Category: Exhibitor News 2019

Milking parlours and dairy management systems, designed to make life easier for farmers and their cows, will be part of the product offering from Waikato Milking Systems at this year’s National Ploughing Championships.

The company’s European sales manager Gillian Fullerton-Smith said she is looking forward to showing farmers how the Waikato brand can help them grow the value of their dairy.

She said being part of the 88th Ploughing Championships is a great opportunity to catch up with some familiar faces in the dairy industry as well as speak to new customers over the three-day event, from September 17-19 at County Carlow in Ireland.

Gillian will also be a key note speaker at the NZTE/Enterprise Ireland discussion on improving farm productivity, at the show event on September 19.

 Along with milking parlours and dairy management systems, Waikato Milking Systems will also showcase its full range of milking automation products including cutting-edge udder health detection technology.

The company will also demonstrate how its Electronic Milk Meters and accurate feed to yield technology can help lift dairy farm production.

Collectively, the products offer a simple and robust system to meet all farmers’ requirements, Gillian says.

With the abolition of European milk quota regulations, farmers in Ireland have been exploring the possibility of herd and milking system expansion.

Gillian says more Irish farmers are turning to rotary platforms to manage large herds.

Waikato Milking Systems rotary parlours are world-renowned for enabling one person to manage the milking requirements of large herds.

The company’s Centrus Composite Rotary Platform and its Orbit Concrete Rotary Platforms are versatile milking options which can be tailored to any size.

In the past few years customers in Ireland have installed 40-bail rotary platforms, up to 70-bail, for example.

Gillian says adding the company’s NaviGate Dairy Management System and its Milking Automation products to a milking parlour can really help a farmer improve throughput and productivity.

NaviGate acts as an extra pair of hands in the parlour. It can monitor the milking performance of each cow, its weight, heat cycle and health. It will also automatically sort the cows when they exit the parlour.

The data helps farmers make decisions to improve the overall productivity and profitability of the herd and farm.

Waikato Milking Systems, Milking Automation options help control, monitor and customise a dairy’s operation.

Management and automation technology can be fitted to rotary or in-line milking parlours, at a level defined by the farmer.

Gillian said the plug ‘n’ play feature of both platform types allows further technology upgrades later on or when the budget allows.

In-line parlours remain an efficient and economical solution for smaller commercial herds in Ireland.

They require a smaller building footprint than a rotary platform and still a favoured system for many family operations.

Waikato Milking Systems offers three in-line systems, including the Supa4 Mid-Line System, Loopline Mid-Line System and the Low-Line System.

“It’s about helping farmers find the total solution, helping them grow the value of dairy, using local people with local dealers in the Ireland,” Gillian says.

To view examples of our milking parlours, visit the Waikato Milking Systems Facebook page or YouTube channel.

Waikato Milking Systems will be at the National Ploughing Championships, Ballintrane, Fenagh, County Carlow, from September 17-19, site Block No.2, Row No.1, Stand No.2.

Blood pressure & pulse checks, lifestyle advice and heart health information at Row 31, Stand 653

Dublin, 09 September 2019: The Irish Heart Foundation is calling on farmers and attendees at this year’s National Ploughing Championships in Fenagh, Co. Carlow to visit its stand at Row 31, Stand 653 from September 17th – 19th to receive a free heart health check.

Attendees will receive a free blood pressure check, pulse check, lifestyle advice and heart health information during their visit while experiencing the work the Irish Heart Foundation does in communities across Ireland in the fight against heart disease and stroke. Through a virtual reality tool, ‘A Journey into your Heart’, attendees can view a heart that is experiencing atrial fibrillation in 3D. The Irish Heart Foundation’s presence at the National Ploughing Championships is supported by Pfizer Bristol-Myers Squibb.

High blood pressure is the leading cause of stroke and heart attack in Ireland and is a silent killer while people with atrial fibrillation (irregular pulse) who are not treated are five times more likely to have a stroke. People with high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation often have no symptoms. 80% of premature heart disease and stroke is preventable and it is important that the public take the opportunity to receive their free check and help catch these conditions in time.

