Macrostock Scale Instruction Manual

Thank you for purchasing the Macrostock Scale system. This guide contains all the necessary information to help you set up your device and begin your first weighing session. For additional information, please contact us using the details provided on the Contact page.

Te Pari Macrostock is a suite of products designed to simplify livestock management and facilitate data-driven decision-making.

Specifications:

• 10” multi-touch display
• 8000 mAh battery
  • User-replaceable
  • Up to 4 hours of battery life
• Environmental protection:
  • IP65 - dust and water resistant
  • MIL-STD-810G - drop-resistant up to 1.2 m
• Operating temperature: 
  • -10° ~ 50°C 
  • 14° ~ 122°F
• Storage temperature:
  • -20° ~ 70°C
  • -4° ~ 158°F

Let’s begin the weighing process by powering on the weigh platform and the controller. Wait for a few minutes until the system starts. Then, turn on the tablet to access the start screen.

Start screen

This screen is mainly for diagnostic and maintenance purposes. To begin the weigh session, press the “Start” button.

1. Status Area
   • Wi-Fi/GSM status: Displays Wi-Fi or GSM network connection strength
   • Cloud status: Displays the Te Pari cloud connection status
   • Subscription status: Shows your Te Pari Macrosock subscription status
   • Battery level: Shows the current battery level of the tablet
2. Remote support
   • A Te Pari support technician can remotely access your tablet should you need assistance. You can establish a remote connection by clicking this button when requested.
3. Macrostock Studio
   • Open the Macrostock Studio web application in a separate browser window.
4. Shutdown
   • Shut down the tablet computer.
5. Updates available
   • Macrostock Scale will check for updates periodically. A button will appear on the start screen if an update is available. We recommend updating your tablet as soon as possible to ensure you have the latest bug fixes and feature updates.
   • To begin the update, press the button and follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: You will need an active internet connection to use the web application.

Macrostock Scale wirelessly connects to the Macrostock scale controller, removing the need for a physical connection. The settings for the controller will appear in the “Scale Settings” menu.

Note: You can view a short description of each setting by pressing the “i” button next to its name.

Firmware update

To check for newer versions of the controller’s firmware, press the “Check version” button.

After checking for updates, the device will display the current and latest firmware versions. If both versions match, your firmware is up-to-date; otherwise, press the “Update” button to begin the update process.

The update process takes approximately 10 minutes, and the controller will automatically restart upon completion. You can pause or resume the update as needed.

Note: You can re-install the controller’s firmware using the “Update” button, even if the versions are the same. This is rarely necessary, but a Te Pari representative may request it to diagnose issues.
We recommend regularly checking for updates to your controller’s firmware.

Operation settings

This section displays the current settings retrieved from the controller. If the settings haven’t updated automatically, you can click the “Read settings” option to force the page to refresh.

When making changes to the settings, be sure to click on the “Save settings” button to store the updates on the controller for future use.

Note: This is where you can change the mass unit (kilograms or pounds) Macrostock Scale uses for measurements. Only measurements taken after this change will be affected.

Restart the weigh scale controller

If you encounter any issues with the controller, restart it using the button at the bottom of this window.

Note: The current connection status between the tablet and the scale controller is visible under the button.

This menu displays a list of all the wireless devices that are currently connected to the controller. It is possible to connect up to four drench guns simultaneously.

Note: EID readers connect to the controller via Bluetooth. Only Bluetooth-enabled EID readers are compatible.

Dosing guns must be set to “Macrostock mode” to work with Macrostock Scale.

Help

This menu displays diagnostic data for technicians. Eventually, this will show support documentation directly within the app.

Note: Double-tap the “Help” title to show or hide the debug log. Only show the log when instructed to by a Te Pari support representative, as it may cause performance issues.

Enable Auto VID

When enabled, any new EID tags scanned will automatically record a VID.

