In the past, the primary goal of computerised automatic feeders was to feed as many calves as possible with as little work as possible.
Today, the technology must also adapt flexibly to changing calf rearing and breeding situations, and, for example, must be able to offer different feeding programmes with different types of feed, of course always adjusted to the individual calf and taking into account the optimum state of health. The H&L 100 automatic feeding system has already been effectively implementing all of these features in everyday practice for many years now.For growing farm operations, however, other factors are becoming more important: ensuring maximum hygiene, storing and analysing important calf data, and effective and efficient work organization in the calf housing are essential for successful farms.
With its hygiene stations and the CalfGuide management programme, the H&L 100 system is continuously setting new benchmarks in the field of automatic calf feeding. On the following pages, we will show you how the H&L 100 will revolutionise your work in the calf stable!
Feeding many calves with freshly mixed milk and a programme adapted to the individual calf is a huge challenge. The H&L 100 masters the task perfectly.
Many conventional automatic feeders work with a central milk supply, which has an enormous disadvantage: At 40° C, the bacteria content in milk doubles every 20 minutes. With the H&L 100, however, the milk is freshly mixed for each calf, and no milk residue remains that could contaminate the system.
The central milk supply used in conventional automatic feeders has another major disadvantage: Modern feeding programmes (e.g. metabolic programming) require a higher milk replacer concentration at the start of rearing (e.g. 160 g/l) in order to give a metabolic boost. In the weaning phase, however, a lower concentration is needed (130 g/l). This individualised animal feeding approach is the basic requirement for modern feeding strategies, and can only be implemented if the milk is individually mixed for each calf – like the H&L 100 does!
Since the H&L 100 does not restrict feeding to certain times of day, calves can come and drink the milk at any time. The calves will no longer view humans as wet nurses and thus will remain calm when people enter the calf stable. Younger and weaker calves have plenty of time to access and drink their milk. Since the H&L 100 operates with consecutive half-days, there is no set time when all the calves think it is feeding time and then swarm to the stations. In addition, the anti-pirate milk valve ensures that stronger calves will not steal the others’ milk. The result: very equable, calm groups of calves.
The H&L 100 very gently prepares your calves transition to eating concentrate and forage feed. At the end of the milk diet phase, it reduces the allocated milk quantity in small steps of 0.21 litres per day, thereby stimulating the development of the forestomach system.
Animal Weigh Scale
By incorporating the forefoot weigh scale, the H&L 100 records the daily growth of the calves. This information is then used to create and maintain separate alarm lists, and rapidly growing calves are weaned from the milk based on their weight development.
Concentrate Feed
In the concentrate feed station, the calves can be fed regular calf starters or cereals. The amount of food each calf has eaten is precisely determined, and any remaining quantities are taken into account in the process. Here as well, it is possible to program individual feeding of the milk based on the current consumption of the concentrate feed.
Modern feeding programmes should always be adapted to the age, breed, individual rearing goal or health of the calf. The H&L 100 optimally incorporates all of those settings.
Many farmers know that early intensive feeding with respect to quantity and mixture in the first weeks of life generally results in a significantly higher milk yield later on. However, properly weaning the calves following the ad libitum phase poses particular challenges for any calf farmer. With the H&L 100, each calf is weaned slowly from a high milk intake both in terms of volume and concentration.
Flexibility in feeding also means that a variety of milk replacers and additives can be used. It is important to ensure that the milk is prepared optimally and the powder is thoroughly dissolved. The H&L PowerMixer stirs the milk powder in seconds. And the calf receives her freshly mixed milk directly in the teat after just 3 seconds.
Very small doses of acids (or other additives) can be added to the milk in order to stabilise the digestive tract and gastro-intestinal system. For sick calves, medicine can be added to the milk or administered through a special nutritional programme containing electrolytes. Two dosing units are available for maximum flexibility, you can choose between two powder dosers or one doser for powdered additives and one for liquid additives.
Up to 100% whole milk can be fed using the H&L 100 whole milk programme. Either the whole milk is supplied directly from your whole milk tank or you can use our H & L Milkboy. It stores 110 litres of whole milk right next to the feeder. Its large wheels take the trouble out of bringing it from the milk room to the feeder. The integrated mixing agitator is directly controlled by the H&L 100. The efficient water cooler does not require electricity or any other equipment.
