Show of livestock, technologies for animal production and gamekeeping attracted nearly forty thousand visitors

 

Almost one thousand animals from the best Czech breeders, a broad range of technologies for animal production and offer of supplies for hunting, gamekeeping and outdoor activities. All of this was on display at the Brno Exhibition Centre from last Sunday and together with a rich conference, educational and awareness programme attracted a lot of interest from experts and the public. After two years, a concept combining the National Show of Livestock, the ANIMAL TECH fair and the National Gamekeeping Show once again reaffirmed its attractiveness. According to a preliminary estimate, this unique show was visited by more than 37,000 paying visitors over its duration of four days.

More professionals arrived

This year was another step towards the fulfilment of the new trade fair profile as a professional platform. In the first phase, two years ago, the National Show of Livestock was separated from the presentation of pets and connected with the ANIMAL TECH fair, which focuses on technologies for breeding and livestock production. This year, the event continued to focus on expertise, with only one day of four falling on the weekend, while three working days were designated primarily for visits by professionals. On Sunday, 16 thousand visitors came to the exhibition grounds and another approximately 21 thousand visitors arrived on Monday to Wednesday.

ANIMAL TECH has shown cutting edge technology and equipment

The animal production fair has already welcomed 200 exhibitors – producers of feed, manufacturers of veterinary and reproductive equipment, breeding technologies, milking equipment and agricultural equipment for breeders. These novelty products have shown interesting ways to improve farming economy, increase production efficiency and improve wellbeing of livestock. The stands of ANIMAL TECH occupied 9,000 square meters of net exhibition space.

30 products were submitted by companies to the competition for the best exhibits, and 18 of them were nominated by the expert evaluation committee for an award. Six exhibits won the ANIMAL TECH 2019 Gold Medal: HerdOptimizer of the exhibitor CRV Czech Republic, Allflex Young Cattle with eSense™ Flex sensor of the exhibitor Eurofarm Systems, AGRITEC Silage Safe of the exhibitor NutriVet, AGE - VENT 300 of the exhibitor AGE, SiloSolve® FC of the exhibitor Chr. Hansen Czech Republic and MooCall Heat – bovine heat detection technology of the exhibitor MERKANN INTERNATIONAL.

For the first time ever, the Smart Farming category was opened as part of the exhibit competition, in which the evaluation committee appraised seven products: the Lely Astronaut A5 automatic milking system of the exhibitor AGRO-partner, Cow Manager of the exhibitor ISB Genetic, TriSortpro of the exhibitor BD Tech, John Deere HarvestLab 3000 of the exhibitor STROM Prague, Fence power DUO RF PDX50 of the exhibitor VNT electronics, Shuttle Eco – self-driven feeding robot of the exhibitor V. Racek – agricultural technologies and DeLaval VMS V300 automatic milking system of the exhibitor DeLaval.

Breeding Event of the Year

Halls P and F of the Brno Exhibition Centre became the venue of the largest livestock production show in the Czech Republic for four days. The National Show of Livestock 2019 was held on an area of 18,000 sqm and featured over 900 pieces of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and horses. The participation of beef cattle was record-breaking – breeders brought in 392 pieces of 22 represented breeds. Milked cattle were 221 pieces and the most represented breed was Holstein cattle with 87 pieces. The preparation and organisation of the event was carried out in exquisite cooperation of the Czech-Moravian Breeders' Corporation, the Czech Beef Breeders' Association, the Holstein Cattle Breeders' Association of the Czech Republic, the Czech Fleckvieh Breeders' Association, the Czech Small-Breed Dairy Cattle Breeders' Association, the Union of Breeders of Normande Cattle of the Czech Republic, the Association of Sheep and Goat Breeders and the Union of Pig Breeders in Bohemia and Moravia. A horse exhibition was staged by the EQUICom agency in cooperation with horse breeders' associations and equestrian clubs.

The most important part of the breeding programme consisted of championships and competition shows of individual breeds, for example the National Championship of Holstein Cattle, National Championships of Beef Breeds, National Jersey Cattle Championship or a competition show of Czech Fleckvieh cattle. The exhibition traditionally met high professional and international standards when the results of the work of Czech breeders were evaluated by judges from the USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

The offer was viewed by incoming missions from Armenia, Lebanon, Belarus, Russia, Senegal, Northern Macedonia and Ukraine, whose participants highly appreciated the quality of Czech breeding and genetic material.

Professional supporting programme with VIP guests

The XXVII Assembly of the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic took place at the Exhibition Centre with the participation of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová, Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Toman and other prominent personalities. The Commodity Council for Milk and the Gamekeeping Committee also held their meetings here, and the Association of Agricultural Machinery Importers and the Association of Pig Breeders in Bohemia and Moravia general meetings and other professional forums were held.

The 9th Central European Veterinary Congress focused on new approaches to the issues of animal health was also included in the complex of trade fairs focusing on livestock production. Its two-day session took place directly in Hall P and it was attended by 150 veterinarian surgeons. This year's congress was international both on the part of the speakers and of the audience.

