Animal Welfare Award 2022
First awarded in 2018 by the DLG in collaboration with the Federal Association of Practicing Veterinarians (bpt), the Animal Welfare Award is a special prize for innovations that particularly promote animal welfare. Only winners of a gold or silver medal of the Innovation Award EuroTier 2021 will be considered. Crucial for the selection are innovations in the fields of animal welfare and animal health. Products that promote the exercise of species-specific behaviors and positively support animal health are thus highlighted.
Subject area 5: Pig management and feeding technology
Coughs, colds, hoarseness – classic respiratory tract diseases can also occur in pigs. The result is reduced well-being and increased susceptibility to diseases as well as poorer feed conversion and reduced daily weight gains, which can lead to underweight pigs and inconsistent groups and can also ultimately jeopardise profitability.
SoundTalks is a system that continuously analyses the respiratory health status of pigs during rearing and fattening.
The monitors installed in the sty, each of which is equipped with six microphones, register all noises in the sty and are able to distinguish coughing noises from other noises with the aid of an algorithm. Since the system records 24 hours a day, it is also able to register the intensity of coughing during the resting phase, unlike the farmer, and can therefore detect coughing up to five days earlier.
SoundTalks indicates the problem to the animal owner via a traffic light system directly in the sty or by means of an app on the smartphone. This enables ventilation problems to be corrected early on and allows the primary cause of a respiratory tract infection to be diagnosed thanks to quick diagnostics.
Treatment for the symptoms of individual animals (vitamins, mucolytic agents, etc.) often enables antibiotics to be forgone or treatment to be carried out early on and specifically according to an antibiogram.
Subject area 10: Milking and cooling technology
Technical solutions in the shed are always a compromise that should cover all individual animal characteristics wherever possible. This is also true of different teat sizes. The problem in this case is that the teat cup liners often seal too tight on large teats and stress the tissue, whereas air enters and the milking cluster drops off with small teats.
The completely different, wave-shaped design of the Stimulor StressLess is what makes this teat cup liner stand out clearly from conventional solutions. The integrated, adaptive lip enables teats of different sizes to be milked using the same teat cup liner. The new, wave-shaped design of the lip responds to the difference in pressure in the teat cup liner and allows outside air to flow in to equalise it if necessary. This prevents an excessively high head vacuum, delays teat cup ascent and reduces tissue stress. In the same way, the wave-shaped structure regulates or closes again at the right point in time and keeps the head vacuum stable at an ideal level in order to hold the cup on the udder. This prevents undesired air ingress or the cups from falling off.
Thanks to the wave-shaped design of its head, the Stimulor StressLess can adapt well to the different teat sizes in a herd, thereby ensuring that the cows are milked consistently.
The Dreamstall cubicle concept enables the cows to exercise their natural behaviour when lying down, lying and getting up in the cubicles without being restricted by a neck tube and the conventionally used dividing bars. The design, which is equally as simple as it is innovative, allows the cows to use the entire lying area undisturbed and guides them into the appropriate position when lying down and getting up. The Dreamstall is an innovation that fosters the exercise of the cows’ species-typical modes of behaviour and therefore contributes significantly to an increased standard of animal welfare.