Pottinger’s smart designs praised at Sommet d’Or
Droughts are more common in France, and one of the solutions they have come up with is a mobile water tank with an internet-connected sensor.
Made by the Besier company, it is one of the Sommet d’Or winners for innovation, presented at the Sommet de l’Elevage agricultural show at Clermont-Ferrand, France, this week. The Sommet is one of the main international trade shows specialised in livestock production.
This transportable water tank connects to a constant water level trough.
It has a water level probe, an accelerometer, and a system of geo-tracking, to enable the level of water in the tank and the location of the tank be communicated by internet to a mobile phone app. It’s possible to programme refill alarms.
Hopefully, Irish farmers will not need innovations of this kind, which might have been useful in last summer’s drought
Due to the drought, there was more wholecrop silage made here this year.
A specialised disc mower for harvesting wholecrop cereals without use of a conditioner won a Sommet d’Or for Pöttinger.
Their 3.5m cut Novacat 352 Crossflow disc mower has a screw conveyor that groups swaths together.
The cut swath can either be dropped directly on to, or adjacent to, the swath cut by the front-attached mower, and the swath size can be changed, using the adjustable swath canopy.
The space between the cutter bar and the screw is closed, avoiding all unnecessary losses of the mown forage.
Without a forage conditioner, the mower is lighter, more power-efficient and more manoeuvrable.
