Perfect Farming Innovations

Babyfeed is the professional suckling piglet feeding system for the supplementary feed supply of nursery piglets in the farrowing pen, supporting high-performance piglet breeding operations. The high-end Qanto feeding computer enables the fully automatic preparation and distribution of milk replacer and premix products. In order to be able to distribute the feed even more efficiently when using milk replacers in the first few days of life, Schauer developed a new pneumatic residue-free dosing and cleaning system, based on proven systems for fattening pigs. This saves feed costs. The well-established pneumatic trough emptying and cleaning system complements the Babyfeed suckling piglet feeding system for professional use to minimise the workload and boost the health and growth of newborn piglets. 

Pig breeding farm Reiter in Meitingen: Very successful for years with Babyfeed suckling piglet feeding to increase the litter weights - Watch Video

The order of the day is - and has been in Germany since September 2021 - to offer pigs organic activity material and to litter the lying areas in pig farms and cattle stalls. More precisely, every pig must always have access to organic and high-fibre enrichment material in sufficient quantities and in a manner that does not pose a health risk. A high level of animal welfare is more than desirable in our stables and is increasingly required by law. As a rule, this can only be achieved with an increased workload. For larger farms, the Strohmatic littering system (diameter 200 mm) and the Spotmix Welfare have already been used successfully to automatically chop, dedust and distribute straw. The result is encouraging: 80% reduction in dust particle sizes - proven by the HBLFA Raumberg Gumpenstein. Now you can also litter from roughage, residual flows (bread leftovers, chips, popcorn,…) and more. It’s worth enquiring!

With the new development Strohmatic light, mulched straw from the field is loosened up from large bales and distributed to the required discharge points in the barn via a chain conveyor system with a diameter of 80 mm or 127 mm. Strohmatic light offers a patent-pending solution for the almost complete dedusting of the straw. Up to 7 distribution circuits can be simultaneously supplied with chopped or cut straw with a fibre length of up to 80 mm. Different models of storage drop-boxes in the barn are filled before they are emptied either manually or automatically. Depending on the number of litter intervals, the straw can serve as employment material or as bedding for the lying area.

The dissolving and storage container for mulched or short-cut straw has a particularly flat bottom. The resulting low construction height makes it easy to fill the straw bales with a tractor or telescopic loader. Distribution is automatic and time-controlled, saving the farmer one to two hours of working time per day, depending on the size of the system. The system can be monitored and operated online.

In addition, the system components can also be used to transport and distribute different dry residues or food waste from industry or trade into the stable. This makes a lot of sense economically and ecologically. 

The Holzinger Pig Farm in Prambachkirchen Austria shows how Strohmatic light works in practice.

Routine tail-docking in pigs is forbidden in the EU. The exceptions are treated in an increasingly restrictive and complex manner. With new barn concepts, which offer a functional division into bedding areas (with straw), feed and manure areas and thus also much more space for the animals, the “curly tail”-production of finisher pigs is much more feasible. If the animals can eat simultaneously and ad libitum, it works even better and all for a low price! But is that possible?

Schauer Agrotronic has developed a new, low-priced trough-wall feeder, the LongTail Feeder. This means that all animals - at least in the pre-fattening phase - can each be offered a feeding place and at the same time the feed supply ad libitum in the LongTail Feeder. Each feeder is mounted and filled directly on the opposite side of the trough wall. The desired dosing quantity in the long feeding trough can be set easily and reliably. The trough wall feeder is significantly cheaper than providing the same number of feeding places with conventional dry feeders. The patent-pending design of the dosing device prevents the trough from overfilling and thus feed losses. The pigs are actively engaged in feeding for a long time and are less preoccupied with the tails of the other pigs.

For decades, the Compident MLP fattening performance testing station has achieved a market-leading position in Europe due to the highest precision of recording individual feed consumption. With its comprehensive product range, the unit offers flexible solutions for every need for genetic testing, from piglets from 8 kg to finisher pigs. The fattening performance results can be recorded with or without regular recording of individual animal weights. NEW is the additional option to also integrate individual animal identification units on the drinker in order to monitor and record the water consumption of the animals in real time. Variations in the water intake of individual animals provide immediate information about health status of pigs and are therefore considered an early indicator long before any symptoms of diseases are visible to humans. Thus, when calculating the actual genetic potential, any external and selective disruptive factors can be eliminated. This option can be combined with all product variants of the Compident MLP pig performance testing units.

In future, all new Qanto feeding and management computers will have interfaces for data backup in the Schauer Cloud with remote access function for the user or customer service as standard. The basic service package offers an automatic data backup plan, allowing you to be able to restore lost data quickly and easily if necessary. With this free option, the user also has the opportunity to get a multi-site overview of all his connected Schauer computers. The inexpensive standard service package additionally includes alarm notifications via email and remote access, as well as free software updates. The premium service package, for a moderate fee, also offers an external interface (API) for data exchange with third-party management programs and includes telephone and online support services for 30 minutes per month. Alarm notifications can also be sent as an SMS or phone call as part of the premium package.

