More than 10,000 PipeFeeders manufactured by Dutch company Hanskamp are now in use on dairy farms to ensure cows quietly and quickly release their milk.
Celebrating the installation of the 10,000th PipeFeeder, Henk Hanskamp recalled how six years ago he and engineer Bart Pennings saw the need to make massive practical improvements to in-parlour feeding.
“The challenge was to design a concentrate dispenser that would put in-parlour feeding back on the map,” he said. “It needed to have a low drop height to prevent dust and noise plus anti-spill features.
“Our practical solution was the PipeFeeder, designed to release small portions of concentrate quietly to each cow throughout her milking time. This keeps cows quietly focused on the feed trough and in-parlour feeding promotes a peak in their oxytocin levels thus improving milk let down.
“As farmers using the PipeFeeder in 18 countries have proved, this in-parlour system reduces noise and dust, speeds up milking and dramatically reduces concentrate waste.”
The 10,000th Hanskamp PipeFeeder was installed in a new 60-cow dairy unit on the family farm of Theo van Leeuwen at Zoeterwoude, in the coastal South Holland province of the Netherlands. One of the world’s most densely populated regions, it’s where Theo, in partnership with son Freek and daughter-in-law Nicole, runs an organic herd and their own cheese factory.
The van Leeuwen’s new dairy unit has a 2×6 30-degree herringbone parlour equipped with Hanskamp MultiFrames and PipeFeeders.
Mr van Leeuwen had no hesitation in opting for PipeFeeder in-parlour feeders as cows know they get their concentrates at a fixed time, which improves grazing.
“In our previous dairy unit, the old in-parlour feeders were noisy and a lot of feed was wasted or cows got too much. Either way money was wasted,” he said. “With Hanskamp PipeFeeders installed, feeding is precise and being a closed system dust is not an issue – plus feed is kept free from contamination. Cows are more content, more productive and milking in a quiet parlour is a pleasure.
“In this past month since switching to PipeFeeders cows have become more productive, enter the parlour easily and our workload is reducing.”
For more information visit: www.hanskamp.nl/en.
