Innovation Award EuroTier 2022
EuroTier, the world’s leading trade fair for animal farming and livestock management, has established itself as the most prominent platform for the introduction of innovations. This innovation leadership is underlined by the EuroTier Innovation Award, which is handed to the winners at the show every two years.
An independent expert jury appointed by the DLG (German Agricultural Society) using stringent criteriahas selected the winners of the Innovation Award EuroTier. With four gold and 14 silver awards, the Innovation Award EuroTier 2022 in gold or silver has been awarded to a total of 18 product innovations from 150 qualified submissions.
Subject area 5: Pig management and feeding technology
Coughs, colds, hoarseness – classic respiratory tract diseases can also occur in pigs. The result is reduced well-being and increased susceptibility to diseases as well as poorer feed conversion and reduced daily weight gains, which can lead to underweight pigs and inconsistent groups and can also ultimately jeopardise profitability.
SoundTalks is a system that continuously analyses the respiratory health status of pigs during rearing and fattening.
The monitors installed in the sty, each of which is equipped with six microphones, register all noises in the sty and are able to distinguish coughing noises from other noises with the aid of an algorithm. Since the system records 24 hours a day, it is also able to register the intensity of coughing during the resting phase, unlike the farmer, and can therefore detect coughing up to five days earlier.
SoundTalks indicates the problem to the animal owner via a traffic light system directly in the sty or by means of an app on the smartphone. This enables ventilation problems to be corrected early on and allows the primary cause of a respiratory tract infection to be diagnosed thanks to quick diagnostics.
Treatment for the symptoms of individual animals (vitamins, mucolytic agents, etc.) often enables antibiotics to be forgone or treatment to be carried out early on and specifically according to an antibiogram.
Subject area 9: Digital solutions for herd management and quality assurance / Smart Farming
Drying off cows with high milk yields poses certain risks to the animals’ health. High internal udder pressure during the first few days after milking, the lack of the milk flow’s flushing effect during milking and the animals’ stressed metabolism due to a dramatic reduction in the supply of energy can affect the health and well-being of the animals. Antibiotics are often administered to prevent udder infections.
The AutoDry system is an innovative function within the GEA herd management software for conventional milking systems. The function can be activated for individual cows and prepares them gently and effectively for drying off. AutoDry introduces automatic milking cluster removal after reaching a pre-defined target milk volume. AutoDry starts around 10 days before drying off, and gradually reduces milk production each additional day prior to drying off using a patented algorithm.
Automated cow drying off based on a natural model is an added bonus for each economic farm concept and actively contributes to increasing sustainability at the same time, particularly on dairy farms with high yields. AutoDry enables the use of antibiotics to be reduced, animal welfare to be fostered and the workload to be reduced.
Subject area 10: Milking and cooling technology
Technical solutions in the shed are always a compromise that should cover all individual animal characteristics wherever possible. This is also true of different teat sizes. The problem in this case is that the teat cup liners often seal too tight on large teats and stress the tissue, whereas air enters and the milking cluster drops off with small teats.
The completely different, wave-shaped design of the Stimulor StressLess is what makes this teat cup liner stand out clearly from conventional solutions. The integrated, adaptive lip enables teats of different sizes to be milked using the same teat cup liner. The new, wave-shaped design of the lip responds to the difference in pressure in the teat cup liner and allows outside air to flow in to equalise it if necessary. This prevents an excessively high head vacuum, delays teat cup ascent and reduces tissue stress. In the same way, the wave-shaped structure regulates or closes again at the right point in time and keeps the head vacuum stable at an ideal level in order to hold the cup on the udder. This prevents undesired air ingress or the cups from falling off.
Thanks to the wave-shaped design of its head, the Stimulor StressLess can adapt well to the different teat sizes in a herd, thereby ensuring that the cows are milked consistently.
Subject area 12: Dung, solid manure and slurry technology
Reducing emissions in animal husbandry is one of the central issues of the future. If this is already done by removing the sources of the emissions and therefore also increases animal welfare at the same time, since the animals’ environment is kept clean, a win-win situation is achieved for the animal, the environment and the animal owner in equal measure.
The Active Cleaner cleaning robot from Wasserbauer GmbH is a revolutionary, fully automated system based on AI technology that offers precisely these characteristics. The camera-guided Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology analyses the collected data in real time and detects the manure material (horse droppings) to be removed. Once the device has detected multiple piles of manure, it automatically computes the optimum route, collects the material fully automatically, evaluates the size and quantity, and unloads the manure again in an appropriate location.
