Transparent Bucket and Object Detection For Agriculture

Whether you’re managing a beef cattle operation or a dairy farm, your facilities are bustling. They’re 24-hour environments where machinery, livestock and personnel constantly converge. 

In such dynamic farming environments, equipment visibility and safety are essential for maintaining productivity and reducing downtime.

Modern wheel loaders and compact track loaders are now equipped with sophisticated agriculture equipment safety technology designed to enhance operator visibility and protect nearby workers and animals.

Here is how you can leverage the latest features to ensure safety and productivity remain top priorities for your livestock operation.

Why Visibility Is a Daily Challenge on Farms

Farming is rarely a 9-to-5 job: In the livestock industry, you are essentially on call 24/7. This often means working in the dark, where low visibility and blind spots can create challenging farming environments.

Your farm can be an unpredictable workspace. You or your equipment operators must often navigate buildings, pens and alleyways that create tight operating areas and severely limit your line of sight. 

Environmental factors add another layer of risk. Thick dust during feed mixing or blowing snow can suddenly obscure your view. On top of that, livestock and workers that are frequently in motion can appear unexpectedly in your machine’s path at any moment.

Alex Slowey manages the equipment at Slowey Farms in Westfield, Wisconsin. The dairy operation has been in business for more than 100 years and relies on two DEVELON DL220-7 wheel loaders from Swiderski Equipment. Visibility is a top priority for the operators, who may be in the machines up to 10 hours a day.

“On the feed pad, we have semis arriving daily with feed and straw,” says Slowey. 

“During the summer and fall harvests, forage wagons come every few minutes. The operators need a clear view of their surroundings to ensure that they don’t hit the barns or the manure spreaders waiting to be filled.”

What Makes Farming Environments So Dynamic

In addition to visibility challenges, the workday is defined by constant transitions. You and your operators frequently shift from one task to the next, adapting to changing light levels and varying space constraints.

This is where agricultural equipment safety technology becomes indispensable. Real-time alerts and advanced farm equipment technology provide a consistent safety net, ensuring that even when your environment changes, your level of awareness remains high. 

Because collision avoidance in agriculture is a top priority, we’ve developed industry-leading solutions for livestock producers. Read about our Transparent Bucket and other safety features.

Transparent Bucket: Improve Operator Line of Sight

Traditionally, wheel loader operators have suffered from limited visibility directly in front of the machine due to the size of the bucket or other attachment.

The industry-exclusive DEVELON Transparent Bucket feature for -7 Series wheel loaders solves this challenge by using advanced camera technology to project a supplemental view of the area in front of the attachment on an in-cab monitor.

Being able to “see through” the wheel loader attachment provides safer material handling, reduces blind spots and improves your ability to move about the farm more safely and work more confidently.

Additionally, when precision matters, you have better visibility to the attachment when loading material and dumping it into a mixer.

“When I’m moving two or three large square bales at a time, visibility is a major challenge,” says Slowey. 

“The Transparent Bucket technology allows me to see directly in front of the machine despite the load. Whether I’m working in the yard or navigating our long driveway, I can finally see objects that were previously hidden. It takes the guesswork out of the job.”

How Proximity Sensors Support Safer Operation

When you’re working near busy people and unpredictable cattle, real-time alerts from agriculture equipment safety technology can be life-saving.

For enhanced safety, ultrasonic proximity sensors for farming equipment, such as DEVELON -7 Series wheel loaders and the DTL35 compact track loader, provide alerts to warn you about objects behind the machine.

Ultrasonic proximity sensors detect objects and, based on how close the object is to the machine, notify you on a monitor using color cues and audio alerts. 

• Green box: An object is within a range of 8 to 12 feet.
• Yellow box: An object is between 4 and 8 feet behind the wheel loader.
• Red box: An object comes within 4 feet of the machine. Additionally, the system emits a beeping sound and provides an audio alert to the operator.

Bring Better Visibility to Modern Farm Operations

In addition to having the Transparent Bucket feature, wheel loaders are designed with farm equipment visibility technology to enhance your operating experience.

Rearview cameras are now becoming standard equipment. They allow you to see what’s behind the machine and safely maneuver around an object, animal or person within the line of sight.

“The camera technology is incredibly helpful,” says Slowey. “The wheel loader operator relies on the camera constantly to monitor the feed pad, ensuring that the area is clear of workers or other machinery.”

Available as an option for DEVELON -7 Series wheel loaders and the DTL35 compact track loader, the around view monitor (AVM) camera system takes visibility to the next level. The system provides up to 270 degrees of visibility, giving you better situational awareness of your surroundings.

Another visibility feature incorporated into today’s wheel loaders is more glass. Many modern wheel loader cabs incorporate floor-to-ceiling windows to improve your view to the front and sides of the machine.

Maintain Control on Uneven Terrain

The ground on your farm is rarely even.

This can present another safety concern, which is why DEVELON offers the ride control system.

The ride control system improves your wheel loader and compact track loader stability while moving. It reduces or eliminates the pitching of the bucket and cushions the movements of the machine’s lift arms. And it helps minimize material from spilling out of the bucket, keeping the work area clear and reducing sudden machine instability.

The feature reduces your physical strain, allowing for more focused operation during long workdays.

Additional Wheel Loader Safety Features to Know

Beyond the technology already mentioned, other wheel loader features can also help improve safety. 

Since livestock work is often done early in the morning and late in the evening, high-quality lighting is a necessity.

LED headlights and taillights allow you to navigate your farm safely even in low-light or adverse weather conditions. 

“Visibility is an essential part of our feeding process,” says Slowey.

“We start in the dark every morning, and the LED work lamps are far superior to the older style lights. They allow our operators to face the feed pile with precision — maintaining the correct angle for moisture runoff and preventing unnecessary waste. It’s not just about brightness; it’s about the accuracy of the work.”

A rotating beacon with revolving safety lights comes standard on DEVELON wheel loaders. It serves as a warning signal to other workers that the wheel loader is in motion.

Dairy environments are dusty, especially when bedding the barn or during forage harvest. The standard reversible cooling fan is adjustable from the display monitor to assist in keeping the cooling system clean. The auto reverse setting runs the fan for a few minutes at a time at different intervals.

By incorporating these wheel loader safety features, you can improve your daily productivity and reduce the risk of accidents and injuries on your farm.

Visit a DEVELON dealer in your area to see these technologies up close. In the meantime, see the table below for a list of DEVELON safety technologies for wheel loaders and compact track loaders.

  DEVELON Safety Features for Agriculture Producers

1-DEVELON DTL35 compact track loaders

2-DEVELON -7 Series wheel loaders