Manage Weighbacks

4 min

A weighback—also called a "refusal" or "cleanup"—is the feed left over in the feeding area from a previous day. FeedComp allows you to capture the weight of these leftovers to ensure your records reflect what the animals actually consumed, rather than just what was delivered.

🗒️ NOTE: See Weighbacks to learn more.

Capturing weighbacks helps reduce waste and improve accuracy in your feeding records. When a weighback is created for a previous feeding, FeedComp automatically adjusts dry matter intake to reflect what was not consumed. For example, if 200 pounds of feed is left in a pen and collected the next day, that amount is subtracted from the prior day’s intake, ensuring the DM Intake Report reflects true consumption. See Target DM and Feeding Amounts to learn how FeedComp uses dry matter values when calculating feeding amounts and intake.

Depending on your setup, leftovers can be added to other pens or locations, used as a filler load in a recipe, or sold. Before you head out to the pens, use the table below to decide which workflow best fits your needs:

If you want to...	Use this Method	Key Benefit
Add leftovers into a new, scheduled mix	Filler Load	Maintains nutritional balance while recycling nutrients.
Move leftovers to a different pen or storage	Weighback-Only Pick Up	Quickly clears feeding areas; ideal for feeding heifers or culls.
Track leftovers for resale or disposal	Weighback-Only Pick Up	Keeps inventory accurate even if the feed leaves the farm. See On-Hand Amount to learn more about ingredient quantities and inventory tracking.

💡TIP: Avoid Manual Adjustments

Instead of changing pen counts to absorb leftovers, use a Filler Load. Filler Loads pick up leftovers first and automatically recalculate the rest of the recipe — no manual math or pen count changes needed.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/1080625001

Web

Mobile

NOTE: Please note that you can only create, edit, or delete Weighback-Only Pick Ups in FeedComp on PULSE. You can create Filler Loads in the FeedComp App.

Expand the sections below to learn more:

TIP: Amounts are displayed in pounds or kilograms based on the unit of measure specified for your user account.

Click Add Weighback at the top right of the page to open the Weighback Builder and enter information for the weighback. Follow the steps below to continue:

Select the Pick up date and Pick up time for the weighback. Today's date and the current time are defaulted for you.

Select the Ingredient to add for the weighback. Only weighback ingredients are available for selection. See Create New Ingredient to learn how to create a weighback ingredient.

The Location field automatically updates and selects a pen or location that contains the weighback ingredient. You can select a different option if the ingredient is located in more than one pen or location.

Select the Equipment to use for the weighback. To learn more about equipment, see Equipment.

Select the name of the feeding technician who will complete the weighback in Feeder.

Click Next.

In Search, select one or more pens or locations where the load will be picked up for the weighback. Follow the guidelines below when assigning pick-up pens and locations to a weighback:

Type text in the Search field to search the list of pens and locations by name.

If more than one pen or location was assigned to the weighback, you can use the handle on the left side of an item to drag and drop it to a new position in the list and change the pick-up order.

In DM Amount, enter the pick-up as-fed amount for the pen or location. The dry matter amount in DM Amount automatically updates.

Click Next.

In Search, select one or more pens or locations where the load will be dropped off for the weighback. Follow the guidelines below when assigning drop-off pens and locations to a weighback:

Type text in the Search field to search the list of pens and locations by name.

If more than one pen or location was assigned to the weighback, you can use the handle on the left side of an item to drag and drop it to a new position in the list and change the drop-off order.

In DM Amount, enter the drop-off as-fed amount for the pen or location. An error is displayed if the total drop-off amount does not equal the total pick-up amount for the weighback.

Click Add Weighback at the bottom right of the page.

A filler load is type of weighback collection that reuses leftover feed from the previous day and adds it into a scheduled feeding for the current day. A predetermined recipe with a weighback as the first ingredient must be active in a scheduled feeding for it to populate in the filler load feeding flow. A weighback for the day is loaded first during this flow, and the following ingredient amounts are recalculated based on dry matter targets.

A filler load will only allow scheduled feeding drops. Users may pick up weighback from locations or pens. Dry matter intake amounts will auto adjust for the previous day based on collected weighback if collecting from individual pens.

Tap Add Weighback at the bottom of the screen.

Tap + Add Ingredient under Inline image Ingredient.

Select each ingredient you want to add to the filler load.

