Award-winning JFC say their Dumpy Tip-over Drinker reduces SCC
The JFC Dumpy Tip-over Drinker was launched at this years National Ploughing Championships and it will come to market this month.
The design of the all-new 3.5 litre rotating drink bowl, allows the farmer to empty the bowl by the press of a button. The bowl operates by gravity, simply using the weight of the contents to swing 180 degrees, while dumping the entire contents of the drinker onto the ground/slats.
This innovative drinker also swings back to a working position all within the same movement.
Martin Devaney of JFC explains, “The Dumpy Tip-over Drinker from JFC offers an innovative solution to the problem of high somatic cell count on Irish farms.”
“High SCC can be attributed to many factors and is often related to primary management practices, including milking equipment and technique, housing, cleanliness of the environment, hygienic quality of water and feed, preventive health measures and stress.”
“The hygienic quality of drinking water available to cows can be a major contributor to high SCC, farmers are well aware of the importance of having fresh drinking water available for their animals, as a result the daily chores include the cleaning of the drinkers from which the animals drink from particularly the indoor drinkers.”
One of the National Dairy Show Innovation Award judges, Seamus O’Mahony described it as an “excellent innovation of current drinking bowl designs”.
He said, “The price point of €155 including trough guard is not out of line with current offerings in the market, with significant USP in its own right. The robust and practical tip and snap back mechanism is a great innovation, but we saw the fitting of the ball cock independent to the water pipe which can otherwise sometimes cause the ballcock to move and result in leaking troughs as a second innovation that can be incorporated into other troughs.”
The other award judge at the show, Denis Finnegan of Lee Valley Farms, added “It makes the rotten job of cleaning out troughs simple, a job farmers tend to put off.”
“There is improved animal welfare benefits with cleaner water and easier access to the ballcock when the trough is in the open position.”
JFC narrowly lost out on the overall title to Devennish Nutrition with a new advanced CalMag alternative called Mag12, with greater soluble qualities and cost neutral milk solid improvements.