The piles of manure and therefore sources of emissions are removed fully automatically from the horse stable area, thus cleaning the environment in which the animals are kept at the same time. This not only improves the air quality in the animals’ area, but also increases the cleanliness of the bedding and therefore the horse, which additionally leads to significant labour time savings for what is rather an unpopular task in horse keeping.
The winners of the Innovation Award in silver are:
VILOFOSS GROUP (Hall 21, stand J08)
Subject area1: Farm inputs and equipment for their use
Vitamin E improves the immune response and fosters the state of health of calves. After weaning, calves often demonstrate excessively low plasma vitamin E concentrations, as a result of which they are more susceptible to infections.
The supplementary feeding stuff CareFoss E-Force serves to optimise the supply of vitamin E and therefore the animals’ vitamin E status. RRR-tocopherol sheathed with lecithin to offer good oxidation protection is used as a source of vitamin E rather than the usual tocopherol acetate, because it is more readily absorbed.
Published scientific studies show that CareFoss E-Force can significantly increase the plasma vitamin E level of calves during and after weaning. The lower plasma amyloid and cortisol values also indicate a reduced stress and inflammation level. The animals’ immune response, state of health and therefore their growth performance improved on the whole.
The CareFoss E-Force product represents a simple, practical concept for calf starter concentrates in order to optimise the advantageous effects of supplementing natural vitamin E. The lecithin protection keeps the vitamin E stable for a longer period of time, as a result of which the product’s shelf life is increased. What is especially innovative is the approach of synergistically combining nutrients and therefore enhancing the effectiveness of the feeds in the sense of feeding the animals and keeping them healthy.
DSM Nutritional Products Europe AG (Hall 22 stand A25)
Subject area1: Farm inputs and equipment for their use
Ruminants are able to break down fibre-rich coarse feeds such as grasses, silage and hay, which are difficult to digest, and transform them into food of animal origin in their forestomachs. The feed is broken down in the rumen by microorganisms, including those that produce the greenhouse gas methane.
The product Bovaer is a preparation consisting of 3-nitrooxypropanol (3NOP), which has been approved as a feed additive in feeds for dairy cows and cows for reproduction in the EU since April 2022. It is to be classified in the category of ‘zootechnical additives’ and the functional group of ‘substances which favourably affect the environment’.
The effect of the newly developed molecule 3NOP in reducing methane formation in the rumen was confirmed during the approval process. Specifically, 3NOP inactivates the methyl-coenzyme M reductase, which catalyses the final step of methanogenesis. In the rumen, the molecule itself is metabolised to form 1,3-propandiol, nitrate and nitrite, and has no disadvantageous effects on the health of the animals, consumer safety or the environment.
The use of Bovaer represents a promising possibility for extensively reducing the methane emissions of dairy cows and therefore making an important contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by agriculture.
Hanskamp AgroTech BV (Hall 13, stand D53)
Subject area 4: Cattle management and feeding technology
Open stables without a thick, composting bedding mat quickly reach the limits of their absorption capacity, with the result that the bedding has to be changed frequently to avoid soiling.
The BeddingCleaner is an innovative concept for removing faeces from open and littered stables that can be used with organic or also inorganic bedding materials such as e.g. sand in open stables.
As an implement pulled by a tractor, the BeddingCleaner cleans the bedding at regular intervals. The bedding material is sieved using a sieve mat, whereby the bedding that is not bound drops back into the stable. Conversely, a small amount of the bedding material adheres to the settled faeces, with the result that it can be easily collected by the mounting and transported into the integrated storage bunker.
Thanks to the speedy removal of faeces, the bedding material remains cleaner and drier, and therefore remains usable for longer. Relevant animal welfare aspects such as open lying and movement are fostered in this stable concept, while the emission of harmful gases and odour is reduced due to the regular removal of the faeces.
Förster Technik GmbH (Hall 13, stand D35)
Subject area 4: Cattle management and feeding technology
Maintaining calf health is of high importance in dairy farming. Infections caused by a lack of hygiene have to be consistently prevented. Mobile calf drinker systems with a larger milk tank have been increasing in popularity for a number of years now, particularly as a result of work management aspects. These have to be laboriously cleaned and disinfected by hand or semi-automatically after use.
