Global load cell manufacturer Flintec has forged a new partnership with farm feeding equipment specialist Merry to create sophisticated new systems that boost livestock farmers’ productivity and profits.

Flintec has provided the load cell technology to help Merry create new systems for the latest generation of agricultural mixer feeder wagons -­ enabling farmers to mix and distribute livestock feed more accurately and effectively.

Merry’s computerised TMR (Total Mix Ratio) system helps farmers to calculate the correct levels of nutrition needed for livestock, mix the ingredients more accurately and provides a full computerised analysis of feeding results.

Farmers and their livestock nutrition advisers can then download the feed nutrition data into their PCs and statistically analyse how the improved diet has boosted the cows’ milk yields.

The system enables farmers to better control their animals’ diets by:

• maximising milk yields
• minimising livestock feed costs through precise mixing
• comparing target feed mix ingredients to actually loaded ingredients
• improving productivity
• helping to safeguard fragile profit margins in a challenging sector
• providing extensive statistical feed data and yield evaluation possibilities in MS Excel format.

In an industry first, Merry has provided software that enables the feed nutrition data to be downloaded on to PDAs via Bluetooth, making it faster and easier for farmers and their nutrition suppliers to analyse the figures.

Flintec has provided the beam type load cells for the project. In partnership with Merry, Flintec will be selling the complete systems, rather than simply individual load cells as it would have done in the past.

Flintec Managing Director Dave Weeks said: “This partnership represents another significant leap forward in Flintec’s exciting evolution from load cell manufacturer to complete provider of bespoke and seamless force measurement solutions.

“It is also an example of us manufacturing a really robust product. This equipment has to survive a very tough life indeed. The load cells and electronics must be able to cope with the feeders being loaded in all weathers and being transported along uneven farm tracks.”

The new partnership was forged through Flintec’s German office at Meckesheim near Heidelberg and the Merry team at Erkrath near Düsseldorf.

Flintec creates load cell and force measurement solutions for a wide range of industry sectors. Its specialisms include industrial and agricultural vehicles with engineers designing and manufacturing load cells and strain gage electronics for equipment including tractors, diggers, excavators and telehandlers.

Merry has years of experience in creating weighing solutions for the farming sector. The company was launched in 1985 and expanded significantly in 1990 and 1998, gaining ISO 9001 accreditation in December 2004.

Flintec’s project with Merry is the latest of its kind and one that is likely to be repeated in the future as the load cell manufacturer seeks out new load cell design partnerships with elite equipment suppliers across the world.

Earlier this year it was announced that the German office of Flintec had created a similar partnership with Noax Technologies at Ebersberg near Munich to produce a new range of robust waterproof touchscreen weighing terminal industrial PCs that work in harsh industrial environments where use of computers is normally impossible.

The shockproof stainless steel industrial PCs are particularly useful in the food and chemical processing sector where equipment has to be washed down thoroughly during and after use.

Flintec’s range of load cells and force measurement products includes:
• Electronics ­- junction boxes, analogue amplifiers, digitising units, weighing indicators, remote displays, measuring instruments
• Force measurement sensors -­ general purpose, fatigue rated, precision series, metrology grade, tulip transducers, shear pins, extensometer
• Customised solutions ­- bespoke load cells and other solutions designed to cope with the most challenging applications.

Contact us for more information about agricultural weighing and force measurement solutions provided by Flintec.