Innovation winners at EuroTier animal husbandry show in Germany
The show is in November, but the six gold medal and 15 silver medal winners for innovation have been named already.
The FixClip valve is a silver medal winner for Albert Kerbl GmbH of Germany.
They saw that calf feeding bucket drinker valves are usually firmly connected to the bucket, and very difficult to remove for cleaning, leading to hygiene problems. The FixClip valve can be mounted or removed quickly and easily, allowing fast and simple routine cleaning of the feeding bucket.
Also of interest to dairy farmers is the innovation silver medal for further development of the AktivPuls teat liners launched in 2006.
Recognised then for providing complete vacuum relief in the massage phase, they are now improved by manufacturers AktivPuls GmbH of Germany.
They now have a new teat liner in highly elastic silicone with a structure that imitates natural calf suckling, and improves massage effect, even with differing teat lengths and diameters. .
Also new is a self-cleaning nozzle for optimal head vacuum, and a signal element in the teat liner head for online monitoring of current milking conditions at every milking cup. An elastic membrane signals any disruption of head vacuum at the teat base to the milking personnel by means of deformation that can be seen and felt very simply.
The new AktivPuls is commended on animal welfare grounds for gentle treatment of the udder, and its long service life.
DeLaval’s InService Remote was awarded the silver medal for innovation.
This system monitors milking equipment remotely, enabling farmers to manage their dairy operations from their desktop computer, tablet or smart phone. It alerts users to, for example, undesirable pulsation or vacuum level fluctuations.
German wheel loaders manufacturer Thaler is a silver medal winner for the hydraulically retractable roof on its machines, which can be lowered hydraulically.
Previously, users were often removing the protective roof to allow the vehicle to move through low passageways.
The roof can be lowered and return to the original position after the hindrance has been passed.
Computerised animal monitoring is built into the silver medal winning management systems for bucket-feeding calves, from German manufacturer Urban Animal-related data such as how often they come to suck and drinking speed are recorded automatically and documented.
GEA Farm Technologies, also of Germany, won a silver medal for a cooling system for cow cubicle areas. Cows normally rest for up to 14 hours a day, but this may be reduced on hot days. A conductive cooling system is integrated into the sand or compost litter bedded resting area .
GEA also picked up a silver medal for their DairyNet computerised documentation and analysis of complex processes from crop production to dairy cattle husbandry.
For the first time, agricultural machinery and equipment, sensory aspects, feeding, milking and climate control are uniformly networked with each other in one system, which saves the farmer working time in documentation and analysis of their overall farming, and also requires less support from software providers.
Among the other silver medal winners is Gelamin FaserGold, a German made fibre source for piglets, sows and finishing pigs, obtained from soy hulls which are processed for better digestion by pigs. Oregano oil is added. FaserGold can help maintain normal digestive operations in energy-rations, and improve dung consistency and animal behaviour.
Meier-Brakenberg of Germany picked up a silver medal for their Flexi washer, or high-pressure cleaning of waste air shafts in animal housing facilities, from the ground, which can be operated using any high-pressure cleaner. Introduced through cooler fan blades, the washing unit automatically draws itself upwards and cleans the waste air shaft and fan blades as it through nozzles pointing to the sides and downwards. Hygiene improvement in waste air shafts is often neglected.
Also German-made, the ConditWatch is a pen-like machine in which finishing pigs can be measured to estimate fat-muscle ratio and body weight, before sale.
The measurements come from conductive sensor rollers that fit on the pig’s body, using bioelectrical impedance analysis, an idea from human medicine.
There’s a EuroTier silver medal for Möller GmbH’s ARV climate computer, which aims to prevent heat and cold stress for finishing pigs, by offering them water at different temperatures via three drinkers. Drinking temperature-managed water indicates well-being, while a preference for cold water indicates heat stress. Depending on the animal behaviour, a cooling facility or a heating system can be activated.
