Animal Welfare Award EuroTier 2024
The Animal Welfare Award has been presented by the DLG together with the bpt (Federal Association of Practising Veterinarians) since 2018. The prerequisite is winning a gold or silver medal at the EuroTier Innovation Award.
While animal welfare is one of several criteria there, the Animal Welfare Award recognises a product that "meets the requirements for a higher standard of animal welfare to a particularly high degree."
Cow-Welfare Flex Air Stall
Hall 12, Stand B49
This year's Animal Welfare Award goes to the Flex Air barn from Cow Welfare. In times of climate change and increasingly long periods of very high temperatures in summer, avoiding heat stress in farm animals is a major challenge. In addition to a massive impact on animal welfare and health, heat stress in dairy cows is also associated with a significant drop in milk yield. Retrofittable systems such as fans are difficult to implement in existing barn buildings and the desired cooling effect is often not achieved where it is needed, namely on the animal.
This is where the Flex Air barn comes in: A constant flow of fresh air into the cow's lying area via the stall frame significantly increases cow comfort. This approach is as simple as it is innovative.
Animal suffering due to heat is thus quickly and permanently prevented. For the first time, a system is available that creates a comfortable climate zone in the animals' resting area and thus quickly and effectively realises optimum cow comfort in the cubicle barn. The Flex Air barn thus serves to directly protect the welfare and health of the cows, especially in the face of the current challenge of climate change, and is therefore highly deserving of the Animal Welfare Award.