New Products Competition
Unistock Cattle Squeeze Crate Wins Best New Product Award
After a lengthy and hotly debated judging session, the winner of the AgriScot New Product Competition 2011 is the 100% Scottish Unistock Cattle Squeeze Crate from Premier Livestock Handling in Dalbeattie.
Helping to improve safety and maximise ease of operating, particularly for those working alone, the unique multi angular squeeze action of the crate offers great versatility with front and rear sections operating independently to each other. The rear section squeezes to prevent the animal reversing out of the crate and the front section can be squeezed to secure the animal.
With 18 entries, ranging in purchase price from £5 to £100,000, confirming its popularity and the desire among companies for well deserved recognition and valuable endorsement, the New Product Competition was closely fought. In second place was the Harbro Maxammon, a non acid wholecrop and moist grain preserver.
The AgriScot new product competition is designed to recognise and reward commercial potential, creativity and innovation. Meeting emerging or existing demand for new or developed products and pushing technological or mechanical boundaries, winners each year need to demonstrate ingenuity and uniqueness as well as business potential.
Open to any product introduced to the market since AgriScot 2010, the competition is the ideal chance to build awareness of a product within the toughly fought agricultural market place. The winning product receives £1,000 worth of prizes and gains valuable publicity for their product and company.
The 18 entries this year included calf starter pellets, second generation rodenticides, a CowCam which allows farmers to keep an eye on their cattle on TV or computer and a catalytic reduction technology in tractors.
George Clark, who owns Premier Livestock Handling and designs all of the crates himself, was delighted with his win this year:
“This means a great deal to us. The idea emerged when I was working alone on my smallholding and I am pleased to say that business and products have developed enormously since then. Those who work alone with cattle can be assured a safer working environment due to the multi angle action of the crate.
“Having demonstrated a prototype at the Royal Highland Show this year, I am delighted that the Unistock crate is now fully tested and available for sale – with of course the added and valuable endorsement of this great competition win.”
Last year’s new product winner was SpermVital from Geno which is a unique patented product that extends the life of sperm inside the cow’s reproductive tract, increasing the chances of conception.
Wes Bluhm, Geno UK Managing Director, speaking of his win, said:
“To win this award last year was a real honour for us. For our parent company in Norway it was enormously rewarding that after years of research their contribution was being well recognised and we have advertised our success internationally.
“Domestically, awareness has been high with many farmers mentioning to us that they have seen our win. Such awareness helps to cement our reputation, offers additional comfort for farmers that our product is the best and the endorsement also helps our sales team who are selling something that they strongly believe in. Sales have been good in the last 12 month, very much underpinned by our win, and we plan to build on this success even further going forward.”
Both George and Wes’s stories demonstrate just how valuable it can be for a business to be successful within this New Product Competition.
Thanks go to this year’s competition judges Iain Green, Blair Colquhoun and the Scottish Farmer’s Alasdair Fletcher.
All entries into the competition are listed in the official event catalogue.
