LOL, I get derailed easily.
It looked like that Ethernet I/P adapter on their website was $575.
Sorry to derail the all-important milkshake quality debate, but just in case you wanted my two cents worth on the original question
...the newer (5370 and later) Compact Logix processors can talk TCP/IP, but it's very labour intensive and unwieldy. I would think of it as an method of last resort, if you have no other options.
Here, you do have other options - the Ethernet/IP module. In almost 100% of cases, the development time you save in using such a module will outweigh the cost of it several times over - and when you're done, you have a simple, lightweight, industry-standard solution in place.
I use Mettler Toledo weight transmitters all the time - they too have Ethernet (TCP/IP) adaptors and Ethernet/IP adaptors. The Ethernet/IP adaptor is more than three times the cost of the Ethernet (TCP/IP) adaptor, and it's 100% worth spending that money. I've not used Rice Lake specifically (they're not so big under here), but if your Ethernet/IP interface card is a whole $40, I wouldn't even entertain the idea of doing anything else but ordering one of those, and a spare.
I'd snatch em up at $40 a pop... But from what I can tell module is 10x that.
Ultimately I have learned that TCP/IP and EtherNet/IP are NOT the same and that the EtherNet/IP module is an absolute must have component given AB controllers use EtherNet/IP. Also sounds like the workarounds for not using their module simply aren't worth the time or effort.