PKE tracking when it arrives in blended loads
When a merchant delivers a blend of PKE, DDG, barley and minerals on one docket, FeedTally splits the net weight into tonnes of each feed. That makes PKE tracking possible even when the PKE comes inside a blend, so "how much PKE have we taken this month?" has a straight answer.
Coming soon: docket scanning, the delivery log and the dashboard are still being built. Today you can sign up, set up your farms, feed suppliers and feed types, and invite your team, ready for when FeedTally reads its first docket.
Why blends are hard to track
A blended load arrives as one docket with one net weight. Written down as one line, it hides what is in it. If half your PKE comes in blends and half comes in straight, the only way to know your PKE total is to work out each blend by hand.
That PKE number matters, because PKE raises Fonterra's FEI fat grade (see how much PKE per cow per day).
How the split works
The split follows fixed rules. When FeedTally is set up for your farm, each merchant's blends are entered with their recipe: the share of each feed in the mix. When a docket for that blend is scanned, the app takes the net weight off the docket and multiplies it by each share.
The worker sees the split on screen and confirms it before anything is saved. The AI only reads the docket. The arithmetic is plain code that gives the same answer every time.
A worked example
A 28.40 t load of a blend made up as follows (demo numbers):
| Feed | Share of blend | Net tonnes |
|---|---|---|
| PKE | 60% | 17.04 t |
| DDG | 30% | 8.52 t |
| Barley | 8% | 2.27 t |
| Minerals | 2% | 0.57 t |
| Total | 100% | 28.40 t |
Each line goes into the delivery log as its own feed type, against the same docket photo, shed and merchant.
Feeds it handles
- PKE (palm kernel expeller, also called palm kernel extract or just palm kernel)
- DDG (dried distillers grains)
- Barley and other grains
- Dairy minerals, whether in the blend or added on farm (minerals added on farm go in by manual entry)
Straight loads of a single feed are logged as that feed, with no split needed.
What PKE tracking gives you
Tonnes of PKE, DDG, barley and minerals by week, month and year, for each shed and each merchant, on the owner's dashboard. Divide the month's PKE tonnes by your cows and the days in the month and you have your farm's average kg of PKE per cow per day.
If a merchant changes a blend recipe, tell Dave and he updates it.
Questions farmers ask
What if the AI reads a docket wrong?
Nothing is saved until the worker has checked it. The app shows what it read, flags anything it is unsure of, and the worker fixes it on the spot. The blend split is plain arithmetic: the docket's net weight times each feed's share of the blend. If something slips through, you can correct it in the delivery log later, and the docket photo is right there to check against.
Which merchants does it work with?
So far it has been used on weighbridge printouts and handwritten delivery books from two merchants. It should read any docket that shows the net weight. If you want to check first, email photos of a few recent dockets from each merchant you use to hello@feedtally.com and Dave will tell you how they read. Anything it can't read can be entered by hand.
Try FeedTally free for 30 days
30 days free. A card is needed to start. Cancel any time before day 30 and pay nothing. Then NZ$12 + GST a month or NZ$99 + GST a year per farm. Sign up with your email, set up your farm in about two minutes, then invite your team.