EQUIPMENT ▶▶▶


with supplementing different types of beef cattle in the herd (heifers, bulls, lactating females) with the appropriate nutri- ents, which enhances performance and therefore profit. C-Lock’s Ted Cunningham adds, however, that while “we cer- tainly see the greatest interest with beef cattle, primarily be- cause it’s designed to be used remotely on range or pas- ture… without a doubt, the dairy industry is also a great candidate for this technology as well.” The Super SmartFeed has a large feed bin on top that can be subdivided into four compartments, allowing up to four dif- ferent supplements to be loaded. “In a practical scenario, this means that a cow-calf producer could use the machine to supplement the cows with a protein feedstuff, while at the same time providing an exclusive creep-feed supplement to the calves,” DiLorenzo explains. “This is possible because the feeder reads the RFID tag of each animal and selects the ex- act amount from each of the four bins to provide the right blend.” The SmartFeed Pro is equipped with a patented gate system, where up to 2000 pounds (907 kilogrammes) of force is applied to remove the animal’s head from the bunk if need


be, once the desired intake level is reached. The machine is powered by a solar panel and two batteries. All data, such as the amount of feed left in the bin, solar panel voltage and in- dividual cow feed intake, are reported in real-time to the producer’s smartphone. “The cows definitely need to learn it, and we are designing studies now to see how long it takes them and if this year’s cows will remember using it in a year,” says DiLorenzo. “There are also dominant animals that keep others away and we want to put a camera in place to observe this. There have been a few cows in each of our groups that didn’t ever ap- proach the feeder. I’m not sure if there is a way to get those types of calves to use it.” DiLorenzo believes the use of automated feeding systems will continue to grow for cattle due to the challenges in hiring qualified labour in rural areas. “Also, labour costs will continue to go up and the cost of automation always go down,” he says. “The power requirements of automated systems are also coming down, so if the unit can’t run on solar and needs to be recharged, there will be less power consumption.”


For the benefit of their animals, farmers are very interested in en- vironmentally friendly equip- ment and sys- tems with no emissions and no noise.


▶DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 7, No. 4, 2020 13


PHOTO: TRIOLIET


PHOTO: HENK RISWICK


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