Beekeeping exhibition and kitchen studio

The Beekeeping Exhibition in Hall G1 introduced not only the traders of honey, mead, cosmetics and other bee products, but also the suppliers of products for beekeepers. A series of lectures on beekeeping took place on Sunday.

There was great interest in the regional food sales show and the trade fair kitchen studio – a space for gastronomy shows and South Moravian vocational schools' presentations. On Monday, the 3rd season of a gastronomy competition for young professionals for the travelling cup of the Governor of the South Moravian Region took place here.

Visitors were also interested in commented shows of cattle, pigs, goats and sheep, an equestrian arena with horse presentations or horse riding shows and a western programme.

Visitors again chose the most beautiful cow of the show. The title of Miss Sympathy in the beef cattle category was won by a Charolais cow named Bledulka from Meziboří from the Hatlák family farm. The most beautiful cow in the category of dairy cattle was declared a cow of Czech Fleckvieh cattle named Atchafalaya from a farm based in Kámen.

National Gamekeeping Show

The third season of this show was very successful, and together with the beekeeping exhibition it sold out the entire Hall G1. Visitors could choose from a complete range of supplies for hunters, gamekeepers and outdoor activities – weapons, ammunition, optics, special clothing and off-road vehicles. The show of trophies, which were lent by the district hunting associations of Brno-City, Židlochovice, Rosice, Šlapanice and Kuřim, was significantly expanded. Newly conceived sideline exhibitions presented interesting stories related to hunting in the Czech Republic. A new feature also was the 3D archery range or the opportunity to have your gamekeeping knowledge and skills tested and obtain a certificate from the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology of MENDELU. The diversified stage programme addressed both professionals and fans of hunting, while the exhibition of forest education enjoyed great interest of families with children.

95 journalists from four countries were accredited in the exhibition press centre over the four days of the event; foreign journalists arrived from Hungary, Austria and Slovakia.

The next season of the National Show of Livestock, ANIMAL TECH and the National Gamekeeping Show will be staged from 25 to 28 April 2021.

The TECHAGRO, SILVA REGINA and BIOMASS fairs will take place at the Brno Exhibition Centre from 31 March to 4 April 2020.

---

What people said about the fairs

Andrej Babiš, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic:
I'm glad to be able to be here. It is necessary to show that agriculture is important for us and the main goal of farmers is to feed our population. We are not self-sufficient and we should think more of future generations, sufficiency of water and other things. I keep my fingers crossed for all the farmers to do well, because then all of us will be doing well.

Miroslav Toman, Minister of Agriculture of the Czech Republic:
This show confirms the high standards of Czech agriculture and breeding. My thanks for it go to all the breeders, exhibitors and the Czech-Moravian Breeders' Corporation. The Ministry of Agriculture supports livestock production and this year alone our spending on animal care is expected to be twice as high as last year.

Jiří Kuliš, CEO, Trade Fairs Brno
This season of the event confirmed that the decision to profile this set of trade fairs as a primarily professional event was right. Animal husbandry and breeding technologies are an important sector of the Czech economy, and at the same time they have a strong impact on the landscape and its sustainability. These issues in particular resonated very significantly during this year's season and I am convinced that both exhibitors and visitors will not only bring home valuable contacts and business opportunities from the fair, but also inspiration for the care of the Czech landscape.

Martin Pýcha, Chairman of the Agricultural Association of the Czech Republic:
The Czech Republic ranks among the top five countries in the world in terms of performance of dairy cows, and we are also among the top countries in terms of beef yields. Czech breeders can proudly compare with the best of the world and we see the results of their work at this show. The best animal championships are taking place here. I think our farmers deserve appraisal and thanks.

Josef Kučera, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Czech-Moravian Union of Breeders:
My thanks go to the breeders because they prepared the animals and came here to present them. This beautiful hall can be compared to the ambiance of world-class exhibitions. If we went to Hanover or to Paris, we might not find the conditions that the Brno Exhibition Centre offers to animals. This also shows that the Czech Republic ranks among the top countries as regards breeding and animal husbandry. This is best proven by hard figures: Czech farmers have been exporting genetic material worth an average of CZK 800 million a year over the past three years.

David Lipovský, Head of the Breeding Section of the Czech-Moravian Union of Breeders:
We would like to thank BVV Trade Fairs Brno for changing its strategy, because the separation of technology for crop and livestock production created a space for exhibiting large farm animals. There are suitable conditions regardless of weather and a special non-slippery surface, and the safety of animals is paramount. We occupy the two largest halls and even so it is barely enough for us.

Ctibor Zourek, Sales Manager, MIKROP ČEBÍN a. s.:
We appreciate the combination of ANIMAL TECH with the National Show of Livestock and we expect that this event, specialised in livestock production, will continue to expand. We understand this event mainly as a social function and an opportunity to meet our customers. On the first day we were pleased to see how much people came to see the animals. The interest in our presentation is traditionally high and on Sunday we were visited by the Prime Minister and other important guests, which we perceived as a prestigious event and an expression of support for agriculture.

Josef Nauš, Sales Director, SMS CZ, s.r.o.:
In Brno, we exhibit at every TECHAGRO fair and this year for the first time also at ANIMAL TECH because we also offer special machinery for cattle breeders. This exhibition is focusing on livestock production and has a real potential; a lot of people come here and they are seriously interested, so from this point of view we are satisfied.