TIP: Only weighback ingredients are available for selection. See Create New Ingredient to learn how to create a weighback ingredient.

Tap Add at the bottom of the screen.

Tap + Add Location under Pick Up.

Select one or more locations, and then tap Add at the bottom of the screen.

NOTE: If a weighback is picked up from a random location (not a pen), dry matter will not be recalculated since dry matter intake is not known for locations (only for pens).

Tap the Filler Load toggle.

Tap + Add Feeding under Feedings.

Select the feeding that will use the weighback, and then tap Add at the bottom of the screen.

A weighback-only pick up is a type of weighback flow that gathers leftover feed from the previous day without adding it into a recipe. This type of collection method allows users to record individual pen or overall weights. The weighback can then be dropped to other pens/locations as needed.

Tap Add Weighback at the bottom of the screen.

Tap + Add Ingredient under Inline image Ingredient.

Select each ingredient you want to add to the weighback-only pick up.

TIP: Only weighback ingredients are available for selection. See Create New Ingredient to learn how to create a weighback ingredient.

Tap Add at the bottom of the screen.

Tap + Add Location under Pick Up.

Select one or more locations where the ingredients will be picked up, and then tap Add at the bottom of the screen.

Tap + Add Location under Drop(s).

Select one or more locations, and then tap Add at the bottom of the screen.

IMPORTANT: If you want to use both a feeding device and a loading device to monitor and manage loads, enable Loader View on a loading device. Loader View allows you to connect your loading device to your feeding device, so any operations on your feeding device are mirrored on your loading device. When Loader View is enabled on a loading device, you can advance or pause feedings and view real-time feeding details while loading is in progress.

Follow the steps below to load a mix:

Tap Save and Start Loading at the bottom of the screen. If multiple pens and/or locations were selected for this weighback, you can Skip or Ignore weighback ingredients when you start loading.

Pick up the weighback at the selected pick-up location(s). As you load the weighback, the scale weighs the load and FeedComp calculates the remaining capacity of the mixer.

Proceed to Drop the Mix at the Locations.

If you're unfamiliar with the standard feeding workflow, see Loading and Dropping before performing a weighback.

FeedComp allows you to skip or ignore weighback ingredients when loading them into a mixer, and you can also skip or ignore pens and locations when loading weighback ingredients or dropping the weighback mix at pens or locations.

If multiple pens and/or locations were selected for this weighback, the following options are available when you're loading and dropping the weighback:

Tap Ignore to ignore the ingredient, pen, or location. When you ignore an ingredient, pen, or location, it is skipped and removed from the current order entirely.

Tap the arrow to advance to the next ingredient, pen, or location.

Tap Skip to skip the ingredient, pen, or location. When you skip an ingredient, pen, or location, it is temporarily skipped and moved to the end of the order so you can return to it later.

Once the loading or dropping process is started for a weighback, you can tap Inline image Abort at the top middle of the screen to abort the weighback.

Once a weighback is completed, you can tap the weighback icon Inline image to view its report card.

TIP: Don't see the weighback? Be sure to select the correct Pick up Date at the top of the screen.

If a weighback was started but not completed, you can resume it whenever you’re ready. Incomplete weighbacks are identified with an orange weighback icon Inline image .

Tap the incomplete weighback to restart.

TIP: Don't see the weighback? Be sure to select the correct Pick up Date at the top of the screen.

Activate the Filler Load toggle.

Tap +Add Feeding at the bottom of the screen.

Tap Add at the bottom of the screen.

Tap Save and Start Loading at the bottom of the screen.

The steps to continue the weighback process differ slightly based on the weighback type. Click the links below to see the remaining steps for each type:

Filler Load

Weighback-Only Pick Up

Tap the weighback to delete.

Tap Delete at the top right of the screen.

Manage Weighbacks

Search and Filter the Weighbacks List

Create New Weighback

View Weighback Details

Edit or Delete Weighbacks

Edit Weighback

Delete Weighback

Required Setup

Filler Load

Load the Ingredients for the Mix

Drop the Mix at the Locations

Weighback-Only Pick Up

Load the Ingredients for the Mix

Drop the Mix at the Locations

Skip or Ignore during Weighbacks

Abort a Weighback in Progress

View Past Weighbacks

Restart Incomplete Weighback

Delete Weighback