Hannover prepares for EuroTier's return

Looking ahead to the 7th edition of EuroTier, the livestock production show held every 2 years in Germany, with forecasts indicating that the 2006 version will have over 1400 exhibitors from around the world.

Visitors to Germany's EuroTier exhibition in November 2006 will find special displays on electronics in pig management, feed hygiene and bioenergy. Almost 26 000 out of the total of 111 000 visitors at the 2004 event came from outside Germany.
Visitors to Germany's EuroTier exhibition in November 2006 will find special displays on electronics in pig management, feed hygiene and bioenergy. Almost 26 000 out of the total of 111 000 visitors at the 2004 event came from outside Germany.

EuroTier is back. Two years have passed since this biennial exhibition on animal production was last held in its home town of Hannover in Germany, so the event is set for a return in November.

The show in 2006 starts on Tuesday 14th November and runs 09:00-18:00 daily up to Friday 17th November. This year, however, the EuroTier agenda begins on the Monday of that week with a pre-show awards ceremony for pig producers. German agricultural society DLG (the organisation behind EuroTier) is teaming up with the European Pig Producers club to honour 2 people from Europe who have been selected by a 6-person international jury as especially deserving recognition for their achievements.

Club manager Dr Martin Ziron at DLG says European Pig Producers currently has 375 members in 22 countries and has already announced that its next annual meeting will be at Ghent in Belgium for June 2007. In Hannover on Monday 13th November there will be a special session starting at the showground at 18:00 to make the presentations to the 2 award recipients (a piglet producer and a grow-finish unit operator) considered to have been outstanding in innovation and business success. The ceremony will include video clips of the winners' farms.

Nominees for this Pig Farmer of the Year award scheme, called the first of its kind in Europe, must have been farming full-time for at least 3 years and be among the region's top 25% in terms of sales. They must also have undertaken a farm expansion activity. Says DLG, the jury will be looking for innovative farm features such as a layout that contributes to efficiency or a novel concept that differentiates the unit significantly from other pig enterprises.

The programme for EuroTier from 14th November features a demonstration in Hall 26 on Hannover's showground given the title of 'Electronics in the piggery linking the answers'. Organised by Germany's farm buildings and management association BFL (Bauförderung Landwirtschaft) with support from North-Rhine/West­phalia Chamber of Agriculture's electronics-in-agriculture centre ZEL (Zentrum für Elektronik in der Landwirtschaft), this so-called Special will use a model farm covering a floor area of 500 m² to provide examples of the integration of data flows at the pig unit for traceability of the production process.

The model has been devised as an illustration of how data for various functions, including feeding, can be tracked from the piglet stage through growing and finishing up to entry into the slaughterhouse. A central aim will be to demonstrate the organisation of information from different parts of the process leading to the final product.

In the show's section on animal feeds there will be another display, this one relating to ways of avoiding the contamination of feed before it can be eaten. Under the title of Feed hygiene live from silo to trough' there will be equipment exhibits around an interactive discussion of problem areas for possible contamination between the time feed materials are put into storage on the farm and their eventual distribution to the animal.

Farmers interested in the subject of bioenergy can find a zone on that, too. BioEnergyEurope will be a show-within-a-show at EuroTier, presenting systems for the generation of biogas from manure as well as the usage of plant materials for heat and the conversion of crop products into biofuel. Solar power and wind energy also are represented. Trade exhibits will be joined by an advice centre where specialists in renewable energy projects will be available for conversations with visitors.

Moreover, showtime in Hannover supplies a series of international conferences. One to note that takes place at the showground on Wednesday 15th November is set to look at investments in livestock production in eastern Europe. The organising team behind this comprises DLG, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Tierzüchter e.V. (ADT) and Ostausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft, AG Agrarwirtschaft. The programme will be conducted in English and Russian. PIGI

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