Lange Ag Systems

Until the release of SortAll® 2 Revolution, the hog industry had only seen partially automated sorting systems that left much to be desired. Schick Enterprises recognized this need and developed the only truly automatic sorting system on the market—SortAll® 2 Revolution.

Why SortAll® 2 Revolution?

The level of automation makes our sorting system stand out among the rest. SortAll® 2 Revolution’s training and sorting process dramatically limits the time you spend inside the pen. The scale, featuring stainless steel construction and Smart Gates, is integrated into our patented SortAll® 2 Revolution building design.

Reporting is made easy as graphs showing average daily gain, weight distribution and temperature are conveniently tracked so that the data can be analyzed to make market projections and variance calculations. The system is accessed remotely using a browser-based computer interface (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox).

SortAll® 2 Revolution doesn’t have to overcome growth issues that plague many competing sorting systems. This is because animals are rarely forced to cross the scale to gain access to food and never have limited access to water. In addition to maintaining good growth rates animals are sorted with ease because of the automated training process carried out by the scale.

When the population is growing well and is trained to cross the scale, SortAll® 2 Revolution can easily sort a group within a precise weight range into the holding pen, significantly reducing sort loss.

One scale operates two pens, each pen capable of containing 700 head—for a total of 1,400 head per scale.

First we begin with the 'Training' phase. At this time one pen will have access to the open scale (the gates of the scale are not yet activated). For seven days, the pigs can either walk through the scale or through the open food court gate. Meanwhile the pigs in the alternate pen do not have access to the scale; they must continue walking through the open food court gate. After seven days, the pigs in the alternate pen will now have sole access to the scale.

This cycle will continue until the scale automatically recognizes that the animals have reached 100 pounds (or whatever weight you specify), at which time the food court gates will close in each pen for 24 hours, forcing all the animals to cross the scale, still with no gates moving on the scale.

From now until market the scale will let each pen have six days of free choice (when pigs can choose to walk over the scale and be weighed individually or walk by the scale through the open food court gate). On the seventh day the food court gate will close, forcing all pigs to cross the scale and be weighed individually. The eighth day starts day one for the alternate pen.

Detailed graphs containing information about average daily gain, weight distribution and temperature are readily available. These graphs can be used to analyze data and make market projections. They also can be printed and/or saved for later viewing.

The Average Daily Gain Graph shows average daily gain of both left and right pens plotted over time checkpoints that are shared with the temperature graph. This is to make sure that temperature regulation isn’t hurting the population's growth rate. The left and right pens appear on same graph for easy comparison between pens. Each day’s ADG can be viewed by simply placing your mouse cursor over the line plotted on the graph.

The Temperature Graph displays high, low, and average temperatures for each day. The temperature readings are taken at the scale.

The Weight Distribution Graph offers the following three views: source pen, sorted and painted. The source pen view shows animals that crossed the scale but were not sorted; the sorted view shows animals that were sorted; the painted view shows animals that were painted. The three graphical views of weight distribution make it easy to see the distribution of your holding pen, what’s left in the pen (source pen), and a subset of the animals that crossed the scale whether they were sorted or not (painted). The views also make it easy to determine where to set your initial weight range for sorts and, if necessary, which way to adjust the weight range (up or down) to achieve your target quantity during a sort. Average weight and total weight are displayed in the sorted and painted views as well as weight range parameters and progress (i.e. number of animals sorted/painted so far). The information presented by this type of graph is used for market projections and sort planning (setting the correct weight ranges and target quantities to achieve a desired sorting goal).