The VID will have two parts:

• Prefix: A string that will prefix each VID. This value never changes.
• Number: A number to start from. This value will increment by 1 for each VID generated.

Note: Auto VID only works when scanning new EID tags. It does not apply to measurements without an associated EID.

Force manual drafting

When using an older cattle crush or drafter, The Macrostock Scale system may not be able to detect whether the unit is in “Auto” or “Manual” mode. To overcome this issue, you can enable this setting to force the unit into “Manual” mode, which can improve the manual drafting process.

When enabled, animals are weighed and recorded in “Manual” mode. The weight is recorded when the animal leaves the platform, which is detected using the “Manual weight record threshold”. 

IMPORTANT: “Force manual drafting” should only be used with advice from a Te Pari support representative. Use this feature cautiously to avoid unintended consequences or data loss.

Manual weight record threshold

This setting determines the percentage of weight drop required to finalise the measurement when manually weighing animals. The default value is 5%, which typically does not require adjustment.

Language 

The Macrostock Scale system supports multiple languages and is updated continuously. If you want to request a new language, please get in touch with us using the details on the back cover of this manual.

Note: To apply the new language, you must restart the app when prompted.

Date format

Change the default date format used throughout the app.

Review session setup

Takes you back to the beginning of the session setup wizard, where you can adjust session settings, such as drafting criteria.

End session

End the current session and start a new one. The current session will be saved, and your data will sync with the cloud once you exit the app.

Export sessions

Wirelessly transfer your session data to another device. Follow the instructions provided to export the session data in CSV format. You can then import this data into Macrostock Studio or use it independently.

Note: You can export your data even without an internet connection!

Logout 

Log out of your Te Pari account.

IMPORTANT: Ensure your data is synced with the Te Pari cloud before logging out to avoid permanent data loss.

Exit app

This option will close the app and return you to the start screen. You will be prompted to sync your data with the Te Pari cloud upon exiting. You can skip this step, but we recommend letting the sync finish to ensure your data is backed up and available in Macrostock Studio.

Battery indicator

Shows the current battery level of the tablet.

Scale connection indicator

Shows the current connection status with the Macrostock scale controller.

• Blue: not connected.
• Green: connected.

Session status indicator

Provides an indicator for the current session status. Tap the indicator to skip a requirement (e.g. skip scanning an EID tag for the current animal).

Data, such as weight, traits, and treatments, are stored in sessions. To ensure your data remains accurate and organised, we recommend creating a new session for each day or for each group of animals.

Note: An animal can only have one weight recorded per session.  The most recent weight will be recorded if an animal is re-weighed within a session.

Step 1: Session details

Description

Make sure to give your session a good description so it is easier to identify in the future. The description defaults to the current date and time, but you can provide a more descriptive name to help identify the session.

Date

Change the date/time of the session (defaults to the current date/time).

Note: Changing the session date will affect all of the measurements within.

Wait for ID

This option will hold an animal until the ID (EID or VID) is scanned or manually entered.

Note: You can still measure animals without an ID, but you won’t be able to track the measurements over multiple sessions.

Drafting

The “Drafting” toggle enables Macrostock Scale’s drafting feature. You can adjust the criteria for the drafting gates in the following steps.

New animals

Macrostock Scale can prepopulate life data when new animals are detected using the default values set in the following steps.

Resume/Reuse a previous session

If you want to continue a previous session, select it from the dropdown menu in the top-right corner of the screen.

When continuing a session, you have two options:

1. Continue the session where you left off.
2. Create a new session using the previous settings.

New animals with previous settings

This selector is only available when a previous session is selected. It creates a new session with the previous session details. When using a previous session to continue or as a new session, you cannot change the setting selectors (Wait for ID, Drafting, New Animals), but you can change the specific setting within each of these selectors.

Step 2: Drafting

If you enable the “Drafting” option during setup, you will see the drafting screen where you can modify the criteria for each gate.

