August 3, 2012

Denmark's trough manufacturing firm, Trunox, has developed a new trough for finishers, which possess identical qualities as a stainless steel trough, but with a lower price tag.

The company was capable of lowering the price by using high quality PVC materials and concrete next to only stainless steel, whose priceich  has reached unprecedented heights in the recent years. This has led to sky-high prices for ad lib feeding troughs too.

Since reducing stainless steel thickness could go at the expense of durability, the Danish company therefore endeavoured to make a new trough type, just as strong and durable as a stainless steel ones, but at the cost of only about 70-75% of stainless steel prices.

The trough is PCT-patented in both Europe and Russia.

Villy Sørensen, manager at Trunox, came up with the idea of producing a trough in plastic, reinforcing it with stainless steel on the edges and the ends where the animals can get to it, and stabilising it with a supporting base plate or foot in polymer concrete.

To make sure he got the best design and materials, he discussed the idea with several experts. The design had to be functional but also easy to install and clean.

The trough is made by a six millimetre thick PVC plate. It is supported with two stainless steel tubes, protecting the edges of the trough. This design has proven to be sufficient to cope with the wear and manipulation of the finishers. The plastic troughs can be produced in lengths up to 11.80 millimetres.

Plastic has not often been used in troughs before as plastic often contracts or enlarges depending on the temperature. The PVC in the new trough can also do this, about two centimetres per five metres. This, however, has been taken into account by making a flexible construction, and troughs are always a couple of centimetres shorter than the pen's length. Expansion is thus possible if temperatures are high.

The Trunox troughs were recently sold to a large pig farm project in Eastern Europe. Where usually about 13 containers of troughs would've been needed, now this came down to two containers, making the trough very competitive in price.