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Original farming ideas from the big Danish show

Where ever they are held, Agri shows have a reassuring predictability to them. It's a bit like episodes of Top Gear. You know that Clarkson will whoop "Holy Cow" as the burning rubber swirls round the 200mph car he's trying to control. You know the jeans he's wearing, because you've seen them in all the previous episodes, and you'll recognise Hammond as the little guy who pushes his jacket back to get his hands in his pockets, while James May does it the other way.
Being predictable, recognisable, that is, always the same, is an art. You stick with a formula and just tweak it at the edges.
Agri shows are the same. You expect slurry tankers the size of bulk carrier, combines with cutter bars bent to account for the curvature of the earth, and tractors that take 10 minutes of climbing before you're inside - when are they going to a hydraulic lift like the one we feature on pages 22 and 23 in the current issue of Farm Ideas? You walk round the show with your mouth open and find nothing particularly suitable for a farm of your size. The demo shows like Cereals might have more of relevance on display, but the gawp is still the principle reaction.

AgroMek at Herning, Denmark

The 12 halls, 1,000 exhibitors and 40,000 farmer visitors make AgroMek a major event in the European Farm show calendar. It underlines the value of static shows, where the visitor can get from stand to stand quickly, and can learn far more in the course of the day than plodding round a demo show.   AgroMek 2010 from 30 Nov to 3 Dec was a first time for me and Farm Ideas. The purpose was to develop contacts in Denmark, which has many English speakers in the hope of getting contributions of Made it Myself ideas, and at the same time meeting people from other countries as well. This was helped by the AgroMatch facilities at the show, which provided a kind of speed dating facility that brought people from across Northern Europe together for 30min meetings.
So the slurry tankers, cultivation and increasingly the livestock equipment had the predictable effect. Few items would fit in the camera viewfinder. Many caused a crick in the neck.
The task is to find farm innovations which could be of real use to readers, and I am delighted with the results from this research, which took in all four days, walking and working each day to the full. It's a lot of time and a lot of miles, but the only way to cover the event the way I know readers want. So we re-focus the camera on gizmos that are perhaps tucked away in a far flung place, or squashed between two competing stands.

Gleanings from a successful show

    •    Sprayer with rear linkage
    •    Silage press gets more into the clamp with better quality
    •    Biogas and recyclable energy
    •    Mobile phone field work recording ideal for contractors and larger farms
    •    Individual computer controlled pig, cattle, horse feeding
    •    University makes silage quality sensors
    •    Less complicated cattle crushes
    •    GPS steering system bolts on hoe for precision control
    •    Drain pipe converter
    •    Cow foot washer

Sprayer with rear linkage

The trailed sprayer looked peculiar with the axle behind the 5,500 litre tank - which could be 7,000l. It was made that was for a man who wanted to use his sprayer to plant maize, and asked for linkage to be fitted on the axle to carry either the sprayer mast and 24m booms or an 8 row maize planter which is linked to liquid fertiliser that is pumped from the tank.
Maize planting has critical timing, both in Denmark and the UK, and this combination seed and fertiliser machine cuts the field passes. Using the sprayer tank means the machine has an extended season, reducing the capital cost.
In sprayer mode, the machine has new features as well. It has a three valve control which allows the user to reduce volume before the spray nozzle, so reduced rates can be applied in heavy droplets. It also uses an induction system, so the tank is always full of clean water - mixing occurs on the pressure side of the pump as the fluid is going to the nozzle.

Silage press gets more into the clamp with better quality

You can increase the capacity of the silage clamp by compressing the grass harder when the crop is coming in. The effect is considerable..  20% is the kind of gain which can be achieved.  We featured a machine built in the USA by a contractor and now being made for sale, and at AgroMek saw something much the same - but the Czech maker didn't know about the American one!  Both are effectively heavy disc type rollers - but the Czech is made using recycled parts, which cuts the cost significantly.

Biogas and recyclable energy

Denmark has provided many incentives for farmers to get involved in creating energy. AgroMek featured some interesting biogas systems, and Farm Ideas editor Mike Donovan is reporting these, and other developments to a Parliamentary Committee which is concerned to provide direction and intrastructure for a biogas industry in the UK.
There were also boilers for farm and community heating. It was interesting to see automatic boilers that burn wood chips, pellets and also grain, which has a high thermal value. Burning waste material such as grain tailings is a win-win situation, especially those which are not so suitable for animal feed.
It puts a value on material such as combine tailings which have traditionally had a negative value.
The next issue of Farm Ideas will feature a report on an innovative harvesting system which involves a two stage process - a cutter-collector which looks very similar to a regular combine but which collects all grain and chaff and tailings in a large tank - the straw goes out the back as normal. The second stage uses an in-barn electric powered cleaner that separates out grain from chaff, creating a pile of material which makes excellent animal feed - or material for a furnace. The machine works quickly in the field and the machine in the barn creates an excellent sample.

