Innovations and Trends at EUROTIER 2010

GERMANY - At a recent event organised by DLG, Dr Matthias Schick, a member of the EuroTier Innovations Commission and Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART of Switzerland highlighted a number of trends in the new products and ideas that will be presented at EuroTier 2010.
calendar icon 4 October 2010
clock icon 5 minute read
EuroTier

EuroTier 2010 is characterised by many new technical developments, said Dr Schick, demonstrating that the innovative spirit among manufacturers of machinery, equipment and installations for animal husbandry remains at a high level. Alongside new developments, many further developments and improvements are also identifiable. This leads to an ever larger number of auxiliary labour-saving resources being available to farmers and helping to secure or even improve competitiveness.

The Innovations Commission at EuroTier 2010 considered around 200 submissions from exhibitors as 'new product for the applicant' or as 'further development of the applicant', he explained. The List of Innovations also contains company products that are new for the respective company or which it has developed further. Moreover, the award-winning innovative products have not been shown before at any other major exhibition or international show. All the innovations must be fully operative at EuroTier 2010 and be available on the market within the year 2011. That is why the award-winning products in particular, but also all the List of Innovations, represent the ideal guide for all visitors to EuroTier 2010 who are specifically looking out for innovations.

This year exhibits from altogether 14 sections were submitted to the Commission. They include the 'usual suspects' from the segments of keeping, feeding, climate control, manure removal, energy and environmental engineering, as well as machinery and equipment for milking and refrigeration. In addition, many submissions came from the areas of farm inputs, feed storage and production, equipment, accessories and spare parts, management and software, animal housing and barn construction, transport vehicles, and machinery and equipment for dung, solid manure and liquid manure.

The Gold and Silver Medals awarded for EuroTier 2010 reflect the bandwidth of the exhibition sections, said Dr Schick. The largest numbers of medals were awarded for the animal species cattle and pigs in the sections 'Farm inputs' and 'Machinery and equipment for keeping and feeding – pigs'. All the products selected for awards by the Innovations Commission are of economic significance for practical farming. They also involve significant improvements in work performance, quality of work and/or operational reliability.

The steadily growing conflict of goals in productive animal husbandry between conditions geared to animal welfare and environmental protection and people-friendly working conditions call for innovations that sustainably enhance or at least secure business success. There is an increasing need to take into account strategies for tracing the entire production chain and quality assurance. Aspects of workplace quality and safety at work may not be neglected here either.

Trends in machinery, equipment and installations for pigs

Most of the innovative submissions in the areas of machinery, equipment and installations for pig husbandry at EuroTier 2010 lay in the sections of feeding and keeping, Dr Schick explained. In the feeding segment, great value was attached to operationally reliable and easy to operate procedural solutions that can be controlled and monitored well. Here, systems for optimised and demand-driven drinking water supply for pigs were particularly significant.

In the area of machinery, equipment and installations for keeping there were many submissions featuring easy-to-clean pen systems, securing performance, improving animal-kindliness and facilitating work.

Further submissions targeted automated and semi-automated processes for stock monitoring and examinations for pregnancy.

Trends in machinery, equipment and installations for cattle

The machinery, equipment and installations for cattle husbandry at EuroTier 2010 feature many new technical developments, said Dr Schick. These include in particular developments in the areas of milking and feeding systems. In the section of mechanical milk withdrawal, there were many submissions of technical innovations, ranging from simple pasture milking parlours to modern milking machinery and equipment for tether barns and fully equipped rotary milking parlours. Here too, the focus among submissions was on increasing throughput performance, on improved automated control of the entire milking place, on measuring milk yields and on improving workplace conditions in the milking parlour. In addition, automated cleaning methods and process technologies for measuring milk yields were submitted.

Machinery, equipment and installations for feeding in cattle husbandry are now characterised by a sustained trend towards automated mixing and presentation of basic diet and performance rations. This became clear from the large number of technical developments submitted from this segment. Constantly fresh feed supplies for dairy cattle that take account of animal welfare and performance needs deserve mention as regards both physiological benefit and savings in working time.

Interesting new technical developments were submitted in the area of machinery, equipment and installations for keeping cattle too. These include process technologies for simple and labour-saving calf transport, simplified care of resting cubicles and optimised hoof care.

Other trends in machinery, equipment and installations

Dr Schick also highlighted the combination of intelligent sensor and actor technologies that has now been introduced into modern animal husbandry as well. Some interesting sensor systems for improving herd management, supporting production and facilitating labour will be presented at EuroTier 2010.

Farm inputs

The innovations in the farm inputs sector consist largely of submissions in the area of disinfectants with improved active ingredient combinations.

Management and software

Linking farm-relevant data from the individual processes right up to analyses of slaughter data is one of the goals of the innovations submitted in the area of management and software. At EuroTier 2010, submissions focus on system solutions, said Dr Schick. These are designed to supply users with the desired data in simple and clear fashion at any time and in any place. The significance of mobile steering and controlling of processes in the areas of feeding, ventilation, milking and animal monitoring is also increasing. All management systems serve to facilitate work, secure production and enhance quality.

Conclusions

On the one hand, EuroTier 2010 with its many registered new technical developments demonstrates the performance spectrum and diversity of ideas displayed by manufacturers in the field of machinery, equipment and installations for animal husbandry. On the other hand, the many improvements also take the need of practical farmers for production-securing, labour-saving and well conceived solutions for each individual farm into account.

The trends and technical innovations mentioned here can only provide a small overview of EuroTier 2010 as a whole. But they do make one thing eminently clear – a visit to EuroTier 2010 is definitely worthwhile, concluded Dr Schick.

EuroTier 2010 takes place at the Hanover Exhibition Grounds, Germany, on 16 to 19 November 2010.

Further Reading

- You can find out more about EuroTier 2010 by clicking here.

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