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Hydrosmart Boosts Yields
Once installed, farmers can expect to pay about $10 a year for electricity to power their Hydrosmart. It’s a small price to run a nifty bit of gear that reduces salinity, protects plumbing equipment, increases crop yields and helps fatten cattle faster.
Hydrosmart’s physical water conditioning system is a simple, sustainable and effective approach to conditioning water. By applying it, farmers get the advantages of using a technology to solve water problems which requires no chemicals, no filters and no maintenance.
Reflecting back, CEO of Hydrosmart Paul Pearce said they started the company 23 years ago servicing vineyards in South Australia, as the business was surrounded by the many great Australian wine districts.
The technology took off and, since then, Hydrosmart’s have helped growers from a range of farming sectors including strawberries, broccoli, olives, apples, citrus trees right up to broadacre farms and livestock. They have a field trial currently running on young seedless lemon trees in California using EC 1.1 dS/m (630 TDS) water over the last 12 months. They are measuring tree diameters and heights and applying regularly measured amounts of fertiliser to the trees planted on coarse sandy soil in the desert. The Hydrosmart treated water increased growth a significant 30% the first year.
Hydrosmart’s have become a mainstay sustainable water technology on many farms and outback homesteads which, of course, rely on well water. From go to flo, the installation process doesn’t take longer than a few hours.
“We ask that the Hydrosmart is protected, so it may take time to put a small shed or enclosed area around it so it’s safe from the elements and any animals”, he said. “It will keep working for decades of use and there are no running costs other than $10 in power to operate it yearly.”
When asked how and why it works much better than simple static magnets, Paul replied: “By using a computer program that puts out powerful electromagnetic fields in combination with resonance frequencies that are put into water via coils wrapped around the plastic pipe loop giving over 3 meters of contact time and oscillating (activating) water molecules as they pass through. This in turn helps to weaken their bonds and produce a wide range of beneficial outcomes, particularly with highly mineralised, salty, iron or calcium rich sources.”
In short, the device softens hard water to improve overall yields. Just like a good overnight rainfall, which can only be gifted by the weather gods, farmers can notice a difference to their crop within a few days.“
We have had vineyards report seeing vines perk up within a week of installing one, as the flushing away of sodium and chloride in the root zone acts like a rainwater event, and plants pick up rapidly” Paul said. “They can absorb more water and nutrients allowing for the growth of longer, stronger canes, a better canopy and an increase in grape quality and yield.”
Hydrosmart activated water also provides many benefits for livestock of all types A beef farmer contacted Hydrosmart when they realised their Poll Hereford stock were unable to gain weight on their regular well water.
The well ran water with moderately high TDS (7000 ppm) which the cattle were not enjoying. After learning about this technology, the farm ordered a 50 mm Hydrosmart unit to treat the water which was considered low quality for beef cattle. Once installed, the cattle began putting on weight as they drank from the Hydrosmart treated brackish water. “After moving over to Hydrosmart in January, one lamb feedlot in New South Wales observed a 15% weight gain over six weeks”, Paul said. For more information, visit https://www.hydrosmart.com.au
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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