Accurate scales for weighing ingredients and completed feeds are essential parts of all feed mills.

For small scale manufacturing, the type that have a direct reading dial are the easiest to use and are least likely to cause mistakes to be made. Those which require manual balancing by moving counter weights along a bar are less reliable, but cheaper.

Accurate manufacture according to formulation depends on good scales; this item is often neglected, with insufficient money being spent on it. Scales with a taring device are the best (the ability to adjust to zero after a container has been placed on them so that the weight of the actual ingredient being weighed can be read directly from the dial).