Gate priority

The gate priority is from top to bottom, which means that the gates at the top of the list have higher priority than those at the bottom.  An animal is drafted when it meets ALL the gates criteria. The remaining gates are disregarded for that animal. To adjust a gate’s priority, drag and rearrange its position by tapping and holding the four dots next to the title.

Each draft gate is assigned a specific colour for easy identification during the weighing process. You can change the colour by pressing the eye-dropper icon.

Gate criteria

You can easily switch between gates using the dropdown menu at the top of the overlay and assign a name for better identification.

Draft by weight

Draft the animal based on its current weight.

Draft by weight gain per day

Draft the animal based on its daily weight gain. 

Note: This option requires the animal to have a previously recorded weight. Ensure a catch-all gate is in place for animals without previous measurements.

Hold on gate

This option instructs the system to hold the draft gate for animals that meet its criteria.

When utilising an automatic cattle crush, it’s essential to control the flow of animals. One way to achieve this is by using the “Hold on gate” option. With automatic crushes, it’s possible to draft animals very quickly, which may not always be the desired outcome. However, using the “Hold on gate” option, though it requires a manual release, can be a better alternative to using the crush in fully manual mode.

Note: A common use case for this option is drafting animals by EID. The gate will allow tagged animals to pass while holding untagged animals so you can fit an EID tag.

Additional draft options

These options allow you to draft by various criteria, including mob, group, sex, EID, or alert status. You can pick the value(s) when an option is enabled using the dropdown menu.

Assign to a mob

Automatically assign an animal to a mob if it matches the draft criteria.

Note: You can use the + button to create additional mobs.

Draft sets

A draft set is a collection of gates (including draft criteria). You can reuse a previous draft set by selecting it from the dropdown menu in the top right corner of the screen. When a draft set is selected, you will see the name in the main window with some controls on the right.

Note: Some options are only available when reusing a previous draft set. Give your draft set a descriptive name so it is easy to identify for future use.

Preview - “what-if” draft

If you are working with a previous draft set or reviewing the current one, you can preview changes to the gate criteria using the “What-if” option.

To use this feature, first adjust the gate criteria as usual, then click the “eye” button to see how the new draft set compares to the original one.

For instance, you have weighed 23 animals but have too many in the heaviest gate pen. You can tweak the gate ranges to see what the pens would look like if you ran these animals through the drafter again.

Consider the examples shown in the images below.

Gate 1:

1. The weight must be between 0 and 55.
2. Animals will automatically be assigned to the mob “TREV”.

Gate 2:

1. The weight must be between 55.1 and 100.
2. The animal must be Male.

Gate 3:

1. Any positive weight.

Note: Gate 3 is a “catch-all” gate and will match any undrafted animals.

Complex drafts

Creating a complex draft with multiple criteria for the same gate is possible. For instance, if you want to draft animals weighing 0-50 or 90-120 out of Gate 1, you can create two separate gate criteria for Gate 1. 

Note: Macrostock Scale will help you identify any missing weight ranges in the gate criteria and suggest creating a gate to cover them. If the animal does not match a gate, it will be held until a manual draft is performed.

Step 3: New animal details

You will see the “New animal details” screen if you select the “New animals” option during setup. On this screen, you can customise the default values for new animals. 

Note: If a field has a + button next to it, press it to add new options.

Hold new animal

The Macrostock Scale system will automatically hold any animal with a new ID, even if “New animals” wasn’t selected on the session setup page. To avoid this behaviour, deselect the option.

After completing the setup wizard, press the green button to access the session screen. You can switch between the different tabs using the buttons at the top of the screen.

Weight screen

The main weight tab displays the animal’s current weight, the gate name and the gate colour.

Note: Double tap the weight to trigger a reweigh.

When you scan or manually enter the animal ID, Macrostock Scale will search for any existing data associated with that animal and present the results in the bottom panel.