Marese Damery, Health Check Manager with the Irish Heart Foundation, said: “Research has shown that farmers are a high-risk group for heart disease and stroke. The Irish Heart Foundation has been providing health checks to farmers at marts since 2013 through our Farmers Have Hearts programme. 80% of farmers who have attended these checks were at risk of heart disease and stroke so we are delighted to be attending the National Ploughing Championships which gives farmers, their families and friends an opportunity to get checked for free.

“We support farmers and people in all communities in living longer, healthier lives and by providing these free heart health checks and health information, we aim to help people make positive changes to their lifestyles.”

Dr Declan O’Callaghan, Medical Director, Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, said: “Pfizer is delighted to support the Irish Heart Foundation’s presence at the National Ploughing Championships this year in Carlow. We would encourage everyone attending to visit for their free heart health check and use the virtual reality tool to get an insight into your heart.”

We are a social enterprise focused on trade not aid with Africa – our goal is to create jobs in Africa through building market links with the world.  We believe helping people earn their own living enables them to lift themselves out of poverty and stop relying on handouts. 

On our stand next week, we’ll be showing off the best of the best food products that Africa has to offer and most of the producers have more than one Irish connection.  We’ll be doing spicy sauce sampling and gourmet chocolate tasting and visitors will have a chance to buy what they like knowing that they’re contributing to the charity’s aims

Active on-farm demonstrations by dealers in Ireland have helped bring home to farmers the features and benefits of the latest crop of higher-horsepower McCormicktractors that will be exhibited at The Ploughing – the Irish National Ploughing Championships being held on September 17-19 at Ballintrane, Co Carlow.

The 205hp boosting to 225hp flagship of the McCormick X7 Series has been doing the rounds, impressing with the power and torque delivery from the six-cylinder Betapower engine produced by FPT Industrial, the successor to the Iveco diesels business.

“This tractor is the new P6-Drive version, which has a very fine transmission that puts six-step powershift speed variation at the operator’s fingertips within each of the five ranges,” notes Will Doyle, Ireland sales manager at McCormick manufacturer Argo Tractors.

“There’s more ratios in the important spread of ground speeds needed for most field work and for added comfort and ease of use, there’s ‘intelligent’ auto-shifting for both field and road that adapts to the operator’s performance demands and makes the tractor even more productive.

“The only way to fully appreciate these features and discover how good today’s McCormick tractors are is through a field test, which our dealers would be happy to arrange,” said Will Doyle.

Six-cylinder models in the McCormick X7 Series start at 151hp for draft work boosting to 165hp for pto implement applications and road travel, a characteristic mirrored on the other four models in a line-up that tops out with the 205/225hp X7.690 P6-Drive.

This means the tractors slot neatly into the range beneath the bigger, heavier McCormick X8 VT-Drive series, which comprises three models with 264hp, 286hp and 310hp outputs, all suited to heavy tillage work and also grassland work hauling big forage wagons or operating wide triple mower sets.

There is also a trio of four-cylinder models in the McCormick X7 Series with engine outputs from 141-176hp, a choice of P6-Drive powershift and VT-Drive stepless transmissions, and (with P6-Drive) a choice of Efficient or more advanced Premium specifications.

ISOBUS implement control for the optional 12in touch-operated Data Screen Manager display and Topcon Agriculture precision farming technologies can be added to the tractors’ comprehensive equipment list.

For less power-demanding work, the McCormick X6.4 Series tractors being featured at The Ploughing provide the optimum solution – as recognised by the Tractor of the Year 2018 title awarded to the series-topping X6.440 VT-Drive.

This 130hp tractor with 140hp available to pull trailed equipment on the road and drive pto-powered implements in the field can be had with a 36-speed powershift or the VT-Drive stepless transmission, plus a choice of spec levels to suit different applications and budgets.