The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Technical innovation praised
Record number of entries to RHASS competition
Two technical innovations have been awarded gold awards from the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) after a recordbreaking number of entries in the annual competition.
Six silver awards and five commendation certificates were also announced to mark Royal Highland Show week, where the honours are usually presented.
Limagrain UK won a gold for their winter wheat breeding programme, and pressure washers company Lambert & Dyson, from Skipton, took the other gold for their Landy PTO hot water pressure washer, which is designed to run on either the front or rear linkage of a tractor and requires only a supply of water and fuel to work in most situations that demand heavy cleaning.
The silver awards included the Herd Advance “stockman” system, which lets farmers monitor the statistics and status of their herd from a smartphone in realtime.
It can simultaneously record an animal’s weight, water intake and body temperature via thermal imaging and allows the user to automatically sort animals without the need for handling.
Ellon-based Murray Machinery Ltd also earned a silver award for their gravel road grader, which has undergone a major upgrade, with the addition of hydraulically-operated ripper teeth, a hydraulically-operated tilting frame and the new addition of a rear packer roller.
It is designed to reinstate gravel roads which have fallen into disrepair.
Another silver award was won by Lely Holding S.a.r.l. for their Discovery
Collector 120, which vacuums up manure rather than pushing it to a holding area. The company says it makes for a cleaner floor and ensures the cows’ hooves remain cleaner.
Peel Tech Ltd won silver for a system which filters to the highest food waste standards.
A silver medal went to Polaris Britain Ltd for their Polaris Ranger XP1000 ABS, which is the world’s first UTV/SXS utility vehicle to combine an anti-lock braking system with an active descent control system.
Pottinger Landtechnik GmbH took silver for the Impress round baler, which has a host of innovative new features and a lower power requirement.
Commendations include CASE IH for their Magnum AFS connect tractor; Farmdata for the Cattledata mobile app; Senesino Ltd for their Numnuts tail docking and castration system; Vicon for their Extra 700 mower conditioners; and Welsh Shearing Equipment Ltd for their Shearcordless MK2 animal clipper.
RHASS technical innovation chief steward Christopher Shepherd congratulated the winners and said: “The benefits to winning for businesses are significant and I am delighted that we had such a strong selection of entries to choose from this year.”