Realtime Process Integrated Feedlot Management Application
Modern day decision making tool for feed, tracking, and billing management.
Case Study: A Minnesota-based multi-million dollar feed company servicing producers throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, and Illinois, wanted to create a modern-day decision-making tool for cattle feeding that would set the standards for the market. The solution included a web application and mobile app for bunk management, ration management, and accounting. The new application is fast and allows feedlots to get answers in real-time.
Featured
Case-Study
Technology Used
Azure
Entity Framework
Angular
Redux
Smart
ASP.NET
SQL Server
React Native
Bluetooth
Storybook
Project
Beef Feedlot Management Application
Project Requirements
Our client approached Intertech to revamp their existing procedures for projecting, feeding, tracking, and billing for a modern beef cattle feeding enterprise. One employee at the company primarily maintained and used a series of spreadsheets on a shared drive to keep records and bill customers. These same spreadsheets could also balance and calculate rations for feedlots to predict growth and when the animal would be ready for market. Feedlots would collect data manually, email it to our client, and wait to receive the results from the spreadsheet calculations. In busy periods or times when the key employee was on vacation, it could take weeks for customers to receive their results.
The challenge was to create a user-friendly web application that customers could use to get the same results, eliminating the need for back and forth emails and a dedicated employee to process the reports. Intertech’s developers investigated how the original spreadsheets predicted future market conditions and costs and how those variables impacted feed mixes and amounts for groups of cattle. The ultimate goal was to create a single tool that could integrate multiple data sources and provide useful analysis that could drive the day-to-day operations unique to a feedlot. This tool is already becoming the new standard for feedlot management software.
Result
Our client’s process for animal feed management increased dramatically in productivity. Feedlot owners originally collected data using pen and paper. With the use of automated Bluetooth connections, they don’t have to wait for emailed results while getting answers in real-time. It’s easy for users to share those results as well, including exporting reports for third parties to improve collaboration. The benefits in customer satisfaction alone make this project worth the cost of development.
Along with these updates, the client now saves on the cost of having an employee run the calculations and maintain the spreadsheets.
Overview
To initiate this application, our client took advantage of Intertech’s MomentumWorks, an agile team of developers who work from Intertech’s office in Eagan, Minnesota, to develop custom solutions under the leadership of senior Intertech consultants. At all times, there were between 4 and 7 developers working on this project, as they rotated from other assignments. Our developers proposed a solution with a web application, mobile app, and Bluetooth scale head integration for automatic measurement and data upload.
The application, called BeefBooks™, includes two core functionalities: feed predictions and live group tracking. For a cattle feeder looking to buy cattle, the application can make predictions about how quickly the cattle will grow and the expected profitability of purchasing the cattle. Once the feeder purchases the cattle, the application converts the prediction model into a live group. The application takes into account the price of ration ingredients and recommends a feeding regimen for the cattle. As the feedlot enters information about the ration, amount, and timing of feeding, the application updates its projections and gives a new profit analysis with full details of group performance.
Intertech developers first built this integrated tool for the web using a full Microsoft Azure stack with an Angular front end. It was clear early on, however, that for the application to be beneficial, it would need an in-field data collection component. Our developers recommended a mobile app that feedlot owners could use to enter data, even offline. The mobile app then syncs when reconnected to the internet and updates the information across the web and other mobile devices.
BeefBooks™ also includes an integration for Bluetooth scales in the feed trucks to measure ration loading and delivery. This information then transmits back to the mobile app, where the user can verify and approve the data entry. As new data enters the system, the application updates its prediction models in real-time, allowing feedlot owners to make changes immediately when challenges or opportunities arise.
“Working with Intertech has been a great experience. Converting a manual process of entering data into spreadsheets to a new online system gives us access to real-time results. We have modernized our business like no one else in the market. Eliminating hundreds of hours in manual work while giving our customers a tool to quickly manage their business and improve profits is a great benefit we can now offer.”
Jay Watje: Beef Department Head
Intertech has been in business for nearly 30 years. Many of our projects are considered confidential by our clients. For this reason, and out of respect for our customer’s privacy, we do not mention companies by name regarding specific projects, with the clear understanding that the project outlined and presented is actual work Intertech and their consultants have completed successfully.
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