František Kolář, Sales Rep, ALEX INDUSTRIES, spol. s r. o.:
We exhibited at the National Show of Livestock in the past, and now we have come back for the ANIMAL TECH fair. We focus on barn technologies, so it's great to exhibit in the same hall with animals; and hats off for the amazing cattle collections that they managed to bring together here.

Vojtěch Zink, Managing Director FARMCZSYSTEM, s. r. o.:
We have been on the market only for five years, but we have exhibited in Brno every year. We always have a lot of interesting things to do here and a lot of people come to our stand, and we are grateful for that. This year we are satisfied, we had a lot of customers here, our partners arrived. And there are breeders here, which is most important to us.

Marek Fikejs, Product Manager – forage harvesters and sprayers, STROM PRAHA a. s.:
We have a truly wide portfolio and for this year's fair we chose such products as to reach our customers in livestock production, especially breeders of beef or dairy cattle, sheep and goats. I can say that this purpose has been fulfilled. There are a lot of people coming to see us, who didn't even expect to see, at a breeders' exhibition, equipment that could help them in their everyday work. It has proved to be important for us to be present at ANIMAL TECH, and I think we will be here again in two years' time.

Jan Novák, Sales Manager for the Czech Republic, GEA Westfalia Separator CZ s. r. o.:
I consider correct the two-year cycle, as introduced by the company BVV Trade Fairs Brno. Focusing alternately on crops and livestock production makes sense to me. I see the fair more as a social function, although I have to say that every day we deal with a lot of business opportunities. Our customers came in here so the purpose was fulfilled for us and I am satisfied.

Jiří Dohnal, Product Manager, AFEED, a. s.:
I like the fact that the new concept of agricultural fairs in Brno has strengthened the position of livestock production, because we are directly related to it. On the other hand, I think we have a place at the TECHAGRO fair as well, because we work with technology suppliers and other organisations. The presentation at the trade fair means for us, above all, an expression of thanks to our customers, which we meet here, but of course we also have occasional business talks with suppliers and sometimes we also make a new contract.

Michal Viazanička, Sales Manager at AGRO A. R. W.:
We exhibit in Brno every year, because we believe that this will provide us with publicity with both the general public and trade visitors. This year we must appreciate the organisers for their extraordinary attitude, which has been constantly improving every year. The unloading of machinery and equipment and the overall arrangement of the stand ran absolutely without a problem. We were pleased to present our novelty products both to new and existing customers. Our stand was also successful with families with children who made a lot of smiling photos here.

Jiří Burdich, Director of Sales and Marketing at VVS Verměřovice s. r. o.:
We are really satisfied with the ANIMAL TECH fair this year. Our participation in these fairs has been permanent, which is reflected positively in our customers' awareness. We have had talks with our partners here, so the exhibition was beneficial and positive for us. The number of trade visitors exceeded our expectations. I also have to appraise the high standards of the fair and the great premises of the Brno Exhibition Centre.

Radek Holeta, Project Manager at AGE s.r.o.:
We were positively surprised by the numbers of visitors, which did not decrease even after the weekend peak. My colleagues at the stand have not paused since the morning opening because visitors are interested in our products. Of course, we were most pleased that our nominated product AGE VENT – 300 received a Gold Medal. It is a front product that deserves such an award. We consider the overall standard of the trade fair very high and we will definitely be back for the next season of the event.

Ivana Průchová, Marketing Manager at AGRO-partner s. r. o.:
The level and professionalism of the exhibition centre has certainly risen since the last season. The biggest success with visitors and experts was yielded by a new product we presented – the Lely Astronaut A5 milking robot. However, undecided customers mostly came to us who wanted to look at the machine from a pretty near distance. We then had a unique opportunity to confirm that our products are the best. ANIMAL TECH was especially beneficial for us as regards the number of new clients who regularly came in during the whole event. However, Sunday and Monday were the busiest days at our stand.

Irena Rokosová, Head of Communication Department, State Agricultural Intervention Fund:
At are one of the permanent exhibitors at this fair. New and existing clients who are interested in European funds come to talk to us every year, and this year people found us here as well. The public then most appreciated the fact that they met our regional advisors and were not afraid to take advantage of this opportunity. It was great that we were in the centre of the action and got a place in the main hall. The purpose with which we came to this exhibition was certainly fulfilled.

Michal Holík, Sales Director, Bodit Tachov s. r. o.:
This is our first time at ANIMAL TECH this year, but we rate the fair in Brno very highly. We are satisfied with both the display fitting and the overall organization. We were surprised to see that this trade fair really focuses on trade visitors, but it can also satisfy the general public. However, we still have to wait for our participation to be reflected in our business results.

Martin Křivka, Head of Promotion at Farmtec a. s.:
We have been coming to Brno for a long time now because it's our heart matter. We came to ANIMAL TECH this year to introduce a top Czech novelty, which even won a Gold Medal. Our heated trough, which received this award, is praised mainly by experts. We give the biggest plus to the exhibition premises, which we are really satisfied with.