What is a Feeding Station?

In a group housing system with feeding stations, you don’t take the feed to the pigs, the pigs go to the feed by themselves. In the feeding station they can eat exactly the right amount at exactly the right time, easily and safely. This saves you time and energy – and you’ll use the feed more effectively too. And that benefits your bottom line. It also allows the sow complete freedom of movement. Making the feeding station a responsible and highly sustainable form of modern sow farming.

 

Below you will see examples of the Nedap Velos ESF, the feeding station developed by Nedap and already being used very successfully by a great many pig farmers.

The solution for static groups
Nedap Velos ESF offers you the best possible shed concept for stable groups, in which a group of sows covered in the same period are kept together for their entire pregnancy. This makes it easy to monitor and treat the whole group. What’s more, the Nedap Velos ESF system provides the best possible feeding solution for each individual sow in the group.

The Nedap Velos ESF Stand Alone
The ESF Stand Alone can be adapted effortlessly to every situation, offering you maximum flexibility and reliability.

• Available with mechanical or pneumatic entry gates
• Sows can leave the station without having to move backwards
• Double exit gate prevents sows from entering through the exit
• Length and width can be adjusted for all types of pigs
• Standard station can be used as a training station (for gilts too)
• Side wall can be removed without tools in 5 seconds for access to the station
• Station closed on top

Stand Alone
The Nedap Velos ESF Stand Alone. A robustly-built feeding station with a minimum of moving parts.

 

The solution for dynamic groups
The Nedap Velos ESF offers you the perfect solutions for dynamic groups in which individual sows are introduced into the group after insemination and can be separated again at the right time at the end of their pregnancy.
The Nedap Velos ESF provides automatic monitoring and feeding of each individual sow in these groups. So every sow gets the exact amount of attention she needs. But that’s not all: the system also optimises the use of the shed space and feed stations.

The Nedap Velos ESF Separation Unit
The Velos Separation Unit can be adapted effortlessly to every situation, offering you maximum flexibility and reliability.

• Optimum access routes
• Minimal loss of space
• Separation at a particular place in the shed
• Marking at a particular place in the shed
• Simplicity itself: feed stations with no additional moving parts
• ID Check automatically separates and marks sows without an RFID tag
• Optimises heat detection result

Nedap Velos Separation Unit
Several feeding stations are connected to a Separation Unit

 

 

 

 

 

With separation at the feeding station, the sows’ paths cross when they enter the station and they can easily revisit the station.

A separation unit leads sows away from the front and discourages revisits.

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