A highlight of this year's World Ag Expo, Feb. 14-16 in Tulare, Calif. will be new products designated as winners of the Top-10 New Products competition. A WAE committee has judged these products as the top new products on this year's show grounds. 

The Top-10 products and their locations on the grounds include: 

Afimilk – AfiAct II - Calving Alert Service

This unique service provides Afimilk customers with the ability to receive an alert when any of their cows or heifers begin calving. This is a service provided to Afimilk customers who utilize AfiAct II tags on their dry cows. The service is free of charge, and only requires activation within the software (version AfiFarm 5.1 or higher).

Within seven days of activation, calving alerts can be sent automatically to users in the form of SMS (text messages) and/or e-mails. These alerts are sent once the system detects the specified changes in an animal’s pattern of behavior. Additional alerts may also be sent should calving complications occur.

Alerts contain basic but important information about the animal, such as: time of detection, her number, group, days pregnant and lactation. There is also a new calving animal report in the AfiFarm software. Once a calving alert is sent, the animal will show in this report with details indicating dry days, days pregnant, time of detection and more.

Stop by South Street and “S” Street to check out this product.

Automated Ag Systems – Melon Wrangler

The Melon Wrangler is a harvest-assist machine that helps maximize the safety and efficiency of the worker while protecting the fruit and helping lower harvest costs. The Wrangler can attach to a trailer, truck or bus in less than one minute.

Equipped with two side conveyors, it eliminates the human toss method which can bruise and damage fruit as well as injure the crew.

The Wrangler is equipped with two 24-horsepower gas engines that use about four gallons of gas per eight-hour work period. Due to a short-picking season and the high heat, the Wrangler is equipped with lights to allow harvest after daylight hours.

Stop by Expo Lane to see the Melon Wrangler at World Ag Expo.

Cool-Calf Covers – Cool-Calf Cover Product Series: Cool-Calf Cover™, Warm Calf Cover™, Calf Rescue Blanket™ (Patent Pending)

These covers use the latest in heat reflective and absorptive technology to improve the health, growth and welfare of newborn calves. Simple to use, they help control heat and cold stress. Calf hutches can absorb 83 percent of solar radiation so heat stress is an unavoidable problem. Cool-Calf Covers reflect 84 percent of the sun’s heat, resulting in a 10-15 degree reduction in temperatures.

Warm-Calf Covers absorb 94 percent of solar heat, while insulating the hutch, reflecting body heat back to the calf and improving temperatures up to 10 degrees. The covers reduce the stress of varying temperature extremes that calves experience.

Calf-Rescue Blankets (Patent Pending) use reflective and heat absorptive technology to help struggling newborn calves control body heat fluctuations in varying climates, and can also be used to move the calf.

Learn more about this product line in the Farm Credit Dairy Center.

J & D Manufacturing, Inc – 72-inch Torque Drive Mega Storm II Fan

The 72-inch Torque Drive Mega Storm II Fan is the first exhaust fan of its size with no belts, pulleys or tensioners. This fan is the highest performing exhaust fan – 46,225 CFM at .10 SP – and still meets the 20.3 CFM/Wt. requirement for many energy rebates.

Visit them in the Farm Credit Dairy Center for a closer look.

Logan Clutch Corporation – Flexadrive

Flexadrive is a multiple pump drive system that facilitates diesel, diesel-electric and hybrid drives for all sizes of agricultural production equipment. This multiple pump drive system enables you to connect and disconnect hydraulic pumps on demand.

It has a power management system that enables easy switching from diesel to hybrid mode. Among the list of features, data collection and Wi-Fi capability are beneficial for those interested in big data.

Be sure to stop by their booth in Building C to learn more about this product.

Protekta Inc. – X-Zelit

X-Zelit is the answer to preventing clinical and subclinical hypocalcemia in dairy cows. It is added to the close-up ration at the rate of 17.6 ounces per cow, per day, for 14 days prior to calving. When using X-Zelit, no other methods of prevention are necessary (i.e., calcium supplements or acidification of the ration/DCAD balance).

X-Zelit binds excess calcium from the close-up ration in the small intestine. Thereafter, the calcium leaves the cow through feces. There is no calcium in the close-up ration available for absorption. This activates the cow’s natural process of mobilizing calcium from her bones/body reserves (triggering her parathyroid hormone). Triggering this process allows her to maintain an optimum calcium level at calving and into lactation. To prevent subclinical hypocalcemia, it is crucial to consistently maintain calcium levels at 8.5 mg/dl (2.15 mmol/l) or higher at calving.

Visit them in the Farm Credit Dairy Center during World Ag Expo.

Silostop – SilostopMAX

SilostopMAX is an orange on black film that is virtually impermeable to oxygen and, for this reason, prohibits the entry of air into ensiled crops. It is crucial that ensiled crops are stored in an anaerobic environment to prevent energy and dry matter losses.

SilostopMAX is a robust film that complies with California Air Resources Board Rule 4750 and is therefore suitable for larger applications. It is easy to handle and apply. It has unique oxygen barrier properties that reduce VOCs and is proven to be over 100 times more effective than conventional silage sheeting.

See this product in the Farm Credit Dairy Center.

Sutton Ag Enterprises – Ortomec Cleaner 2

The Ortomec Cleaner 2 is an innovative, in-field crop cleaning system. The self-propelled Cleaner 2 cuts crops at variable heights and vacuums away the cut product and foreign material with its high powered suction system.

By running the Cleaner 2 through a post-harvest field, the machine enables an increase in the number of harvests on the same seeding bed and the quality of the next crop. This is made possible by removing the residuals of the previous cut, harmful insects and any other unwanted material in the field while cutting the crop to a uniform height. This allows the crop to regrow in a cleaner and healthier environment which in turn allows for a reduction in chemical use.

Traditionally, the field would be plowed and replanted after a harvest. Yet with the Cleaner 2 multiple harvests are made possible from the initial seeding, increasing turnaround time and profitability. Additionally, the machine can be used prior to harvesting with just the vacuum system to remove any material that is not the crop. This prevents foreign materials from being harvested, reducing processing time while increasing food safety.

Stop by “T” Street and Median Street to learn more.

Veda Farming Solutions, Inc. – Scorpion

The Scorpion is a self-propelled automatic weeder with a built-in frame and engine which allows it to control weeds by carefully cutting the weed at the root without hurting nearby plants. The Scorpion removes weeds within 1/2 inch around each plant, with hydraulically operated blades. The weeder can be used on as many rows as needed for each bed, with flexible configurations.

See the Scorpion on the corner of “U” Street and Median Street.

Watch Technologies – AutoFlood

AutoFlood automates on-farm flood irrigation by retrofitting existing delivery gates with linear actuators that open and close the gates based on sufficiently irrigating fields.

AutoFlood controls all aspects of flooding, from the time water enters an on-farm canal until flooding is completed. It also controls delivery gate operations, manages flow in all “checks” or “lands” to nearly eliminate tail water spill, reduces cost of irrigation labor by 75-90 percent, reduces water consumption by 5-10 percent, reduces standing water on crops due to over-flooding, provides real-time data to farmers on progress of irrigation via telemetry and allows a farmer to change system operational parameters remotely.

Learn more about this product at World Ag Expo in Pavilion B.

The 2017 Top-10 New Products Competition is sponsored by Bank of America.