The large-scale Austrian research, project SaLuT, which was carried out at a NatureLine animal welfare pig fattening barn in Styria brought a sensational interim result after the completion of the first series of tests since spring 2021. The partial results of the SaLuT project already confirm a reduction in dust, ammonia and odour emissions by 80 to 95%. Further developments in urine stabilisation will improve the result even further and thus will completely eliminate the need for an air washer!

The reduction in dust is up to 80%, in ammonia is more than 80% and in odour up to 95% compared to a conventional barn with a manure channel under the slatted floor. Therefore, according to the specifications of the German TA-Luft regulation, an air washer would no longer be required!

This unbelievable result can be explained by a clever combination of all previously known and available operations and technologies. These would be

• Multi-phase feeding with Schauer Spotmix, active air supply in the lying area with the option of cooling 
• The division into 3 functional areas > the emitting areas are reduced to just 20% of the slatted floor
• Littering of dust-free straw with the Spotmix Welfare system. In addition, dust is bound on the floor by spraying rapeseed oil,
• Manure removal by scrapper and permanent and immediate faeces urine separation.

The fully covered and insulated outside area protects against the effects of any weather and, above all, against overheating, which is good for animal welfare and reduces emissions at the same time.

The official publication of the final results is expected in 2023. With these sensational results for the strong reduction in emissions of odour, ammonia and dust, the use of air washers, which is mandatory in many places, could be dispensed with.

Our customers are already enthusiastic about the semi-automatic straw straw bedding system: the bale loosener automatically breaks up round or square bales and the loose straw is quickly chopped up. Before being transported to the pneumatic "Air" distribution system, the chopped straw is automatically dedusted extremely effectively (80% dust reduction!). This also reduces dust emissions at the same time. Previously, the chopped straw was then distributed in the barn by hand through a flexible hose.

The new, automatic and rotating straw spreader Strohmatic Air ASD - Automatic Straw Distribution (patent pending) - is an intelligent and particularly economical new development in which the entire straw spreading process runs fully automatically. The maximum distribution radius is 8 m per distributor. The maximum conveying capacity up to 700 kg/hour. The Strohmatic Air ASD is controlled by a new, improved control unit that is accessible online and distributes the desired amounts of straw at defined times. This eliminates the manual distribution process. Duck, turkey or other straw stables (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats...) can be littered automatically with small quantities of dedusted and chopped straw on a daily basis (sometimes several times per day). Strohmatic Air ASD reduces the amount of straw required and produces less dust.

This clean and safe method is also an enormous help in the cattle sector, for deep-straw bedded stalls, as well as for pigs in large pens with straw bedding. Strohmatic Air ASD with automatic straw distribution significantly promotes animal welfare, reduces any hazards from entering the pens in the animal area and reduces the use of energy and workload to a minimum.

Time is money, free time is gold. This applies to all dairy and cattle farms, large or small. The new Feedo feed belt has been developed to realize all-day feeding at low cost and with minimum labour input. This new and inexpensive mechanization for cattle feeding provides significant time savings for the farmer.

The narrow feed alley allows to create more space for the animals during barn re-modelling. The Feedo feed belt can be filled either with an indoor crane, a stationary mixer or with a loading wagon or mobile feed mixer. The feeding belt is available in custom sizes from 60 to 210 cm, tailored to your farm. Depending on the model, up to 4 tonnes of feed can be placed onto a maximum belt length of 100 meters. The precise frequency control allows gentle start-ups and a step-less adjustment of the feeding speed. Treat yourself to more quality of life for less money.

The ENRO manure removal robot from Schauer for the automatic removal of concrete slatted floors has proven itself thanks to its advanced sensor technology, convenient reliable operation and, above all, its low height. Now there is a further innovation: the ENRO plus for pushing off solid surfaces for small and medium-sized dairy cow stalls at an incomparably low price.

The ENRO plus collects liquid manure while moving around and pushes it into the discharge channel. To effectively clean an entire barn, including cross aisles, the route is planned in such a way that the ENRO plus can empty itself repeatedly. This technical solution is significantly cheaper and more compact than that of other comparable vacuum or collection robots on the market. In addition, construction costs can be saved due to simpler concrete work. Interested?

Concept study: market availability 2024

The ENRO manure removal robot from Schauer for the automatic removal of concrete slatted floors has proven itself thanks to its advanced sensor technology, convenient operation and, above all, its low height. The recently introduced further development, ENRO plus, for scraping solid surfaces for small and medium-sized dairy cattle stalls, will be supplemented with its "big brother”: the ENRO Collect VC (vacuum cleaner) for larger, solid surfaces in cattle stalls. It impresses above all with its compact, low height of only 50 cm and can therefore be used very flexibly in all stable areas.

The ENRO Collect VC collects the manure while moving and empties the 350 litre storage tank into the discharge channel. In addition, the ENRO Collect is equipped with a 50 litre water tank to moisten the surfaces before and after the cleaning process. Optionally, the ENRO Collect VC can spray the floor with additives that inhibit urease in the stable and thus reduce ammonia emissions. This improves hoof health while reducing harmful emissions to the environment. And finally, ENRO Collect VC vacuum robots can also save construction costs through much simpler concrete work.