The Clean & Fill Station from Förster Technik now enables the mobile milk tank to be connected using just a few manual steps in order to clean it. The cleaning program runs fully automatically and cleans all surfaces as well as the sensitive areas.
Another innovation is the fact that the tank is automatically refilled with water at the required point in time via the set program and is heated to the specified drinker temperature. This means that the farmer then only has to add the required quantity of milk substitute and the calf drinker is ready for use.
The Clean & Fill Station from Förster therefore rules out hygiene deficits almost completely and leads to significant labour time savings.
Cowhouse International B.V. (Hall 12, stand C57)
Subject area 4: Cattle management and feeding technology
Lying is important for cow hoof, joint and udder health and essential for rumination – the animals normally spend over twelve hours a day lying down. Cubicles should enable comfortable and undisturbed lying. At the same time, the various elements have the task of guiding the animals so that smaller animals are unable to turn around and soil the cubicles while large animals are not restricted to such an extent that they no longer use them.
The Dreamstall cubicle bar enables the cows to stand virtually freely in the cubicles and to move more naturally. The special feature of this is that this cubicle design forgoes the classic neck tube and the conventional, classic dividing bars. The neck tube is replaced by the two flexible, spherical bodies that guide the standing cow’s shoulder area. This enables the cow to stand freely in a ‘gap’ and with her head raised even in the cubicle. The conventional dividing bars are replaced by two horizontal, flexible guide frames that guide the standing cow to a central standing position.
When lying down, the cows can therefore use the entire lying area undisturbed. On standing, the cows are guided into the correct standing position by the plastic bodies, which are flexible at the top, rather than by a horizontal neck tube. The Dreamstall therefore fosters the species-typical mode of behaviour of the cows and thus promotes animal welfare and animal health.
MIK INTERNATIONAL GmbH & Co. KG (Hall 17, stand G11)
Subject area 5: Pig management and feeding technology
Heated piglet nests ensure optimum lying comfort for the piglets and improve the animals’ ability to survive, especially during their first few days of life. So far, the temperature of floor heating systems in piglet nests has been monitored and controlled by means of point-by-point measurement using an infrared thermometer or universally using a thermographic camera. Visual temperature monitoring for piglet nest heating systems has previously not been available. It has therefore proved comparatively difficult to quickly detect the failure of individual or multiple heating plates in the past.
MIK INTERNATIONAL GmbH has developed a new, innovative approach for immediately identifying an optimized piglet nest temperature quickly and visually. To achieve this, the visible upper sides of the floor heating system elements are coated with reversible thermochromatic pigments that change colour at pre-specified minimum or maximum temperatures. This new method of easily and visually monitoring the surface temperature of a floor heating system enables the operator to determine very quickly whether a possible fault is present.
In addition to labour management advantages, this innovation also leads to significant improvements in terms of optimized lying behaviour in the microclimate of a piglet nest.
Big Dutchman International GmbH (Hall 17, stand B22)
Subject area 5: Pig management and feeding technology
Due to changed societal and political framework conditions, straw bedding will be a significant element of modified sty and husbandry systems in pig production in the future.
With the OlliGES bedding robot, Big Dutchman GmbH has developed innovative technology that offers an approach to reducing bedding quantities. The intelligent robot independently decides where and how much bedding has to be introduced. At the same time, the OlliGES robot also undertakes completely automated bedding application in the desired locations.
This is based on an evaluation run during the night by the OlliGES bedding robot. Possible influences caused by sunlight are therefore absent or minimised. Infrared lighting is used to produce an image of the sty area with consistent quality. At the end of the evaluation run, the image material is analysed and the bedding decision necessary for the next 24 hours is made.
Compared to the familiar bedding technologies, this innovative approach results in significant advantages in terms of both labour management and the reduction of emissions.
Hölscher + Leuschner GmbH & Co. KG (Hall 15, stand E25)
Subject area 5: Pig management and feeding technology
Particularly when the pork market is under pressure, a precisely determined, optimum slaughter weight is essential to the economic success of pig fattening and therefore to the farm as a whole. With conventional systems, the animals’ weight is subjectively estimated with a high degree of uncertainty prior to sale or is determined by means of manual weighing, which takes up a significant amount of labor time.
