In the Winning Way at Stoneleigh!
n 15th-16th May 2018, JF McKenna attended the British Pig & Poultry Fair at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. We were inundated with visitors to our newly designed stand who came to see how JFM could help them with both new and old projects.
Our partners from Fancom and Chore-Time were on hand to give expert advice about our products, especially those we had on our stand including the Chore-Time Konavi Feeder and the Fancom Fantura.
The most popular attraction on our stand was the Fancom eYeGrow which went on to win the award for new product innovation, after being one of 10 shortlisted from 70 entries to the innovation trail.
The Fancom eYeGrow, created by Shropshire producer Harry Heath and his brother-in-law Ben Nimmo, a software designer, continually monitors the pigs in a pen, feeding information back to a computer to accurately calculate weight. The data is constantly available to the producer via a phone, tablet or computer.
The judges, NPA chairman Richard Lister, AHDB’s Nigel Penlington and Pig World editor Alistair Driver, identified the product as a clear winner.
The eYeGrow is suspended a few feet above the pigs inside the pen, taking up to 20,000 3D images a day as pigs pass beneath it. Using these images, it generates weight data with a 3% error margin.
"It is very important to monitor the weight of pigs, but manual weighing presents all sorts of practical difficulties," Harry said, explaining the motivation for developing the system. “Unlike manual weighing, the 3D scanner is completely stress-free for the animals and requires no additional labour input,” he said.
The data is readily available to farmers in ‘real time’ and allows them to monitor progress of pigs, for example growth rates and feed conversion ratios, and respond quickly to any problems that arise, as shown in the data. The system also enables producers to rapidly gauge the effectiveness of any changes made to in management of the pigs.
The eYeGrow took four years to develop with the first system installed on Harry’s farm. The product was recently launched in the UK and has been installed on a handful of farms.
“We need to know about weight continually throughout the process as historic data is no good,” said Harry
He said he was delighted the product had received this recognition. “It’s nice to have something that can change the industry,” he added. “I’m really passionate about that.”
The judges were looking for a new and original product that has the potential to deliver long-term benefits to the industry from an excellent and varied shortlist.
Mr Lister said: “This was a clear and deserved winner – a product designed by a farmer for farmers to address a difficult problem, the need to constantly monitor the weight of physical pigs. The 3D scanner provided is able to collect the necessary with no stress to the pigs or extra effort for staff, but we were also impressed with how the data was made available to the producer.
“This is a very exciting product that could deliver real long-term benefit to the pig industry.”
It was also a great opportunity to catch up with other contributors to both the pig and poultry industry, with some excellent stands on display.
All in all it was an extremely positive and successful show for JFM and we look forward to the next one in 2020! Thank you to everyone who came to visit us and made it such a success!
