GOLD MEDALS have gone to two machines in the 2018 round of awards in the RHASS Technical Innovations scheme.

In addition to those, there will be five Silver and three Certificates of Commendations awarded at the event.

“Technical innovation is pivotal to the future of Scotland’s key industries and because of this, is part of the RHASS Royal Charter, where we support and encourage innovative thinking and reward excellence,” said RHASS chief steward of the awards process, Christo Shepherd.

“The Technical Innovation Awards are a highly influential accolade for manufacturers, distributors, providers and inventors. They provide a respected stage to promote new ideas and acknowledge the work and commitment necessary to develop new products.”

Richard Vernon, from the awards’ major sponsor, the Hillhouse Quarry Group, added: “Yet again, there has been many excellent entries and winners – demonstrating the incredible innovation there is in the agricultural sector.”

Entries were judged by a panel of RHASS judges led by Christo Shepherd. They were: John Mackie, Andrew Rennie, Ewan Brewis, Neil Thomson, James C Warnock and Kenny Mathieson.

Gold status is presented for continuous outstanding merit to a previous silver medal winner and this year two came through a rigorous judging process – the Vicon iXclean Pro sprayer and McVeigh Parker and Co’s Clipex metal fence system.

Vicon’s invention is designed to ensure crop sprayers are thoroughly rinsed when changing chemicals. It is a fully automatic system, available on Vicon sprayers and front tanks with ISOBUS control.

It leaves minimal residual liquid and a chemical content of less than 1% when complete, while the operator remains safe in the cab away from and chemical exposure. The rinsings are sprayed out while driving over a previously treated crop, thus minimising pollution risk.

Clipex fence posts offer the end user a long-life post which incorporates the unique quick clip system. They also include an anti-lift plate which reduces the possibility of the post being easily removed by hand.

Compared to traditional materials, Clipex posts are lighter to handle, easier to drive in and there’s no time consuming stapling, making them 50% quicker to erect.

There’s a Silver award to Aberdeenshire-based SIB Services for its Birnie Bale Safe. An innovative hydraulic mechanism forming the sides of the trailer and gripping bales in place creates a neat and secure load.

This has eliminated any need for personnel to be on, around or underneath the load to fix straps and provides an effective solution to the problem of insecure loads, safeguarding anyone in the vicinity, pointed out the judges. Meanwhile, a unique top row extension safely holds bales stacked up to three high.

Scotsqueeze also gets a Silver for a sheep crate designed and built in Scotland which catches and holds sheep and lambs automatically using a magic eye. Powered by a large 12v battery it can also work in extremely cold weather, when pneumatic systems become unreliable and freeze up.

It has electronic weighing and EID tag reading compatibility and can check weights for dosing correctly and drafting either three-way manually or three or five-way auto.

Its working height is ideal for dagging, dosing and treating feet while they stand up. The mobile system is raised using a hydraulic pump and its A-frame trailer is pushed under with only one pin needed to secure it. The system takes about three minutes to load and unload.

The third Silver recipient is Moocall, with its Moocall heat-detection product. This has a collar worn by a stock bull or a teaser/vasectomised bull and Moocall ear tags are also attached to all cows and heifers. The collar uses cow/bull proximity, mounting behaviour and bull activity levels to determine to heat to a high high level of accuracy.

Kverneland Siloking eTruck 1408 – 100% electric self-propelled vertical feeder mixer – also gets a Silver award. Coming in three different capacities, this one machine mixes, transports and presents feed to stock and has very low operational costs. Because the feeder is 100% electric through wireless battery operation, it is environmentally friendly, clean with zero emissions, noiseless and energy-saving.

The final Silver goes to Calibrate’s heat pump grain and grass drying system, which follows a Certificate of Commendation in 2017.

This manages a revolutionary drying process, using energy from a heat pump which is built in a customised plant room manufactured in Calibrate’s workshop and delivered to site ready to use.

A bespoke controller can operate the grain and grass dryer via a cloud-based system, enabling Calibrate to monitor all aspects of the process and tariff generation meters online. The pump can heat more than one application at a time and can be bolted on to an existing grain dryer or purchased as a completed solution. It can also be used to dry bedding.

Three Certificates of Commendation go to:

* Angus-based SoilEssentials’ KORE system – a cloud-based precision farming tool box which gives agronomists, land managers and farmers the opportunity to manage land more effectively through an expanding suite of apps. A key innovation is an ability to be customised across varying levels.

* KisanHub, from Cambridge, and its crop intelligence platforms is a decision support system and data analytics tool for farmers. Its cloud-based software, is supported by a mobile phone app it has already got 3500 users worldwide.

The core idea is to bring in disparate data sources, which are external to the farm system and integrate with internal farm data.

* Hampton Steel’s metal strainer systems is a patented metal box and angle strut strainer assembly. It includes a stainless-steel strut connector which makes changes in the fence direction simple. Multiple struts can be attached to any strainer post.

This long-life, environmentally friendly, 100% fully recyclable alternative to traditional timber strainer assemblies is lightweight yet strong.