Our history
1971
Company founded
Micro Technologies was founded in 1971 as Micro Chemical by Bill Pratt. Bill recognized a need for revolutionary technology within the feedlot industry — a spark that has fueled nearly 50 years of continued innovation. Today, Micro serves the majority of the feedyard industry and has expanded into the dairy industry.
1971
First micro meter machine developed and deployed
The spark that fueled the start of Micro was the Micro Metering System, a revolutionary electro-mechanical device that, for the first time, gave cattle feeders the flexibility to accurately modify micronutrient levels on a daily basis.
1983
Development of Nutriflex
Nutriflex was developed to utilize a customer’s own water and molasses supply to formulate liquid supplements on-site. The capability to blend salt, calcium and phosphoric acid in customizable sizes generated considerable savings, allowing customers the flexibility to implement immediate changes to their supplements rather than being forced to consume older inventory.
1983
Micro Weigh System launches
Mill efficiency was transformed when Micro created the computer technology to operate a micro machine that would, for the first time, use weight rather than volume and relay logic to measure micronutrients. Customers received on-the-spot, automated reporting and experienced increased ration accuracy and improved efficiency from this "15" series technology.
1984
Creation of the Pro-Control Batching System
The implementation of Micro Weigh Systems elicited numerous customer requests for Micro to computerize the feedlot’s entire feed manufacturing process, which led to the creation of the Pro-Control Batching System.
1985
First “16” series Micro Weigh System released
Two years after its inception, the “15” series Micro Weigh System was upgraded to provide more information and options. This first “16” series Micro Weigh System used a more durable and sophisticated computer and remains one of Micro’s most durable machines. Many systems have been in the field for over 25 years and continue to fully operate.
1986
Creation of the Drug-Trac Chuteside Animal Health System
As drug inventory control was introduced to the feedlot industry, Micro envisioned and created Drug-Trac, a comprehensive office/chute-side system to track individual and group treatments and protocols, while also ensuring compliance with drug withdrawal periods at harvest.
1987
Creation of Meta-Bac Live Microbial System
To address monetary losses resulting from the difficulty to sustain hydrated microbials, Meta-Bac was created to hydrate and refrigerate dry microbials until ration implementation. Prior to the Meta-Bac system, it was nearly impossible to utilize these products.
1991
Read-N-Feed Bunk reader / Feedtruck V.1 System introduction
Through evaluating existing customers’ needs, Micro identified the opportunity for bunk reading technology and in 1991 purchased Agri Systems, Inc.—a software company primarily serving beef feedyards with a feedyard bunk-reading system in its portfolio. The owner, Joe Shell, was welcomed to the company and Micro immediately began offering the Read-N-Feed Bunk Reader systems to existing customers. Within four years, Micro had acquired approximately 65 feedyard bunk-reading customers.
1992
Feedlot Business System (FBS) launched
The Feedlot Business System was introduced to the industry as a fully integrated feedlot accounting system to provide immediate access to comprehensive financial transactions for feedlot management staff. As an innovative product based on a relational database, it also provided a greatly expanded capability to develop business intelligence from collected data.
1994
Academic Advisory Steering Committee for ECM development lays groundwork for 1996
An oversight group of more than 12 industry experts with backgrounds in ruminant nutrition, genetics/animal selection, meat science, ultrasound, and veterinary medicine were brought together to discuss the value of individualized Electronic Cattle Management (ECM), leading to the introduction of ECM in 1996.
1996
Electronic Cattle Management (ECM) introduced
The introduction of ECM to the feedyard industry allowed its users to measure and sort animals into like groups for optimum endpoint marketing. The system was complementary to the Drug-Trac Animal Health System and Feedlot Business System packages, and with the use of electronic identification allowed the feedyard to effectively track an animal throughout its life at the feedyard.
1998
Read-N-Feed Bunk Reader gets a technology upgrade
In the late 1990’s, Micro Technologies saw the need to upgrade the original DOS-based Bunk Reading System to an improved windows-based system, providing a more user-friendly look and feel. Customers at that time were able to seamlessly convert to the new Read-N-Feed system, without losing essential existing features, as well as gain access to multiple new features.
