Affordable & simple silo monitoring for all types of silo

Is it possible to know how much feed is in your silo . . . it is now, yes!

Silos are by far the best way to store animal feed, from a convenience and bio-secure storage perspective and they have been for more than 60 years, but working out exactly how much feed is in the silo and managing timely feed orders is challenging to say the least.

Some steel silos have a full set of sight glasses, others just have one or two, and many have no way to see inside at all.

Fibre glass silos very often start life translucent but over time they can go opaque and difficult to see through.

© E Collinson & Co Ltd

As a result run-outs can be common as are over/under orders and this has significant impact for you financially whether it be directly or indirectly via costs incurred by your manufacturer as ultimately, this comes down the line to the consumer.

Feed manufacturers make every effort to look after their customers, liaising to get orders accurate and delivered on time but in reality, guesstimates are subject to error and incorrect, and late orders cost time and money. 

You might be sat there thinking “Well, I don’t run out of feed” – unfortunately, that’s irrespective.

It is a common industry occurrence which comes at a cost and ultimately, everyone pays. So what can be done about it?

Well, there’s a digital transformation taking place due to emerging technologies.

Affordable solutions are now available with some silo monitoring systems starting as low as £450 and providing sufficient accuracy for inventory control and feed reordering.

Imagine the insight and decision-making information that this technology could bring to your business.

Advantages of silo monitoring

To you

• Stress free feed management
• You work hard to achieve a good FCR – don’t let an outage impact this, it’s costly
• Avoid the hassle – run-outs incur time and labour to manually handle feed to the stock
• Feed quality. Over-orders often mean surplus feed being dumped on the floor.

Your supplier

• No last-minute orders allow a more efficient production process
• Efficient vehicle allocation and route planning means less road miles using their own fleet
• Realising production and logistic efficiencies will reduce their environmental footprint
• Delivery decisions based on data results in an improved customer service.

The bonus – refined management

• If your speciality is pigs or poultry, and feeding different rations throughout the cycle, silo monitoring helps you refine ordering from one ration to the next.

Informed ordering with decisions being based on reliable data is just one more reason this is an industry must. Here are some of the more commonly asked questions:

Does it fit on any silo? 

Yes, systems are available for all silo makes, both existing and new models.

Is it easy is it to install?

It varies on the chosen monitoring solution. However, a system that is installed at ground level makes life a lot easier and while maintenance is minimal, easy access helps.

Are there any additional running costs?

If you start with a system which also has a local display to the silo, then no, you can see the weight of the feed in the silo and can start to make decisions based on reliable data.

Can the feed companies see the data? 

That is up to you. With your permission, data can be viewed  remotely by a chosen feed supplier.

Sending data via the cloud to view remotely incurs a cost, sometimes in the form of a subscription but there are many benefits of your supplier having visibility of your data. chat to them about the options.

The Beef & Sheet Research Unit at Harper Adams University have been benefiting from Silo Monitoring since March ‘22, Emily Upton, Ruminant Technician told us that they invested in silo monitoring on their first silo as part of an efficiency review, Emily said ‘Being able to monitor the feed levels in the silo definitely helps the unit to be more efficient, and importantly we never run out of feed!’ 

‘The unit are increasing the storage capacity with two new silos, both of which will also include silo monitoring.  Emily said ‘It makes feed management so easy, just looking at the App to see usage and re-ordering’

This additional intelligence has the potential to change how the UK feed industry operates, improving efficiencies all round, both financially and from a sustainability perspective.

More efficient manufacturing and improved logistics will reduce road miles – another financial benefit but importantly, this reduced carbon footprint contributes to our industry goal of net zero 2040. Small changes make a big impact.

So now it is possible to never run out of feed again.

Next steps

Whilst silo monitoring is a relatively new concept there are almost 1500 FeedAlert systems operational in the UK, tried and tested these systems are providing reliable data for users to improve feed management on their site. 

To find out more head over to Remote Silo Monitoring (feedalert.co.uk) or contact the team on 01995 606451 and choose option 5.