STANDARD LIVESTOCK HOUSING IN MODULES AND QUALITY PLASTIC

EFFICIENT AGRICULTURE: Danish producers of equipment for the agricultural sector constantly need to be ahead of the field. Denmark’s Ikadan Plast has found a niche producing livestock housing in standard modules which meet farmers’ needs for efficiency

It is an established fact that Danish farmers in general, and Danish pig producers in particular, are among the most efficient in the world. Productivity among Danish pig producers is higher than the closest competitors and many times higher than other places in the world.

     Since Denmark also has sky-high requirements on areas such as animal welfare, food safety and disease control, it is necessary that producers of equipment for Danish farmers are constantly at the cutting edge of developments in efficiency. And it is thus largely demands on animal welfare and efficiency that steer it, says Bjarne Kongsgaard, owner and director of the Ikadan Group, Ikast.

High technology
“We have gone against the outsourcing trend and have decided to produce in Denmark,” says Bjarne Kongsgaard. “High wages in Denmark have meant that we have invested in the most advanced machinery in our sector, and have a production plant that functions fully automatically with CNC robots and computer monitored production. This ensures high quality and low production costs for the benefit of our customers and the company. It is also a production plant which fits perfectly to standard modules,” says Bjarne Kongsgaard.

     Last year Ikadan introduced the new modular built pen system Multiflex, which consists of a number of standard modules with side panels, grated partitions as well as gates and mountings, where by and large everything is made from plastics. Multiflex is a highly flexible modular system which can be constructed to a pen system according to customer wishes. Experience gained from the injection moulded floor systems,

Ultraflex Grate System, led to the development of the partition system, Multiflex Panel System.

Innovative solutions
“Many manufacturers can make injection moulded plastic products, and we must thus constantly think innovatively and be in continuous dialogue with our customers,” Bjarne Kongsgaard points out. “We must know our customers’ daily challenges and think in solutions which ensure them additional value. So it is quality in combination with a competitive price which determine whether we become the preferred partner, which we are increasingly becoming.” The Multiflex Combiwall System, one of the many examples of Ikadan’s innovations, is a patented system which can give large savings on building costs. With the Multiflex Combiwall System, manure channel walls and partitions are quite simply constructed in one and the same element. “It gives large construction savings because only one large manure vessel needs to be made with drainage from the individual sections. The Multiflex panels are mounted directly on the channel base, and at floor level, bearings are mounted which support floor plates and grates.”

Flexibility
The self-supporting Multiflex Panel System is moulded as two shells separated with a cell structure on the back. The plates are then welded back to back so that the surface is closed on all sides, while at the same time the sandwich construction provides high strength and stability. It reduces the need for uprights and fixtures, and also gives pig producers a hitherto unknown level of flexibility for the layout of their livestock housing, which also becomes a lot easier to clean.

     Another example of one of Ikadan’s innovative solutions is a heating mat system for heating up the immediate surroundings of weaners. The heating mats are built into the floor construction and ensure the right temperature for weaners. The system can for example be built into Ikadan’s Ultraflex Grate System consisting of both draining as well as closed elements Ikadan continuously develops new surfaces that ensure optimal cleaning while at the same time the surfaces also satisfy pigs’ needs for softness and the preventing skidding.