EuroTier 2024: Latest Innovations
Pig Development Department staff recently attended EuroTier, the world's leading trade fair for animal farming and livestock management Eurotier which took place from 12th to 15th November in Hannover Germany.
As always there was plenty to see in the latest innovations for equipment, services, feed and farm management.
One of the most obvious observations was the number of companies showing their prototypes for loose farrowing housing options and these sections of the trade stands were busy throughout the week. There were various different options on display, with some of the commonalities being: floor area 6.0 – 6.5m2 floor area per pen including the piglet lying area; some floors were fully slatted/drained while others had a combination of solid and slatted/drained; the percentage and type of solid/slatted floors varied according to the type of system.
Labour is a big issue on farms throughout the EU and with this in mind, many of the trade stands had equipment on display that would reduce the labour input required on farm. A number of companies have developed digital weighing systems for groups of pigs in their pens; some of these relied on in-pen scales that pigs walk over while others used scanning technology to estimate the weight of pigs. Another development which will reduce labour input is robotic pressure washers and there were plenty of these on display. While robotic washers reportedly clean farrowing and weaner pens with 80-85% efficacy, thereby requiring supplemental manual cleaning afterwards, they will reduce the labour input required.
The next Teagasc Pig Newsletter will go into more detail on these and some of the other innovations seen at the show.