Fast Unload Weight Scale For Show Pigs

Fast unload weight scale for show pigs HOG EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Hog Equipment & Ideas (351) 13-4-22 Iowa vo-ag students built a slick weigh-in scale for pigs that makes it easy to weigh pigs for production-tested swine shows. "Any pigs showing at our local Floyd County Fair must be weighed in and identified 110 days before the fair. Before the students built this weigh scale system, pigs were carried in by hand which was messy, slow, and unsanitary," says Floyd County extension ag director George Cummins, noting that this spring 780 pigs from 98 exhibitors were checked in during a 10-hr. period using the new system. The Charles City vo-ag students constructed the U-shaped system using an old manure cleaning track that runs to the door of the weigh-in building. Pigs hang by their feet from the track and slide in over the digital scale. The pig never has to be re-moved from the hangar on the track because the track is split over the scale. The pig rolls on to the split part of the track, is quickly weighed and then rolled off the split section of track and back out to the door on the exiting part of the track. "It's fast, accurate, and we can easily wash everything down between each batch of pigs. Pigs from different owners are never in contact with each other," says Cummins, noting that the local pork producers' council, the fair board and the ex-tension service provided materials and design assistance for the project. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, George Cummins, Floyd County Extension, 615 Beck Street, Charles City, Iowa 50616 (ph 515 228-1453).

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