Developers of a cow toilet receive a gold medal at the EuroTier Innovation Award

One gold and seven silver medals were awarded by the DLG Innovation Commission to the winners of the Innovation Award EuroTier, reports World of NAN.

The Innovation Award EuroTier gold medal, according to energy-decentral.com, was awarded to Hanskamp AgroTech BV's innovative cow toilet project for preventing gas emissions in cattle farming on a technical and technological level.

While for a long time the focus was on the removal of already emitted gases from the air in livestock buildings, today the prevention of these very gases has become the main focus. Livestock experts say that a lot of ammonia is produced in a relatively short time when keeping cattle, mainly due to urine excretion, which amounts to 15 - 20 liters per cow per day. The Hanskamp Cow Toilet from the Netherlands is a revolutionary product that aims to solve this very problem. The system consists of a feeder and a urine collector. After feeding, the animals are stimulated externally to induce a urination reflex and the urine is immediately collected in a special container. In this way it collects the urine directly without touching the animal and without stressing the cows. The DLG (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft), which organized the competition, declared the new device to be unique.

The device also plays an important role when it comes to hygiene. By separating the urine and feces, the ammonia content of the floor is reduced. The floors remain cleaner, which has a positive effect on both hoof health and air quality in the barn. In addition, the urine and feces collected and stored separately can be used in crop production and bio-energy.

The silver medal was awarded to BIORET AGRI Logette Confort, another invention for the separation of natural animal waste.

Bioret from France presented an interesting and significantly improved product that makes it possible to automatically, simply, quickly and separately collect and send to separate storages urine and feces from floor surfaces in cowsheds. For this purpose, a reversible conveyor system has been integrated into the rubber mat system at an inclination angle of 3%, which sends the urine collected in the chute to the liquid waste depository and the feces to the solid waste depository.

A fast and efficient separation of urine and feces is important to keep the floors clean, maintain animal health and improve the microclimate in the barn, as well as to reduce the negative impact of livestock buildings on the climate.

The SELEGGT Circulus egg liquid sampling system from respeggtGmbH was awarded the silver medal. Egg breed genotypes are not suitable for poultry meat production due to quality and cost efficiency reasons, so male chicks of these breeds are still not raised in most cases.The SELEGGT Acus sampling system developed by Respeggt GmbH carries out intrauterine sex diagnostics and takes test fluid from the allantois.

An interesting invention was the Alma Pro hygiene kit, an ultraviolet disinfection system for nipple and boiler water from URBAN GmbH & Co. KG. Hygiene is a basic point in every field of animal breeding, including calf rearing and feeding. The Alma Pro hygiene set from URBAN GmbH uses the proven UV-irradiation technology for calf-feeding to reduce the number of germs. In addition to UV irradiation of the teats, the company also offers irradiation of the boiler water, which ensures hygienically flawless water quality for the mixing of the drinking water in the drinkers. In short intervals between individual calf drinking, the teats and the adjacent contact surfaces are irradiated, resulting in the elimination of a large number of pathogens.

The Brix-TS sensor dry matter sensor of Sensor Holm & Laue GmbH & Co. KG is another new product that was of great interest to the competition committee.

As a rule, automatic calf feeders work with powdered milk or, in small quantities, with whole milk. The varying dry matter content of the different batch sizes of dry milk requires the constant checking and adjustment of the automatic drinker settings to ensure the correct concentration of dry milk in the drinker and the optimal quality of the feed.

The dry matter sensor Brix-TS Sensor is an electronic refractometer built into the pre-mixing cup of the Calf Expert calf drinker. There it continuously measures and monitors the dry matter content of the freshly mixed calf drinker. In case of deviations, the automat corrects the milk concentration in the drinker. When using whole milk it is also possible to ensure a constant dry matter concentration by adding milk powder if required.

Another innovation that won a medal at the EuroTier Innovation Award was the Calf Monitoring System from FuturoFarming GmbH. It is a precise, energy-saving system for the early diagnosis of diseases in calves. Livestock monitoring leads to early recognition and treatment of emerging diseases. In addition, the distribution booms with carrier plastic tubes and the system for transferring the eggs into the incubation trays were also recognized as winners.

Source of photos: Official press release Innovation Award EuroTier/EnergaDecentral 2021 CowToilet from Hanskamp AgroTech BV