In the last few decades, managing a dairy or beef cattle farm went through a lot of changes. Today’s legislation forces farmers to deal with new issues like emission of methane and nitrogen, phosphate duties, forced grazing and more. Combine this with the stricter rules regarding cow health and milk quality and the increasing demand for biological products, farming becomes quite a challenge. The expected international population growth of another 2 billion people in the year 2050 and the Paris climate agreement will challenge the industry even more in the years to come.
Accurate data collection for unlimited research. We can control and register everything around feed intake, water intake, animal weight and feeding behaviour. We provide the data, what you research is up to you. Our system allows you to feed unlimited or limited by time or amount.
High precision measurement tool. There are many methods of calculating the average intake of cows, but our system provides the specific individual numbers. We measure everything with high precision and reliability, that is our specialism.
‘The system showed a high specificity (100%) and sensitivity (100% and 99.76% for the feed and water bins, respectively). This electronic system is a useful tool for monitoring intakes and feeding and drinking behavior of loose-housed cows’. University of British Columbia, Canada, Journal of Dairy science, 90.12: 5732-5736.
Years of global experience. Since its development in 1992, our RIC system can be found all over the world. Hokofarm Group is a specialist in roughage intake control and all research and development is performed in-house. Our development engineers have direct experience with dairy and cattle farming and provide practical solutions in line with the needs of the market. Whatever data collection you have in mind, we can guide you in optimal placement of the RIC system and ensure the system is installed correctly.
Easy to use. The system is easy to use for both farmers and researchers as well as the cows themselves. The system checks itself and reports deviations to you daily. The management software that controls the troughs and the information from the troughs is available to you everywhere on both mobile devices and your computer.
Practical maintenance solutions. Filling the RIC throughs can be done by either a mixer wagon, a feed cart on a rail or by hand to ensure you can feed the cows at regular times. The feed residue can be easily removed by either manual or automatic tilting of the troughs. Just one press on the button and all left over feed slides out of the troughs.
Natural feeding behaviour. The feeding gate is a solid yet open construction and creates no obstruction during feed intake. The trough lets in natural light, so the cow can still view its surroundings while in the feeding position. This ensures that the cows can behave in a natural way without additional stress. The system is suitable for all cows, from growing beef cattle to dairy cows and either with or without horns.
Flexible and modular. Regardless of your barn situation - existing or brand new, dairy or cattle - we can provide a suitable system with compact installation dimensions that fits in your barn. Measuring just roughage intake or adding options for measuring water intake, animal weight and more. Our concept is characterised by choosing what suits your herd management. In our software you can select the modules you wish to see on your home screen and which notifications you receive. Additionally, access to certain settings and information in the software can be regulated for each individual.
Low cost of ownership. The troughs are created to be solid and robust to ensure they have a long durability. The materials and techniques used are suited to its environment, reliable and simple. Once installed, the system can function for years to come and requires no daily maintenance. Parts can be replaced individually as needed and if a single trough does malfunction, the rest of the system keeps performing as usual.
“The user experience of CRV with two commercial dairy farms shows that the RIC system is a robust and reliable system to measure feed intake for (dairy) cattle. In addition, the provided service is excellent.”
Pieter van Goor, Breeding specialist CRV
"The RIC system will represent a relevant improvement of our experimental facilities as measurement of individual feed intake is fundamental for any research on animal production efficiency and sustainability."
Prof. Erminio Trevisi, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
“The system (beef unit) was installed about 20 years ago and it still operates without any fundamental problems. In our opinion, robustness of the system is quite important."
Ludek Barton, researcher at VUZV (Institute of Animal Science in Prague)
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