AGRICULTURAL WEIGHING
Feed Cart Scales
Weigh the ration at the cart, ingredient by ingredient, instead of feeding by the scoop.
A feed cart scale lets the cart weigh its own load: load cells under the tub, an indicator where whoever is feeding can see it. You tare the cart empty, add ingredients one at a time, and read what actually went in — no scoop counts, no separate trip to a platform scale.
Size follows the herd — a hand-pushed hopper cart for minerals and hand-adds, a self-propelled cart for a full string down the alley. The cart matters less than the job: what you are batching, how much a batch weighs, and where it has to go decide what will work in your barn. We have been putting weigh systems on Lancaster County feed carts for decades, and we design the system around the feeding rather than forcing the feeding around the scale.
We sell and build B-TEK, Rice Lake, Doran, and Cardinal weigh systems — and service almost any make.
Built Around How You Feed
The specification starts with your operation: batch size, whether the cart is pushed or self-propelled, how wide your alleyways are, how long a feeding takes, and how far it gets from an outlet. Capacity, cart size, and power setup follow from that.
Dairies batch a total mixed ration by weight for the milking herd or for special groups — dry cows, close-ups, calves, heifers. Feed mills use one for hand-adds and small custom batches. Hog, beef, and poultry operations feed pen by pen and keep a record of what each group got.
- Batch size, cart dimensions, and alleyway clearance
- Hand-pushed hoppers through self-propelled barn carts
- Dairy TMR batching for small and mid-size herds
- Special-group feeding: dry cows, close-ups, calves, heifers
- Feed mill hand-adds and small custom batches
- Pen-by-pen rations for hog, beef, and poultry
Builds, Retrofits, and Service
If you already own a cart you like, we mount load cells or weigh bars under it, wire in an indicator, and calibrate the finished system. Starting fresh, you can buy a portable hopper cart with the scale and battery indicator already built in, or we match a cart and weigh system to your capacity and your budget.
Older carts are worth fixing more often than not. A dead indicator, chewed cables, or a drifting mechanical dial usually needs new electronics, not a new cart. We stock load cells, cables, junction boxes, and indicators, and do the work on your farm or in our Lancaster shop.
- Ready-made portable hopper carts with the scale built in
- Load cells or weigh bars fitted to your cart
- New builds matched to capacity, alleyways, and budget
- Indicators sealed against dust, manure, and washdown
- Battery power sized to how long feeding runs
- On-farm calibration with certified test weights
Common questions
Can you put a scale on the feed cart I already have?
Usually, yes. We retrofit weigh bars or load cells onto most feed carts, add a battery-powered indicator, and calibrate the finished system. Bring the cart to our Lancaster shop or call and we'll come take a look.
How accurate is a feed cart scale?
A properly installed and calibrated cart typically reads within a pound or two across its range, which is more than enough for ration batching. We calibrate with certified test weights.
My feed cart indicator stopped working. Can it be repaired?
Most of the time. Dead indicators, damaged cables, and failed load cells are all common repairs, and fixing them costs far less than a new cart. We stock replacement indicators and load cells and can often turn a repair around quickly.
How is the scale powered if the cart is nowhere near an outlet?
Cart indicators run on rechargeable battery packs or a connection to a deep-cycle battery on the cart. Auto-shutoff features stretch run time so a charge lasts through feeding. We size the power setup to how long your feedings actually take.