A GOLD medal has been awarded in this year’s round of the RHASS’ Technical Innovation Awards to a hi-tech hoof trimming set-up.
One of nine awards in the scheme, it is joined by the presentation of three silver medals and five certificates of commendation. 
The gold award – presented for continuous outstanding merit to a previous silver medal winner – is being given to BD Supplies, Methven, for its Danish-built KVK hoof trimming crate.
Designed to be easy on the operator and the cow, its construction is now tried and tested and moved up to gold under the scrutiny of the judging panel of Christo Shepherd, Euan Brewis, Robert Maitland, Clark Stewart, JD McWilliam and Tom Arnott.
The panel was led by RHASS’ chief steward, John Mackie, who said: “These awards are to encourage and recognise innovation in the design and manufacture of machines, equipment and appliances which advance the effective and efficient practice of either agriculture, horticulture, equestrian, forestry, renewable energy or estate services.
“They are judged on individual merit and, as always, there was a wealth of entries that made it very hard to choose from.” 
The winning machine uses hydraulic power to assist in all aspect of hoof trimming, thus making it a faster and less stressful operation for both the trimmer and the animal he is working on.

The three Silver medals have also been awarded:


Kverneland for its 2500 i-plough. This is a fully-mounted plough range that has ISOBUS controls which allow operators to move from transport to perfect furrows in jig time. 
All plough settings can be defined from the tractor cabin, including a handy transport feature on the headstock which allows the plough to act like a trailer.
Vicon for its FastBale, which has an unique dual chamber design which allows it to keep on baling, even while is conjoined wrapper is working.
This is another Kverneland company and output can be up to 100 bales per hour and non-stop baling could add 200 minutes of baling time over a 10-hour working day against conventional baler wrappers which have to stop to wrap the bale.
Water Powered Technologies for its Papa Pump, a patented zero energy water pump that utilises the flow of natural water from a spring, stream or river source to pump water to higher levels and pressures.
The Cornwall-based company said the pump can be used to water cattle or even in certain irrigation systems. 

Five certificate of commendation have been given to: 
 

Stewart Duncan for its lamb feeder, which is designed to ease the feeding of orphan lambs. Each lamb gets a controlled amount of milk with no interference from bigger lambs
JFC MFG Europe’s DBL9 Dumpy tip-over drinker. This new 3.5 litre rotating drink bowl allows you to empty the bowl at the press of a button, keeping water troughs clean from dirt.
Massey Ferguson for its MF 5713 SL tractor with its ‘all-in-one’ refinement to its pioneering selective catalytic reduction system (SCR) on its advanced AGCO Power 4.4-litre, four-cylinder engine. It uses a special ‘swirl’ system to thoroughly mix the exhaust gases and diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) to help meet Stage IV/Tier 4 Final emission regulations.
Quickfencer for its Quickfencer woodprocessor, designed for those who have their own biomass boiler or similar and who want to process large amounts of logs. This machine shears instead of saws the logs so that they dry out faster
Kramer Werk for its latest loader, the 5055e, a fully electric, emission free, all-wheel-steering wheeled loader, with 80- volt technology.

*These awards are the oldest presented by the RHASS, which gave its first ‘premium’ for an implement in 1793 to a ‘new-invented plough of an improved construction adapted for the culture of Highland farms.’ 
The Technical Innovation Awards will be presented in the board room in Ingliston House at 4 pm on the Saturday of the show and the award-winning products will feature in an area on Avenue 7.