RIC system Roughage Intake Control ‘The golden standard for individual feed intake research’ The RIC (Roughage Intake Control) system is giving you the possibility of complete individual control of the roughage intake of dairy cows or beef cattle. The system also provides information about individual feed intake behaviour. The RIC system can be build up in various versions for dairy cows and beef cattle. Depending on the type of research the system can be extended with concentrate feeding station, weighing platform, selection system, activity monitoring and milking parlour automation or our well known automatic milking system. ‘The system showed a high specificity (100%) and sensitivity (100% and 99.76% for the feed and water bins, respectively). This electronic system is a useful tool for monitoring intakes and feeding and drinking behavior of loose-housed cows’ ‘Dairy Campus made the choice to install the RIC system in the new experimental barn for feeding research that will be built in 2015. This feeding barn will be equipped with 64 RIC feeding bins. In this way a long standing relation will be continued.’ ‘Feed Intake Relative to Stage of Lactation for Dairy Cows Consuming Total Mixed Diets with a High or Low Ratio of Concentrate to Forage’ University of British Columbia, Canada, Journal of dairy science, 2007, 90.12: 5732-5736. Dairy Campus, the Dutch National Centre for Research, Innovation and Education, part of WageningenUR Danish Institute for Agricultural Science, Denmark, Journal of dairy science, 1998, 81.8: 2228-2239. Intelligent feeding gate RIC feed-weigh trough There are two versions of the RIC system. The simplest version is the intelligent feeding gate. Which consists of a galvanized feeding gate, an access slide, identification sensors and cow identification. In many research institutes, the intelligent feeding gate is used in combination with so-called RIC feed-weigh troughs, where the feed is accurately weighed continously. The feeding gate is a solid, open construction and is not an obstruction during feed intake. A vertical access slide enables the animals to eat. After a visiting period, which has been set in advance, the slide will push the cow out of the eating position. This version also enables restricted and unrestricted (ad-lib) feeding. If an animal approaches one of the feeding troughs, it will be identified and the animal number and starting time of the visit are recorded. If during a visit no cow has been recorded by the sensors, the slide will close off the feeding place immediately. The set visiting period per cow is hereby guaranteed. The access slide is controlled pneumatically. The access of an animal to a certain type of feed is determined in the software by means of radio frequency cow identification. After the visit, the end time and amount of feed intake are recorded. The amount of roughage intake is electronically measured with extreme precision by the RIC weighing trough and stored in the RIC database. Flexible feeding RIC water-weigh trough In both versions, up to four types of feed per animal are available at the same time. Each cow can be given access to one or various feed types. The feed intake per cow is determined per feed type. In addition to the individual feed intake the monitoring of the individual water intake may also be of great importance to the research results. Many years of experience has resulted in the trough, the gate and the electronics being designed and build in such way, that the animals cannot spill feed and can finish the feed in the trough completely. By adjusting the input, you can also choose the eatingplace of a cow. It is possible to allow all animals to feed at every place/trough or to select a specific RIC feeding trough for each animal. The individual water intake can be recorded with the help of specially designed RIC water-weigh trough. After drinking the water trough is refilled up again automatically. The water trough is sufficient for 20 to 25 animals (depending on local climate situations and animal regulations). Animal weight recording RIC Management Software The weight of a cow is an important indicator in feed intake studies. A weighing system with various application possibilities is developed, enabling the animal’s daily weight data to be monitored. RMW is the software package for dairy or beef cattle that is used to process and monitor the RIC system. The RIC system can be combined with a fully automatic operating walk-through weighing system or a weighing floor mounted in the concentrate feeding station. In addition, the data collected are filed in ASCII files, which can be used for further data processing. The RIC management software also offers comprehensive extended potential for analysing and research the collected data. The information can be simply accessed by the researchers and farm staff. If desired, the RIC system can be adapted to personal requirements. Filling and cleaning Stainless steel lids The RIC troughs can be filled with a mixer wagon, a TMR feed car on a rail or by hand. The accuracy of the feed intake control is important in order to know precise roughage intake. The RIC feeding troughs can be equipped with a stainless steel lid. The RIC troughs can be tilted for easy cleaning and are easily relocatable with a few simple manual actions, when needed. The lid can be opened in order to fill the trough and closed after filling to reduce feed spilling. The opening and closing is pneumatically controlled. Technical data sheet RIC system (Roughage Intake Control) Standing width 117 cm / 137 cm Trough width 90 cm / 110 cm Gate height 165 cm Number of animals per RIC weighing trough 2 to 4 Maximal number of roughage types per animal 4 Number of animals per water trough 20 / 25 Suitable for dairy cattle yes Suitable for beef cattle yes Concentrate dispensing via concentrate feeding stations yes Radio Frequency Identification: collar transponders or ear transponders yes Selection yes Measurement of milk in the milking parlour yes Activity monitoring yes Animal weight recording yes Combination possible with our well known automatic milking system yes Specifications The RIC system is specially designed by experts and build in such a way that it is easy to be installed in as well an existing barn as in a new barn. The RIC system is modular in construction, build very robust and is extremely durable, to guarantee a trouble free long lifetime with very low maintenance cost. The RIC system is very easy to use for the animal but also for the day to day user of the system. The accuracy and consistency of the RIC system is unbeatable and has shown its value in the feed intake research all over the world for many years. References More than 60 RIC systems are used all over the world by researchers at institutes and experimental farms. The system provides a wealth of accurate information, while the system also saves a lot of labor. • NL Wageningen UR Livestock Research / Dairy Campus • DE FAL Braunschweig • DK DIAS Foulum • USA Wisconsin University • CA University of Guelph • NZ Ruminant Methane Measurement Centre • FR INRA Tours • And many more ‘The golden standard for individual feed intake and feed intake behavior research’ Manufacturer Hokofarm Group BV Voorsterweg 28 8316 PT Marknesse (NL) Tel. +31 (0)527 638 650 Fax +31 (0) 527 638 653 [email protected] www.hokofarmgroup.com Distributor
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