The optiMARKER is a marking station with an optical scale for fattening pigs. A new, innovative 3D camera is used to precisely determine the animals’ weight, and the animals are automatically marked with spray paint on reaching certain threshold values. Above all, the system’s mobility is innovative. The optical and marking units are small and portable, and can be inserted into simple brackets in different pens as required. This use in multiple pens also enables the compilation of groups from various pens. The measurements can additionally be stored in a central database during fattening to enable information concerning the fattening performance of individual animals (with an optional RFID antenna) or the group to be provided.
The combination of various existing technologies such as optical weighing and marking systems for pigs with new system elements such as 3D technology rather than the previously used 2D technology and implementation in a mobile system are what make this innovation stand out.
Meier-Brakenberg GmbH & Co. KG (Hall 16, stand A12)
Subject area 5: Pig management and feeding technology
Pulling slurry scrapers or removing slurry plugs is often physically gruelling work that additionally poses the risk of injuries and absences due to the staff lifting weights incorrectly or twisting their back.
In the form of the Lifty, Meier-Brakenberg GmbH & Co. KG has now come up with a technical solution for this work that will be presented at EuroTier 2022. The Lifty consists of a tripod frame with conically arranged legs that are screwed into the technology box located above. The box contains an electric winch that can raise a load up to one metre and which is operated using commercially available rechargeable batteries. The Lifty is positioned above the slurry plug to be removed or the scraper to be pulled or is supported, in the case of wall-mounted slurry stoppers, by its own weight after one leg has been unscrewed.
Besides pushing the button, no further manual force therefore has to be applied to remove a slurry plug or pull a scraper – an absolute boon for managing slurry technology.
SCHAUER Agrotronic GmbH (Hall 17, stand F34)
Subject area 6: Poultry management and feeding technology
Automatic distribution of de-dusted straw for poultry houses
So far, turkey houses have been littered roughly every two days by bringing bales of straw into the poultry house from the outside using a tractor and then distributing them using an implement. This can lead to the introduction of disease-causing pathogens, particularly avian influenza, which is now endemic, and widespread histomoniasis.
The Strohmatic Air ASD is a fully automatic littering system that uniformly distributes de-dusted straw in the poultry house. This system is particularly suitable for turkey houses. It enables targeted littering that also can be automatically controlled flexibly in terms of the time and quantity using a day program.
Since the tractor or the external littering implement are forgone as transport vehicles, one transport route for the introduction of disease-causing pathogens is eliminated. This significantly improves hygiene and reduces the spread of histomoniasis thanks to daily re-littering. De-dusting the chopped straw additionally prevents the lungs from becoming contaminated with Aspergillus spores.
The improvement in production hygiene also leads to a reduced workload, as the stock of straw in the bale shredder only has to be refilled periodically.
WEDA Dammann & Westerkamp GmbH (Hall 21 stand J15)
Subject area 7: Housing and feeding technology for other animal species
The black soldier fly (BSF) is reared in crates, in which feeding them precisely and correctly poses a major challenge. The black soldier fly is provided with a feed substrate consisting of various by-products, such as e.g. varieties of fruit and vegetables, which are crushed and ground to a size of less than 3 mm. The resulting feed mash is highly liquid and is subsequently supplemented with cereal bran to obtain an optimum content of around 30% dry matter.
Due to the feed pressure in the pipes as well as feed delivery, it is technically impossible to feed a dry matter mixture with 30% dry matter in minute quantities. So far, a dry matter mixture with 25% dry matter has therefore been prepared, measured by means of a motor control system and presented. The remaining bran has been manually applied and distributed in the BSF crates.
The Weda Dry.Sec now enables this manual work to be carried out automatically with the support of a computer. Feeding errors, such as e.g. an excessively thin feed soup, in which the larvae drown, or an excessively dry feed mash, due to which the larvae are unable to create air tubes or these collapse and the animals suffocate, are therefore minimised.
The Dry.Sec not only makes the work easier, but also enables targeted and precise management and therefore increases the likelihood of the black soldier flies surviving.
Lock Antriebstechnik GmbH (Hall 12, stand C58)
Subject area 9: Digital solutions for herd management and quality assurance / Smart Farming
Stable climate, lighting, fans – there are numerous technical systems on a farm, and an eye has to be kept on them continuously. As these often involve standalone solutions from various manufacturers, this also often means a separate control system for each device.
The Lock SBE system now brings a wide variety of such modules together for the first time in a cross-sector modular solution with significant potential for expansion. It uses a high number of sensors to monitor the current ambient conditions in buildings. Ventilation systems, lighting, fans and humidification in the stable are available as bricks and can be activated irrespective of the location or platform. The system is able to act autonomously or to output handling recommendations for manual operation.
