Vast majority of feed outages due to bin slide management mistakes

December 2, 2024 - New research by BinSentry in collaboration with pork industry leader Hanor has found the vast majority of animal feed outages are caused by bin slide management errors - not running out of feed on site - a previously invisible problem that increased feed conversion ratios by as much as seven basis points, eroding producer profitability.

The year-long study tracked out-of-feed events at 100 Hanor hog brans using BinSentry's 3D optical sensors and AI-powered software technology.

The study found the vast majority of feed outages were due to bin slide management mistakes - where the slide on a full bin wasn't opened after another bin was emptied. Sites experiencing the most out-of-feed events saw FCRs seven basis points higher, costing $3.15 per pig, compared to sites with zero outages. That's about $4,400 per barn of annual opportunity.

The results demonstrate a whole new category of feed outages and a measurable correlation between out-of-feed events, FCR and the bottom line of producers. 

"This is game-changing information," said Ben Allen, BinSentry CEO. "Before now, the industry was unable to identify a direct correlation between feed outages and FCR - we knew it must exist, but we just couldn't find it. It turns out we were missing 80% of the problem because we didn't have any reliable way to see what was going on inside the feed bins. Now we do."

BinSentry technology allows producers to precisely track feed bin levels and optimise feed management in real time while eliminating the need for unreliable and dangerous manual inventory checks.

The company's new Out-of-Feed Insights dashboard analyses the sensor data with advanced algorithms and AI technology to detect and identify out-of-feed issues. This allows producers to monitor activity in all their barns, track the data over time and improve the weakest performers in their operation through the use of automated notifications.

"Feed conversion ratios are one of the most important metrics for animal producers," says Mauricio Diaz, President of Hanor, the 14th largest pork producer in the United States. "Being able to see and address all feed issues is a key component to lowering feed conversion ratios, which lower costs and increases sustainability."

The Hanor case study confirms what BinSentry has discovered by monitoring over 25,000 feed bins owned by the biggest livestock and poultry producers in North America: that nearly 80% of out-of-feed events are caused by feed bin slide management errors, while only 20% are due to running out of feed.

"While this study is focused on pork, work under way with poultry producers is expected to generate similar results,"Allen said

"Producers are fighting every day to improve by fractions of a point of FCR, but it's so hard to find those savings," Allen said. "This study shows the fastest way to lower your FCR is managing bin slide issues at your barns. We've identified this giant category of feed outages that nobody knew was there, and it's costing producers real money every single day.

"With BinSentry technology, not only can you see these issues, your teams can be notified to take corrective actions, saving operators significant time and expense."

The Global Miller
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