1998
Feed Truck System makes big strides forward with GPS guiding
Micro continued to progress through technological innovation and developed an enhancement to its feed truck computer system. The improvements enabled the feed truck computer to interface directly with the feed truck scale and implemented GPS technology. This allowed the position of the feed truck in relation to the bunk to always be known, increasing the overall efficiency in feed delivery, ensuring even distribution of the right ration, to the right bunk, at the right time.
2001
Micro Weigh System expands functionality with introduction of a PC-based version
Twenty two years after the introduction of the "16" Micro Weigh System, Micro introduced the PC version of its extremely successful predecessor. The upgrade allowed the system to be fully integrated into the Pro-Control Plus® Batching System as well as allowing for online access, enhanced reporting and data exports.
2003
Pro-Control Plus Batching System releases second generation
Increased prevalence of Micro’s batching technology led to the development of an upgraded second-generation system with greatly expanded capabilities that could be easily customized to precisely address a customer’s changing needs.
2003
Beef Information Exchange: National Animal Identification System (NAIS)
Impending changes in economic and regulatory requirements faced all segments of the U.S. beef industry, and new technologies to address these changes were necessary. As data service providers to the beef industry, Micro, along with a coalition of leading agricultural data service companies, announced plans to create the beef industry’s first data exchange standards.
2005
Pro-Control Statistical Process Control feature introduced
To further improve accuracy of the Pro-Control Plus Batching System, Micro developed built-in Statistical Process Control (SPC) which allows for quick, powerful analysis of batching variances, and generates automatic SPC exception notifications to specified employees, managers and consultants.
2005
Micro expands into dairy with creation of a dairy division
As dairies moved into the Texas panhandle region, with them came a growing need for innovative technologies in the dairy industry. Relying on its already successful portfolio of existing technological offerings, Micro identified solutions for the unique needs of dairy producers such as its first product introduction, Micro Daily Logic.
2007
CattleLog, an individual animal management and verification program from Emerge, is acquired
2007
Feed Truck System 2.0 released
Knowing how essential the Feed Truck System was to its customers, Micro invested further into the technology by rewriting the entire program to have a simpler user interface and full integration with the Read-N-Feed Bunk Reader.
2007
Micro Weigh launches into dairy
A progressive dairy in New Mexico recognized the vision for having precision micro ingredients accurately dispensed in their feed rations and became the first to install a Micro Weigh System on their dairy. The dairy segment has since benefited from precision feed management and continues to grow today.
2007
Micro becomes U.S. distributor for SCR HeatTime Collars
SCR, a leading animal monitoring company from Israel, identified the need for a United States partner that shared the same vision of the future potential of dairy cows wearing devices that monitored their movement and eating patterns. Micro recognized the relevance that this type of technology would have to its customers and moved forward with a distribution partnership.
2008
Pro-Control Plus expands to include routing and receiving
Micro improved upon the Pro-Control Plus Batching System to encompass monitoring and controlling other feed mill functions beyond the batching process, including receiving and routing of commodities and management of bin storage and automatic refilling.
2008
Micro's Process Verification Program approved by USDA and NHTC
Micro’s Process Verified Program (PVP) was approved by USDA for age and source verification, followed by the verification program for Non Hormone Treated Cattle (NHTC). PVP is a verification service that offers applicants a unique way to market their products to customers using clearly defined, implemented and transparent processes.
2009
Pro-Control Web System launches
The revolutionary Pro-Control Web system was created to give managers and consultants, as well as Micro service personnel, an online, web-based interface for reporting, monitoring and configuring systems.
2009
First Accu-Trac System
After many years with standalone systems, Micro embarked on a plan to create a fully integrated feedyard management system. The first module to be released under the Accu-Trac suite was the Drug Trac Animal Health System. The new system provided users many enhanced features including online access, automated exception management, enhanced reporting as well as a strong growth path for future features and benefits.
2010
Pro-Control Parlor debutes
With the ever-growing cost of business and tougher regulations being enforced on dairies, it was evident that a solution was needed to help dairy farmers lower their overhead costs and standardize the Cleaning in Place (CIP) process. This resulted in the development of a fully automated wash system called Pro-Control Parlor.
