Young Cork woman Maeve O’Keeffe has come up with an innovative solution to combat lameness on Irish farms. The game-changing Inspect4 turnover hydraulic hoof paring crate has garnered top prize for innovation at the Tullamore Show and is creating quite a stir at home and abroad. We travelled to Ballynoe in east Cork to get an insight into this wonderful device – and found that it has not one but a variety of uses!
Although Inspect4 Hoof Trimming Ltd. was only officially established in January, 2014, Maeve O’Keeffe developed the innovative turnover crate three years earlier. “We did a lot of tweaking and tinkering with it and also got it certified. I am now completely happy with it,” she enthuses.
“This is a completely new concept. Everybody is used to the upright method for hoof paring but this turnover crate has to be seen to be believed. I even worried myself that the animal would be agitated but they are very calm and quiet when you turn them up on their side. It improves so much for the animal and the operator.”
Maeve comes from a very strong agricultural background. Her parents Eddie and Linda O’Keeffe oversee Ballynoe Agri Services in Ballynoe village, near Fermoy, a company they established in 2003 as a diversification from their dairy farming and contracting services. Ballynoe Agri Services offers haulage services for feedstuffs, as well as supplying reinforcing steel for farm buildings, while their cutting and bending plant allows them to produce rebar, reinforcing steel and also welded steel, gates and railings to exact customer specifications.
While Inspect4 Hoof Trimming now exists as a separate company, Maeve will still use the expertise of Ballynoe Agri to manufacture and install her turnover hydraulic hoof-paring crate. “The idea for the crate came when I was working on the dairy farm at home,” she recalls. “I wanted to be able to pare the hooves without the physical work – because the conventional method takes great physical strength – and also in a safer way. We put together the first turnover crate for our own use. When we put the first animal into the crate, we honestly couldn’t believe how relaxed the cow was when we turned her up on her side and how well the crate worked.
“It’s labour-saving and it’s also money-saving in the long run. You can see if the animal has any problems with any of the other feet and the operator has time to deal with any issue while the animal is up on its side – including wart treatment, dehorning etc. The animal is securely restrained and the crate can be operated easily and safely by one person.”
On-farm demonstrations of the original prototype in Ballynoe were well-attended and a mobile Inspect4 hydraulic hoof paring crate was soon launched.
“We launched the mobile unit at the Tullamore Show in 2013, where we won first prize for innovation in the main category. One professional hoof trimmer in Kilkenny has already used the crate on over 4,100 animals, 30% of which are bulls. Teagasc in Moorepark, Fermoy have also invested in the fixed unit.”
With the Inspect4 crate, hoof trimming is no longer a tough, dirty, back-breaking job. The O’Keeffes are confident that no other solution offers the flexible options, ease of use and homegrown aftersales support that comes as standard with Inspect4. Each crate is made to order to suit individual requirements, with Inspect4 catering for both farmers and professional hoof trimmers.
Three different types of crate are available: a fitted crate, which should ideally be located close to the farmer’s milking parlour; mobile crates (available as either self-propelled units or twin-axle units); and semi-mobile crates. The semi-mobile version of Inspect4 offers movability at a lower price than the self-propelled and twin-axle mobile versions. This unit can be operated using the 3-point linkage on a tractor and transported to different parts of the yard or to adjacent farms.
The Inspect4 crate is much faster than conventional upright crates as each foot does not have to be lifted individually. With the Inspect4 crate, it is possible to examine / treat 18 cows in an hour.
All Inspect4 crates offer delivery, installation, training, a twelve-month guarantee and a thorough, complete aftersales service.
Maeve was invited into the 2014 New Frontiers Phase 2 Programme as a producer and has also been in talks with Simon Coveney to have the crate included in the Farm Safety Grant Scheme, which would mean a 40% saving on the cost of entry for farmers and in turn make the product a much more viable option. “Once they buy a crate, it will last them a lifetime,” Maeve adds.
Lameness has the potential to cost dairy farmers massive amounts of yield in lost revenue – up to €240 per cow – so the benefits of eliminating it at source are obvious. The Inspect4 crate – which has hydraulically-operated gates to the front and back – can be used for hoof trimming lame animals; treating teat related issues such as warts on heifers; inserting dry cow tubes or teat sealer in heifers; removing spare teats; castrating bulls; dehorning; vaccinating; and dosing.
“There’s no undue stress placed on the animal and these are no longer jobs that have to be put off. We have patented certain aspects of the crate: ours is the only self-propelled mobile unit and the only one with a stabiliser floor, while a leg holder securely holds down all four legs.”
Long term, the export market is the one that Maeve is targeting most: “The Irish market is important to us but it is relatively small, so the overseas market will be our main one,” she confirms. “Overseas, you tend to have larger herds that travel further or are housed indoors all year around and as a result lameness is a much bigger issue. We have already made contacts abroad through the New Frontiers programme and we are hoping to break through into both the Saudi Arabia and UK markets in the not-too-distant future.
“Twenty-fifteen is going to be a massive year for Inspect4, particularly if we get accepted into the Farm Safety Grant Scheme. A lot of people were understandably wary of the crate when we displayed it at the National Ploughing Championships three years ago, because it was a whole new concept, but they seem to have got used to the idea now and have become more comfortable with it. You could see at this year’s Ploughing Championships that the perception of the public has changed and that people have become used to the idea of a turnover crate and are comfortable with it. That is very encouraging.”
Visit the new Inspect4 website where Michael and Tom Dunne, Kilworth, who have a 300-strong dairy herd and rotary parlour, have installed the fixed unit of the Inspect4 crate. Demonstrations of the crate in action can be seen.
Inspect4 Hoof Trimming Limited,
Ballynoe,
Conna,
County Cork.
Tel: 058 59366
Mobile: 087 9539581
E: [email protected]
www.inspect4.eu
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 1, January/February 2015
