Customer Service
June 26, 2023
Lameness poses a significant welfare challenge for dairy herds, arising from the bacteria that animals pick up on their hooves. This condition can result in infections, restricted mobility, and notable behavioural changes. The financial impact of lameness on farmers with a 100-cow herd is estimated to amount to several thousand dollars annually.
The impacts include animal suffering, increased CO2 footprint, loss of milk production, decreased fertility, increased treatment and vets’ bills, poor longevity, increased trimming costs and ultimately reduced profit margins. And these impacts are a major focus for the whole Food and Beverage sector’s supply chain.
Hoofcount, a small family firm in rural Lancashire and a deep understanding of farmers and their animals’ needs, has developed its range of automated footbaths suitable for every farm.
Every Hoofcount footbath is designed, folded and built in its continuously growing workshops and being shipped to over 16 countries including Canada, Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic, with the company producing around 300 footbaths a year.
Key benefits of the baths include:
To enhance their footbath production and capabilities, Hoofcount has collaborated with Siemens, tapping into the company’s expertise in integrating the physical and digital realms through LOGO!, an intelligent logic module for small-scale automation projects in industrial settings. LOGO! manages the control of critical mechanisms in Hoofcount’s footbaths, including chemical and water pumps, as well as animal feed controls.
The controllers not only enable the tracking of cows passing through the footbaths but also provide valuable herd data, which can be visualized on an HMI screen. Additionally, the footbaths can be remotely controlled and have the capability to transmit data to the cloud for further analysis.
Through working with Siemens, Hoofcount’s footbath production has more than doubled each year, enabling the company to also grow twice as much.
LOGO! is a versatile compact controller that helps you solve numerous automation tasks. Additional modules and a wide range of communication options make LOGO! a compelling solution for almost every conceivable application. LOGO! is compact, smart, flexible – and now even comes with a direct line to the cloud.
The LOGO! modules enable you to expand the functionality of your compact controller and adapt it flexibly. Reach your goal perfectly in many different applications.
Predefined function blocks ensure that you can always program your LOGO! quickly and efficiently – even without programming skills.
LOGO! supports various communication standards and features interfaces to connect to SIMATIC controllers, panels and, last but not least, the cloud. This way, you can use LOGO! for many different projects.
Any contractor, end-user, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the electrical industry has heard of the name Siemens; it has long been a leader in the electrical manufacturing industry.
For over 150 years, they have been known for engineering excellence, innovation, quality and reliability. Siemens innovation in the fields of electrification, automation and digitalization has been a key factor in making its products the Canadian choice. Companies in various industries including commercial, residential, industrial and institutional, rely on Siemens to provide them with the products they need. Learn more from our supplier partner, Siemens.
Customer Service
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