You can enter an ID in two ways:

1. Scan the Electronic Identification (EID) tag.
   Scanning the animal’s EID tag will automatically load the animal’s data.
2. Manually enter the Visual ID (VID).
   To manually enter an animal’s VID, press “VID Select” and search for an existing VID.

Note: If you make a mistake while entering the VID, press and hold the VID to clear the current animal and reweigh.

When you create a new animal using a VID, it automatically receives a virtual EID that begins with UID 73. This virtual EID is used to ensure that each animal is unique. To replace the virtual EID with a real EID tag, navigate to the “Animal” tab and select the “Replace tag” option.

The status indicator will turn orange when you scan an EID tag or enter a VID for a new animal. The animal will be held unless you unchecked the “Hold new animals?” option during setup. You can manually draft the animal using the drafter release button or pressing the “On hold” status indicator.

Note: If there is no weight display, check that the scale icon is green. If it is blue, try restarting the controller from the “Scale settings” menu.

The “Traits & Treatments.” tab allows you to manage animal traits and treatment configurations.

Traits screen

A trait is a characteristic that can be measured and tracked throughout an animal’s life.

Traits should not store life data, such as breed or date of birth. Instead, traits should store measurable data, such as body condition score or clean fleece weight (CFW).

You can add a trait by pressing the “+” button in the traits panel. If you need to create a new trait, press the edit (pen) icon and fill in the required details.

Each trait has two options that modify the behaviour:

1. Repeat
   The value entered is automatically copied to every new animal.
2. Required 
   Prevents the animal from being released until you enter a value for the trait or skip this step by tapping the status icon.

Treatments

A treatment is a dosing or drenching operation done automatically with the Te Pari Revolution dosing gun or manually with another device.

Note: Treatments applied to animals without IDs will be stored against the session and only used for statistics and future reference.

Once powered on, the Te Pari Revolution dosing gun will automatically connect to the Macrostock scale controller.

Macrostock Scale will calculate the required dosage for each animal and automatically draft the animal after the dosage is administered (if the dosing gun is in automatic mode).

Note: It may take up to 30 seconds after powering on the dosing gun before it appears.

The “Session” tab is a table view of all the animals weighed, including their weight and draft gate information.

You can select a row in the table by tapping it. With a row selected, press the “Edit” button to modify the value or the “Delete” button to remove the measurement.

You can show additional traits in the table by pressing the “Columns” button, selecting the traits from the list and pressing “Save”. 

The statistics page is organised into 4 parts:

1. Weight summary

   • The summary for the current session, including:
     • Total animals weighed.
     • Minimum/Average/Maximum weights.
     • Average daily weight gain.
        

2. Draft gate chart

   • The draft gate chart shows the percentage of animals drafted out of each gate. The colours on the chart match the colour selected during the setup wizard.
   • From time to time, you may see a draft gate split into several different names; this is intentional behaviour and can occur in a few different ways:
     • If an animal does not meet any criteria within the draft set, it will be held, and the draft gate will default to Gate 1 with the name “DEFAULT”. A manual draft can cause the animal to go through a different gate, but it will be labelled as “DEFAULT” instead of the designated gate’s name.
     • If the name of a gate changes during a session, only new animals will use the new name. Animals already drafted to that gate will use the old name. However, the gate’s number will remain the same.
        

3. Draft gate table

   • The draft gate table displays the number of animals drafted out of each gate and their average weight and gain. 
      

4. Treatments table

   • The treatments table shows the treatments administered during the session with the number of doses, the average dose per animal and the total treatment used.

Animal life data is visible in the “Animal Details” tab. Once you finish editing the animal’s life data, save your changes.

When you change life data, Macrostock Scale will not retain the previous values. For instance, if a lamb was initially Male but later changed to castrated, there will be no record of its original gender. If you wish to avoid losing such data, use a trait instead.

Performance

The performance panel shows the weight and gain history of the selected animal.

The “History” tab shows historical data for the current animal.

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