Mobile phone field work recording ideal for contractors and larger farms

Keeping accurate records of work done in specific fields needs a level of organisation which some contractors and farmers find difficult to maintain. The essential recording work is postponed in the pressure of getting the work done, and then it becomes a feat of memory.
We describe a smart phone system which uses an app that makes the recording as simple as logging in to the account on the phone, which at present is limited to the Android system from Google. This includes a gps function, so, once the mapping data has been loaded - which is gone by transferring information from the computer - the phone knows the field you are in, and ll you have to do is tell it what work you are doing. So you choose your vehicle, the implement, and also input fertiliser, spray or muck details. When the field is finished you tell the phone you're done, and how much material you have used, and it records the time, acreage, and computes a cost. It can create an invoice, add the work details to farm records, which are integrated with the EU field submissions.
The system takes records from multiple phones, and provides a real time overview of all those connected, with their locations, time on the job and more.

Individual computer controlled pig, cattle, horse feeding

Cattle, pigs, horses and other animals are best fed individually.  You give them the quantity they need. The difficulty is that this can only occur in a tied-up cowshed, loose boxes or manual system. As soon as they are fed in a group the more aggressive members get more than their fair share, and the smaller, more timid ones get less.
We found a controlled system which allows the farmer to control the quantity of concentrate food for each individual. As the animal puts its head in the feeder, the electronic tag is read, and the feeder releases 10 grams, or a mouthful or two, of food - nothing like the full quantity needed. As long as the head stays there, the machine will release additional pulses of nuts, but only enough to be immediately eaten. If the feeding animal is pushed out, the aggressor finds there's nothing in the trough. Apparently, they soon don't bother.  The feeds can be spread out over the day.
The control is done on-line, and the machine receives the ration information from a base station. The machine records the food that's been eaten by each animal, and individuals can be grouped, and moved from one feed group to another, using the computer in the office.

University makes silage quality sensors

Plastic balls that look like ballcocks and which are placed in feeding troughs or silage clamps, can read temperature and acidity and transmit the information to a central recorder. Made by a University department,  the idea uses the latest technology, and have enjoyed considerable publicity in Denmark. Great pictures, and the technology seems a winner.  But we are left wondering what the purpose is. You've got what you've got in a silage clamp, and the normal spear sampling seems to work pretty well and is cost effective. It also provides a vast amount more information.
Is it a gizmo looking for a problem to solve?

Less complicated cattle crushes

It's impossible not to notice just how high tech the modern cattle crush has become. And expensive as well. AgroMek threw up a very different crush, one with wheels which you push around a cow whose head is locked in a feeding yoke. So instead of moving cows into a handling yard in order to do feet or AI, you secure the animals you need in the yokes and move the crush to each in turn.

GPS steering system bolts on hoe for precision control

Here's a hoe which keeps itself in a straight line even when the tractor moves to right or left. The GPS unit is mounted on the implement, and controls a steering ram that's attached to a steering disc in the soil behind. So the GPS activates the ram which turns the disc that moves the hoe to one side or another. The machine can be fitted to planters and other machines, and has the benefit of direct linkage - there's no wobble as you'll find on a tractor with front steering wheels being controlled by the navigation system.
Couple it with a GPS on the tractor, and the unit irons out any imperfections, providing accurate mechanical hoeing and other operations.

Drain pipe converter

Here's a neat gizmo which we have never seen before, one that makes a load of sense. It solves the problem when joining drain pipes of different diameters. You might have a perfectly good run of a 5in clay pipe, which has disintegrated as it goes into the yard - and the easiest repair is a 160mm PVC. They call them 'muffs' and they're made to shrink on the existing pipes using heat - if you put them on the outside of the old pipe. But they also expand as well, so you can shove the muff into the old pipe, heat it up by putting the blow torch down the pipe, and the muff expands to grip the inside of the old pipe.
They make a huge number of sizes, T pieces, bushings and so on, and also provide heat pistols, mandels and the special glue solution which makes the joints totally sealed. A great way out of a common problem.

Irrigator reel uses MF135 back axle and ganging gear on this irrigator gearbox

Changing gear on this reeler means going from slow to very slow, but the manufacturer uses second hand tractors as the base for all his machines. He finds there are plenty around, relative to the number of irrigators he's making, and they allow for big savings in manufacturing costs and sales prices. The irrigator is driven by a turbine.

Cow foot washer

Feet problems are a major expense on many dairy farms, and the problem is difficult to tackle. Many farmers are using foot baths, but with varying success. Walking through them applies some chemical to the feet. Despite it's name, the bath doesn't actually wash off the dirt, just provides a dip for the foot.
We found a mechanical washer that's based on an electric powered road sweeper brush. Water is jetted onto the foot while the brush works away at the sole and the crack, and the claim is that the cleaner feet will be less prone to trouble.

These ideas which will be included in future issues of Practical Farm Ideas

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