2010
Read-N-Feed Dairy launches
Micro recognized that its Read-N-Feed technology was applicable to dairies and began introducing the solution to dairy customers.
2011
National Animal Identification System gains USDA approval
2011
Micro releases "17” series Micro Weigh System
As product mixes changed within the Micro customer base, there was a need for a new Micro Weigh System which would allow for an enhanced array of products while making sure flexibility and accuracy were not compromised. The "17" series MWS was designed to accomplish this task.
2011
Micro hires a full time Pharmacist licensed in the state of Texas
Micro quickly added 4 more state licenses to the list, which include NM, CO, KS and OK.
2011
Micro Beef Technologies acquired by MWI Veterinary Supply
The synergies of the two animal health companies presented exciting potential for food animal production by combining the technology-based programs and services from Micro with the well-established animal health distribution business of MWI Veterinary Supply (now MWI Animal Health).
2012
First Cubex System installed
Micro identified the need to provide a solution for automating the manual processes of managing product inventory, knowing the cost savings would impact customers’ bottom line. Using this system, customers experience an improvement in supply and pharmaceutical organization, inventory accuracy, security, operational efficiency and elimination of inventory stock-outs and overages.
2012
Accu-Trac Flex Sorting introduced
The introduction of Flex Sorting gave Accu-Trac users the ability to sort animals into like groups using an algorithm. Flex Sorting maximizes pen utilization for optimal animal performance.
2013
Micro acquires distribution rights to the Whisper Veterinary Stethoscope
Micro partnered with Geissler Corporation to market, install and service the Whisper Digital Stethoscope. Whisper was the first objective tool developed to score severity of Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) in cattle. In 2016, Merck Animal Health purchased Whisper from Geissler Corporation, retaining Micro as a marketing, installation and service partner for the technology.
2014
Relocation of office and warehouses to Amarillo Business Park
In November of 2014, Micro moved its corporate office and various warehouse locations to the AEDC business park in Amarillo, TX to combine its business operations into one convenient location. The new Amarillo location of its pharmacy becomes the southwest distributor for production animal packaged goods.
2015
MWI Animal Health and Micro Technologies acquired by AmerisourceBergen
Capitalizing on AmerisourceBergen’s knowledge of manufacturer and provider services, in addition to its global reach and partnership philosophy, Micro is positioned to invest even more into its portfolio of advanced technologies for food producing operations.
2015
Micro acquires distribution rights to Stocker1, rounding out its portfolio to serve all sectors of the beef industry
Stocker1 is the first web based management program built specifically for backgrounder and stocker operations. Stocker1 is a complete management system that shows the break-even on a set of cattle at any given time, close outs for each group and billing capabilities for custom operations.
2015
Micro Technologies acquires Comco Liquimatics
In 2015, Micro acquired the assets of Comco Liquimatics, a leading supplier of Post Pellet Liquid Application technology for the pork and poultry industries. The acquired systems became part of the Micro offerings, strategically expanding the suite of industry-leading animal health and nutrition management systems.
2015
Micro integrates Read-N-Feed with the Accu-Trac suite of products
The Read-N-Feed system was introduced into the suite of Accu-Trac products to create a more integrated and robust system. Accu-Trac allowed Read-N-Feed and Drug-Trac to share a single cattle inventory, and gave the system a new and polished look.
Pro-Control Mixer introduced
2016
The Pro-Control Mixer is a weight-based blending system created to equip dairy farmers with the flexibility to adjust udder hygiene mixtures. This technology system provides dairy farmers with endless product mixing capabilities with multiple concentrates, reducing freight costs and product waste as a result of improved product-usage accuracy.
2016
Micro Beef Technologies becomes Micro Technologies
With a well-developed suite of products for the dairy segment, Micro updates its brand to reflect its offering to both the beef and dairy markets through a simplified company name.
2018
Launch of Accu-Trac Office
The Accu-Trac Office and Feed Inventory System has been integrated with Read-N-Feed and Drug-Trac for a complete, single-inventory feedyard management system. The full Accu-Trac suite provides the user with the first ever fully integrated feedyard management system.
