Automation of feeding, automation of driving, automation of practically everything that takes place on the farm – that was the common theme across the trade exhibitors at Eurotier 2018.

Hundreds of trade exhibitors, from milking equipment to feed trough cleaners, were on display as exhibitors looking for sales, contacts and partnerships put their best foot forward.

Most of the equipment is targetted at large-scale pig, poultry and dairy farms where livestock are indoors the entire year.

Dr Edmund Harty and Dr John Daly from Dairymaster proudly displaying a Silver Innovation award at Eurotier 2018 for 'Mission Control'. A device that optimises efficiency of a rotary parlour.

Many large-scale farmers from the US, the Middle East, China and Russia come to the show to see the best equipment available from Europe.

There was also a big move towards digital farming, and using information from machines and equipment to try and save time and reduce documentation.

Many of these devices were aimed at smart-tracking of feed stuffs and detailed measures and analysis that many of the pig and poultry systems need on the continent.

Niall McGauran with Alan Heaney, Lely Mullingar, and Lely CEO Alexander Van Der Lely on the Lely stand at Eurotier 2018.

Irish company Dairymaster won a silver award for innovation for a tool called Mission Control, that optimises the efficiency of a rotary milking parlour. In total, I estimate there were 21 Irish companies exhibiting at Eurotier 2018, from feed supplements to large-scale milking equipment.

The Irish companies I came across were Agritech, Tipperary, Auranta, Bonanza Calf Nutrition, Celtic Sea Minerals, Cheetah Electronics, Dairymaster, Dairypower Equipment, Easyfix, Enterprise Ireland, HerdInsights, Hermitage AI, JFC Agri, Lir Agri, Mayosoft Global, Mervue Laboratories, Moocall, Nutribio, Terra Nutritech, Forcefield Active Technology and Tonsity International.

Easyfix stand displaying Luna options as an Environmental Enrichment product for pigs at Eurotier.

I met farmers from almost every county in Ireland, but I’d safely say there were more farmers from Northern Ireland than the Republic. Eurotier takes place every two years in Hannover and over 150,000 international visitors pass through the gates over the four days.

Unlike the Ploughing, the show takes place in a purpose-built event centre and all is under cover.

Ian Lahiffe, Galway working on the Allflex stand at Eurotier 2018 while over in Europe from his Beijing base in China.

Day one of Eurotier 2018 took place yesterday at the Hannover Event Centre. The show continues for the next three days. We will publish more detail in print, with photographs, podcasts and videos over the coming days.

Many of the companies exhibiting at Eurotier will also be exhibiting at DairyDay 2018 next week, Tuesday 20 November, in Punchestown.

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