An automatic feeder should make your work easier and do its job 24 hours a day. It has to operate reliable even under the harsh environment in a calf stable – and the H&L 100 does just that.
In the past, tube systems used to have deposits of contaminated milk because they had not been cleaned often enough or thoroughly enough. A first of its kind, the new HygieneStation can now automatically flush out and clean the entire milk pipeline right through to the teat after each milk feed. This reduces the calf’s exposure to germs and bacteria, improves the health of the calves and decreases the amount of manual cleaning.
Calves love to be outdoors, your H&L 100 does, too! It is equipped with an anti-freeze programme that runs automatically as soon as there is a risk of frost. You can safely wash the outer surfaces of the automatic feeder with water, because all sensitive components are sealed and splash-proof.
It is easy to check the functioning of the feeder on a regular basis: The H&L 100's maintenance menu lets you easily and quickly test all of its key components.
If the general conditions have changed, it is important to calibrate the parameters. That is easy to do as well. The software guides you through the calibration procedure and tells you exactly what to do at each step. We recommend having your H&L 100 serviced by a specialized service technician once a year. This will ensure that your automatic feeder will continue to optimally feed your calves in the future as well.
All milk-carrying components are made of high quality stainless steel or food-grade materials. The milk powder system, including its powerful auger, is designed to sustain high loads and strains. Therefore, it can correctly dose nearly all milk powders. The whole milk system is extremely effective due to a 7.5-metre-long heat exchanger coil. The design of the electronics has been kept simple and reliable, so that they can withstand the harsh conditions of a farming operation.
Two advantages in one: The H&L 100 not only eliminates tedious and strenuous work, it also improves the feed quality.
Your back will thank you – no more strenuous bucket carrying! All you do is put milk replacer into the large powder hopper or whole milk into the milk tank. The low filling height (112 cm) makes it easy to refill the milk powder. You can conveniently pour 2 bags of milk powder into the hopper, which holds 50 kg, and that means less frequent supply checks.
Optimised and nutritional early feeding promotes high performance in the future. Calves fed with a lot of energy start lactating earlier and produce more milk later on! The H&L 100 also provides the best conditions to ensure the optimal health of the calves. That means fewer losses, a lower death rate and more animals in the offspring of your own herd, which in turn gives you the opportunity to selectively select your offspring and sell surplus heifers at a profit. And last but not least: the reduced workload frees up capacities on your farm that you can utilise to a profitable advantage.
Look after your calves on YOUR OWN time rather than letting the calves dictate how you organise your day. There are usually other tasks and responsibilities to attend to, particularly in the morning and evening: milking and feeding the cows, preparing breakfast for the family, getting the children to school, etc. The H&L 100 feeds your calves; all you have to do is check on the equipments and the calves. And with the new HygieneStation, the time needed to teach the calves how to use it is reduced to a minimum. For more information on the learning process, please see the "HygieneStation" section.
With the H&L 100, every employee knows what they have to do, and when. At set times that you specify, they perform tasks such as refilling feed, changing teats, etc. And the optional CalfGuide software makes it even more convenient: It features a helpful “to-do management” function and tells you or your employees in the morning what jobs need to be done during the day.
The H&L 100 lets you feed up to 100 calves at 4 feeding stalls, even up to 150 calves under certain conditions! If you are feeding fewer calves now, our modular system allows you to expand the feeder anytime, with all available options. That means you save money now and still have all options open to you later.
Power Supply and Heating Capacity | 400 V 16 A (6 kW) or 230 V 16 A (3 kW) |
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Capacity with 4 Feeder Stalls | Up to 100 calves (up to 150 calves under certain conditions) |
Identification System | Multireader HDX and FDX |
Milk Replacer Powder Hopper | 90 l / 50 kg |
Hopper Filling Height (Rim) | 1.12 m |
Boiler Capacity | 12 l |
Dimensions of H&L 100 | 0.6 x 0.7 x 1.21 m |
Space Required for H&L 100 | 1 x 1 m |
* Technical specifications subject to change!