“Automated cattle feeding – From silo to rumen”. What degree of automation is expedient? DLG together with exhibitors organized a special at EuroTier 2014 in Hanover.
From silo to rumen
The use of automatic feeding systems is advancing in dairy cattle, young stock and beef bull husbandry. But what degree of automation is expedient? Answers to this question were provided by a Special “Automated cattle feeding – From silo to rumen”, which was organized by DLG (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft – German Agricultural Society) together with exhibitors at EuroTier, held in Hanover from 11 to 14 November 2014. The different technical solutions were presented in a practical environment there, with live demonstrations. This gave visitors the opportunity to inspect the modes of operation of the systems in detail.
More information
The focus was on different solutions for feeding grass and maize silage, as well as hay/straw and mineral feed or feed concentrate. Both the mixing operation and delivery of the mixture to the feeding table could be followed. Alongside the technical demonstrations, information islands were set up on the topics of “animal welfare”, “environment”, “costs” and “feeding management”, staffed by experts from the sectors of consultancy, science and research, and industry. In addition, substantial attention was devoted to “Automated cattle feeding” at the “Cattle Forum”, where lectures and discussions were offered daily between 14:00 h and 16:00 with simultaneous German/English interpreting.
Further information on the EuroTier Special “Automated cattle feeding – From silo to ru-men” is available from DLG. Contact: Dieter Mirbach, e-mail: d.mirbach@dlg.org.
