Harvest time is one of the busiest and most critical periods for any farm. Getting things done right—efficiently and accurately—can make a big difference to the farm’s bottom line and the quality of feed for livestock. But when you’ve got multiple trucks running, long distances between fields and silage piles, and need to work with outside companies to track tons of harvested feed, things can get complicated quickly.
To keep everything on track, it's helpful to establish a process that is transparent, keeps communication clear, and data accurate - all the way from the field to the silage pile. In this article, we’ll dive into the common challenges farms face during harvest and look at how technology can help tackle those issues.
Efficient Harvest Planning: Laying the Groundwork
Though this article is about harvest execution and tracking, it's worth noting that good planning is key to a successful harvest. Farms need to assess field conditions, set expectations with the harvest crew, and plan out delivery logistics. Once that’s done, the focus can shift to ensuring the operation runs smoothly, with accurate load tracking and clear, transparent processes.
Key Challenges When Working with Third-Party Harvesters
Here are some key challenges farms face when coordinating a harvest with third-party harvesters:
- Accurate Load Tracking
- Moisture Content and Feed Quality
- Workflow Bottlenecks
- Accountability and Transparency
- Contract Fulfillment and Vendor Management
Accurate Load Tracking
Ensuring the total tonnage harvested and delivered is accurate can be tricky without a reliable on-farm scale. Farms often rely on estimates or the harvester’s reports, which can lead to discrepancies. Having an on-site scale ensures every truckload is weighed and recorded properly, helping to avoid under- or over-reporting and keeping farm records accurate.
Moisture Content and Feed Quality
Silage moisture varies, and if it’s not accounted for, the true dry matter tonnage can be miscalculated, affecting feed quality. Farms need a way to track and account for moisture to ensure the feed piles ferment and store properly.
Workflow Bottlenecks
Delays from trucks waiting to be weighed or poor coordination between field and delivery crews can cause bottlenecks. It’s crucial to keep the chopper running to maximize productivity, as crops needs to be harvested at optimal moisture levels.
Accountability and Transparency
Without transparency, it’s hard to verify deliveries and track tonnage, which can lead to disputes. Real-time data and clear reporting help farms and third-party harvesters stay on the same page and build trust.
Contract Fulfillment and Vendor Management
Managing relationships with third-party vendors, harvesters, and brokers means making sure that expectations are met. Farms need reliable tracking systems to verify if deliveries meet contract terms and ensure everything is properly accounted for.
The Role of Technology in Solving Harvest Challenges
Technology has become invaluable for solving harvest challenges. By automating processes, providing real-time data, and improving transparency, farms can reduce errors and boost efficiency. Here’s how technology helps:
- Real-Time Data and Monitoring
- Automated Weighing Systems
- Remote Monitoring
- Inventory Integration
Real-Time Data and Monitoring
Real-time tracking lets farms and third-party harvesters monitor each truckload as it arrives. This eliminates guesswork, keeps the harvest on track, and provides immediate feedback on any issues, such as delays or discrepancies.
Automated Weighing Systems
Automated systems reduce errors and improve load tracking. Trucks are weighed when entering and leaving the scale, ensuring accurate records. This speeds up the process and minimizes delays by removing the need for manual data entry.
Remote Monitoring
Farms can monitor operations from anywhere. Whether on-site or in the office, managers can access live data on deliveries and make adjustments as needed. This also improves communication between the field and office, keeping the harvest running smoothly.
Inventory Integration
Accurate data from harvest can easily be transferred to inventory systems, ensuring that feed levels are tracked and managed efficiently. By using technology to streamline this process, farms can maintain precise feed inventories, helping to prevent shortages and make planning more reliable.
The Benefits of Using EZweights for Harvest Efficiency
Farms are turning to tech more and more to make things run smoother and keep records accurate, and EZweights is a great fit for the busy harvest season. It simplifies weighing, tracking, and recording deliveries, which helps tackle the common challenges of working with outside harvest crews and handling large volumes of silage.
Track weights accurately and keep things moving. EZweights allows farms to set up customized workflows that differentiate between regular deliveries and harvests. When beginning a harvest, previously recorded tare weights can be reused, expediting the process and reducing bottlenecks at the scale. Additionally, to keep things accurate, farms can determine how frequently tare weights are required—for example once per day first thing in the morning, or just once sometime during the harvest.
Tracking dry matter percentages is easier with EZweights. Farms can set preferences for sampling frequency—whether every load, every 10 loads, or as needed. EZweights can also manage samples by field or location, automatically prompting for a new sample when a truck switches fields. During harvest setup, farms can enter an expected dry matter percentage for the entire harvest. As samples are taken throughout the process, the actual dry matter can be updated on the loads, ensuring an accurate dry matter is recorded.
Real-time monitoring keeps the harvest on track. EZweights provides live tracking of all deliveries, allowing managers to respond quickly to any issues. Remote monitoring lets managers oversee operations at the scale or in the office, ensuring continuous workflow and better coordination.
Accurate Tracking for EZfeed Software. EZweights ensures precise tracking of what’s harvested from the field, providing accurate data on the total amount harvested. Once the harvest is finalized, this data is easily integrated into EZfeed, allowing for smooth and reliable inventory tracking. By using the accurate harvest data from EZweights, farms can ensure that their feed inventory is properly managed as it’s used over time.
Automated truck check-ins reduce human error and speed up deliveries. EZweights simplifies the check-in process for truck drivers by providing an easy-to-use kiosk interface. Drivers can select the relevant vendor, truck, and driver details, with the system automatically linking the delivery to the correct contract. This automation minimizes errors and speeds up the delivery process, allowing trucks to move through the scale faster and reducing delays during the harvest.
Advanced reporting for transparency and accountability. With EZweights, you get detailed reports on every aspect of the harvest—from total tonnage delivered to vendor performance and contract fulfillment. These reports help ensure contracts are being met and that everyone is working with accurate data. It gives farms the transparency they need to stay accountable, especially when working with third-party harvesters.
Conclusion: Technology as the Key to an Efficient and Transparent Harvest
Technology plays a vital role in solving the challenges that come with harvest season. EZweights goes beyond just tracking loads by offering detailed reporting, automation for drivers, and integration with systems like EZfeed, making inventory tracking easier and more accurate.
By using EZweights, you’re not only boosting operational efficiency but also ensuring transparency with third-party harvesters. This helps build better working relationships and ensures that contracts are fulfilled clearly and fairly. As technology continues to improve, adopting these tools will be key to optimizing farm performance and making sure every part of the harvest runs smoothly from start to finish.