Electronic scales are beneficial in a diverse range of industries that interact with animals daily. For instance, it’s vital that zookeepers maintain an accurate record of weight measurements for their animals.
The amount of feed that an animal eats may be directly dependent on its weight. Similarly, their weight may be used to determine the dosage required for medication and dietary supplements.
Therefore, industrial digital scales are often employed to ensure precise weight measurements for a wide variety of animals. From seals and sea lions to lions, tigers, and bears, here’s how to maximize accuracy in your veterinary operations.
How Do Vets Weigh Animals?
As you can imagine, many animals aren’t willing to step up onto a scale platform. This can make it challenging to measure your patients.
Choose a veterinary animal scale with a low-profile platform. This makes it much easier to persuade the animal to position itself on the equipment.
Before introducing the animal to the weighing equipment, prepare the space to ensure that it’s not intimidating to your patient. Then, create a routine that can be repeated with every visit to the scale:
- Calm the animal
- Weigh the animal
- Reward the animal
What Scale Do Vets Use for Precision & Reliability?
Whether you’re a farmer, veterinarian, zookeeper, or kennel owner, you must regularly weigh your animals to monitor their health. Yet, weighing an animal isn’t like weighing a package or a person.
Their unique nature poses a distinct set of problems for you when you’re looking for the right scale. Firstly, as discussed, your animals aren’t always going to cooperate, so your equipment must be accessible and responsive.
Secondly, your animals may relieve themselves during the process, so the scale must be built to endure the process. Finally, you may need to reduce the number of vets in the room, so remote connectivity is advised.
What Challenges Do Vets Face When Weighing Their Animals?
Your digital animal scale must be constructed with certain characteristics. For example, the scale will often be subject to animal waste.
Therefore the material chosen for the platform should be one that is suitable for easy washdown. Furthermore, the components inside the scale must be designed to resist exposure.
Common Vet Scales Reduce Costs with Cheap Construction
And it shows in the quality. Some manufacturers use sheet metal and low-cost components to keep prices down. In return, they sacrifice accuracy, durability, and lifespan.
Yet most animal caretakers are also businesspeople, which means they want the best value for their money — not just the lowest cost. Here’s why you should invest in yourself and your animals.
Your Veterinary Weighing Equipment Must Be Precise & Durable
Built right here in our Long Island factory, our vet scales feature the same construction used for our low-profile, heavy-duty, industrial scales. This includes a welded aluminum frame with heat-treated, stainless steel load cells.
These features provide a durable, non-corrosive platform that is light in weight, inexpensive to ship, easy to clean, and easy to move. We even include a non-slip rubber mat at no additional cost!
Our Digital Vet Scales are Very Rugged
Our platform scales are constructed from welded aluminum, and with no moving parts, which increases the longevity of the scale. The platform itself is made from a non-skid surface so that the animals feel comfortable when walking on them.
You must also consider the material used to construct the load sensors. The ideal device should be made from stainless steel, as this provides excellent protection against corrosion, overload, and shock load.
The four, stainless steel load cells are embedded in the welded frame to provide excellent shock and abuse resistance. Stainless steel load sensors are embedded into the body of the scale, which offers multiple advantages, including:
- Protecting the sensor from animal waste
- Protecting the electronic wires in these sensors
- Reducing the scale’s profile overall
Our Weighing Platforms Stay Low to the Ground
The one-inch profile of our scales is extremely low, making it easy for animals to get on and off the platform. This reduces the amount of time spent trying to coax them onto the scale.
Our Animal Scales Feature an Easy-to-Read Display
Our full-feature digital indicator provides large, color graphics that are easy to see from any angle or distance. The swivel mount can be attached to any convenient location, such as a desk, pole, or wall.
Our Animal Weighing Equipment Compensates for Movement
When the animal on the scale platform moves, the displayed weight changes on the scale. Our “Weight Average and Hold” function takes accurate measurements, even when the animal won’t stand still.
It takes multiple readings in a short period of time, and it uses an advanced digital algorithm to determine the animal’s true weight with accuracy. The algorithm dismisses any readings taken when there is too much movement.
This weight is then locked on the display for easy recording. Our sorting scales can easily weigh animals up to 500 pounds and weights can be read to the nearest 0.1 pound (larger capacities are available upon request).
Our Vet Scales Record and Share Weight Data — Wired or Remotely
Keeping accurate records is also an important part of maintaining an animal’s health over time. We offer a variety of ways for you to export weight data from the scale including:
Ethernet
This wired connection runs through your router and allows you to access the scale using your local network. Paired with our free Remote Indicator Software, you can monitor, control, and export data from your scale to record it on any computer connected to your network.
WiFi
If your scale won’t be located near the router, or if it must remain portable inside the office, WiFi is the perfect option. Eliminating wire and clutter, it works just like an Ethernet connection but offers the freedom of a wireless connection.
USB Port
This wired connection enables you to plug into virtually any computer or device. When used with our free USB Remote Software, you can import weight data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or Access database file, along with other important parameters.
RFID Tag Reader
A radio-frequency identification device enables you to keep accurate records of each animal in a livestock pen. It uses radio frequency to read the tag ID, which is then sent to the digital indicator and recorded along with the weight of the animal.
Be Precise When Weighing Your Animals with Arlyn Scales
At Arlyn Scales, you get competitive pricing on superior-quality products because we’re a factory-direct manufacturer. To learn more about weighing your animals with precision, reliability, and consistency, reach out to our team.
