pay to keep everything updated and operating smoothly
Very handy to check feeding progress or change pen sizes or dry matter numbers from my phone or office computer - and changes show up almost instantly in the loader or truck
I would call Milc - have had a few issues when we started using the software and they were very responsive and helpful - I'm sure they can answer your specific questions |
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SE Manitoba | Bernie nw ON - 1/26/2024 21:45
Been using milc feed for about a year, working very well for us.
I have android tablets in loader and feedtruck, they have data plans on them that run under $15/each per month
Small price to pay to keep everything updated and operating smoothly
Very handy to check feeding progress or change pen sizes or dry matter numbers from my phone or office computer - and changes show up almost instantly in the loader or truck
I would call Milc - have had a few issues when we started using the software and they were very responsive and helpful - I'm sure they can answer your specific questions
Two problems I see with the system:
1. someone else owns my data
2. You absolutely have to have a good wireless connection
(As soon as your data is in a cloud - - - not only do you not control it - - - you don't own it - - - any issues - - - you will be fubared so fast your head won't even have time to spin.
Where we are at we have a reception hole - - - there are plenty of others in large amounts of the area in the western parts of all of North America.
Any issues with reception and - - - again - - - big problems.
When everything works - - - likely quite the system but those two points would have me running for the hills!!!
(Nevermind if someone decides to hijack your system - - - so bloody easy to do and wouldn't that throw a nice little wrench into the system!)) |
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Bethel, PA | I see your concern and always will choose local over cloud when local is a good option. But our dairy farm is small enough it would be hard to pay 8,000 dollars up front, instead of a small fee every month. Milc Group says the farmer owns the data and not them and so they want you to be able to do whatever you want with it, including integrations with competing software. Plus, if I lose internet connection, I can just mix feed like I always did before. They don't remove your previous equipment so that will all work just the same as it does now. Here in southeastern PA cell service isn't usually an issue. Milc Group was started by a dairy farmer who taught himself how to program computers, so they understand farmers better than some of the competitors in my opinion. |
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Thunder Bay, Ontario, Great White North | I have some reservations over cloud data also but ultimately my farm has gone so far down the path of trusting others (milking robot co) with my data this was a small step to take. I have met some of the staff of Milc and spoken to a few clients, I'm pretty comfortable with them and their competence in protecting my data.
As all the original equipment stays in the mixer truck we could always go back to paper mix sheets if the cloud system goes down. Been a year and no hiccups yet.
I wanted to have the least chance of update errors and decided to outfit my equipment with cellular data enabled tablets - a farm could deploy a wifi mesh system over the feeding area or just take the tablet / phone used to run the software into an area with wifi to update and sync with the cloud once per day if that would work for you. The app does not need to have a data connection to function - just to send info up to the cloud and sync with any changes. |
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Chilliwack BC Canada | Boss man just started using Topcon as Feedwatch crapped out on us and needed new hardware. The subscription for feed watch almost made him puke so he chose Topcon. Dealer recommended it. I us it as a feeder occasionally and it works fine… management really likes it for making daily adjustments. |
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south central WI | Maybe it's already out there and this is common knowledge, I don't have ration tracking software so it was new to me. Topcon has a new setup coming out in March (I think). It let's you run their system on tablets, one in each vehicle if you want. I don't know if you could use your phone or not. They had it on display at a Leading Producer convention I attended, so it's out in public, just not for sale yet I think. |
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Bethel, PA | Topcon told me about that, but I was afraid it would be too expensive for me. It will be interesting to see it though. |
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| What's all so different than performancebeef?
If your just looking for loading, delivering, and saving all the data for you performancebeef can easily do that. Plus other things but not sure if a dairy needs some of the features
I had tmr tracker for the feedlot And I absolutely hated it. Went to performancebeef years ago never looked back
You could probably get the subscription free through one of your feed cos you buy balancer or mineral through?
Tracks inventory too. Just got an email tonight I need to order liquid feed |
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Sunnyside, WA | CanadianCowMan - 1/27/2024 07:48
Boss man just started using Topcon as Feedwatch crapped out on us and needed new hardware. The subscription for feed watch almost made him puke so he chose Topcon. Dealer recommended it. I us it as a feeder occasionally and it works fine… management really likes it for making daily adjustments.
I'm interested in your old Feedwatch hardware. I tend to collect junk...... |
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Sunnyside, WA | Have used Feedwatch for over 21 years. At the time, FW was the only one that could be updated remotely at any time by radio frequency. We always run 2 mixers during the week and have FW on 3 mixers. It's expensive, but from the same company as DC305. We now have Weighcomp also for the truck scale. Integrates pretty well for all incoming feed & silage loads.
EZ Feed is another popular choice. I've never used it and don't know much about it.
MILC looks intriguing, but I'm in so deep with FW that I hate to switch now. I must be getting old....... |
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Looking for something different than digistar/TMR tracker for Dairy