The Lock SBE system offers the farmer a smart solution with which operational procedures can be optimised and made significantly more efficient. Reduced monitoring effort and automatic documentation relieve the farm manager’s workload and optimum production conditions that are always adapted to the environment improve animal welfare.
Lakto Hayvancilik Teknolojileri San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. (Hall 13 stand E61)
Subject area 10: Milking and cooling technology
It is critical for milk hygiene that all parts which conduct milk are kept consistently and thoroughly clean and disinfected. Naturally, this also applies to milking buckets or mini-milking systems, which are used around the world on micro farms or otherwise for freshly milked or diseased animals. Particularly in these cases, it is vitally important to avoid infections from being passed on via rubber teat cup liners, milk hoses, collectors or milk cans, which is not always successfully achieved by the laborious manual cleaning that is still often undertaken.
Laktowash is a cleaning unit for mobile bucket milking systems that thoroughly and effectively cleans all surfaces with which the milk comes into contact. For cleaning, the mobile milking unit is connected to Laktowash using a simple adapter over the bucket lid. The vacuum pump fitted in the milking unit ensures the required turbulence while Laktowash runs through a pre-specified cleaning and disinfection cycle with corresponding standards, thus ensuring that the milking cluster and milk can are cleaned to a high level. At the end of each washing process, Laktowash collects the remaining fluid in the bucket and conducts it away.
Infections are prevented and udder health is maintained thanks to the intensive cleaning. Use of the system additionally saves labour and time. The system is also sustainable in terms of energy and water consumption due to the pre-specified water cycle.
Albert Kerbl GmbH (Hall 11 Stand C43)
Subject area 13: Transportation, farm and grazing technology
Optimum herd protection with proper protective fences is essential for grazing animals. These have to offer sufficient protection against both tunnelling and jumping over by wild animals such as foxes and wolves, for instance. The nets that are usually used at present often have the problem that, firstly, current cannot run through the bottom strand or the edge of the net. This leads to the risk of short circuits, meaning that the entire net fencing system becomes non-functional and that tunnelling beneath the fence is also possible. Secondly, the nets are often not sufficiently high, with the result that they can be jumped over.
This is precisely where the AKO WolfStop comes into play. Its retaining post can be subsequently and flexibly attached to existing net fences at a defined interval or an appropriate height. It is therefore able to offer protection against tunnelling under the nets or can be used to raise the nets and thus protect against jumping over them. A strand holder, i.e. a holder for an electrical conductor wire or a strand, is fitted at the end of each retaining post. Once attached, the retaining posts including the strand can also simply be raised to enable the net to be rolled up equally as efficiently as before in order to relocate or transport it.
A significant improvement in the function and the handling of protective fences for pasture animals is to be anticipated thanks to the use of the AKO WolfStop.
- Farm inputs and equipment for their use
- Feed storage and mixing equipment
- Equipment, accessories and spare parts
- Cattle management and feeding technology
- Pig management and feeding technology
- Poultry management and feeding technology
- Housing and feeding technology for other animal species
- Climate control and environmental technology
- Digital solutions for herd management and quality assurance / Smart Farming
- Milking and cooling technology
- Animal housing and shed construction
- Dung, solid manure and slurry technology
- Transportation, farm and grazing technology
- Poultry and egg processing and marketing
All companies qualifying as exhibitors at EuroTier 2022 and whose products fall within the categories listed below are eligible to participate in this competition. Joint submissions may also be made. Participation is voluntary and involves no extra costs. The participating company bears sole responsibility for adhering to all relevant statutory provisions and to these DLG award and judging regulations.
To win a gold medal for innovation, a product must represent a new concept in which the function has changed significantly and which facilitates a new process or substantially improves an already familiar method. Decisive in its selection will be its practical significance, its contribution to animal welfare, the impact on operating affordability and efficiency, on the environment and on energy consumption. Its impact on labour saving and health and safety at work will also be considered.
To win a silver medal for Innovation, a product must represent an advance on an existing product such that a significant improvement in functionality and process is achieved. It will be a product that does not fully meet the criteria for the award of an Innovation Gold Medal. Decisive in its selection will be its practical significance in terms of cost, its performance and quality under working conditions and its functional safety. Further factors taken into consideration include animal welfare and impact on the environment and energy consumption.