Enhance the quality of hay for your dairy cows with HAYTECH

Kievitshoeve is a dairy farm with a secondary branch dedicated to retired horses. After narrowly averting a fire incident, the farm implemented the HAYTECH system about years ago.

Situation

A manual temperature check of the hay and the start of a fire

The Kievitshoeve farm produces its own hay to feed its fifty or so dairy cows and retired horses. The risk of fire is highest during the hay harvest. Before HAYTECH, the temperature of hay bales was checked using a handheld probe. Checking each bale required physical commitment. This was because the hay bales had to be climbed on, and it was almost impossible to monitor the bales at the back of the piles.

A few years before getting HAYTECH, the operations manager had, as usual, checked the hay bales at the end of the day, but there was nothing unusual to report. The next morning, there was a smell of smoke coming from the barn. All the bales were quickly removed, however some were already on fire without anyone noticing earlier.

The farm came close to disaster.

Solution

Safe production with HAYTECH

In the years following the fire, the farm stopped baling its own hay for fear of a re-ignition. Kievitshoeve was introduced to HAYTECH through Achmea’s Interpolis insurance.

For four years now, Kievitshoeve has been equipped with the HAYTECH system, which makes work more efficent and safer.

Each bale is equipped with a HAYTECH probe that measures the temperature of the hay in real time. This makes it possible to act in time, before a bale gets too hot and ignites the entire production.

HAYTECH offers more safety because the system reduces the risk of fire and, above all, allows it to react in time, freeing staff from continuous stress, especially during periods of high heat.