2023 WPX: Dol Sensors – built to withstand harsh pig barn environments
Tailor-made sensor solutions to improve livestock production and animal welfare
18 July 2023
3 minute read
By: Jenae Cummings, North America Sales Manager for Dol Sensors, spoke to The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, USA.
“Dol Sensors is a company that supplies a lot of new technologies,” said Cummings. “The sensors we manufacture can be installed in hog facilities, poultry facilities or other agriculture facilities. We supply some of the best in the industry from a quality standpoint.”
The sensors were created specifically for use in the livestock industry. Knowing that they were going into agriculture facilities, the sensors were built to be extremely robust and require minimal maintenance. From a quality standpoint, this makes Dol Sensors unique because a lot of other sensors are infiltrated into agriculture from other industries.
“One of our positive selling points for our sensors is that they were made directly for agriculture facilities to withstand the harsh environments that they are exposed to on a daily basis,” she said.
The hardened designs and special features make the sensors last longer and stay functional and accurate.
“We've got numerous sensors that fit into any swine facility,” said Cummings. “They can be used in numerous control systems because the sensors are very robust in terms of the variation of what controller they can hook up to.”
Types of sensors available:
- Climate sensors measure and monitor CO2, ammonia, temperature, light, wind speed and direction, and humidity
- Capacitive sensors detect feed and grain in feed systems such as hoppers, feed pans, silos, bin or poultry feed lines and provides data for automated processes in feed and grain handling.
All sensors are well-tested to ensure a longer service life.
Benefits for producers
“In this day and age, automation is key,” said Cummings. “We want to know what is happening all the time. We want the environment to be perfect for the swine whether they are sows, nurseries, finishers, or whatever growth stage they are in.”
“I worked in live production for 11 years,” said Cummings. “So, when I joined Dol Sensors, it was critical for me to know that it was an extremely high-quality product because I dealt with sensors, and if they fail, you lose money and time, etc.”
For the producer, sensors are critical to control the environment as well as to keep feed in front of animals and to optimize production and minimize costs. Dol Sensors offer these benefits to producers.
“One of our best, top-selling sensors is our Dol 53, which is a pneumonia sensor,” explained Cummings. “It's been rated by numerous producers as one that you just can't beat.”
Obviously for producers, handling ammonia is critical to their production and keeping levels at an acceptable rate where growth rates will excel is especially important.
“We provide quality products that have minimal fails, I'm not going to say we're 100% perfect, nobody is, but we have very minimal fails from a quality standpoint,” said Cummings.
Where to buy Dol Sensor products
“We work through OEMs and distribution channels,” she said. “If end-users or producers are trying to buy our products, Faar Solutions is a great distributor for us that we partner with, and QC Supply is another distributor. We have several other distributors based in Canada as well as all over the US.”
Dol Sensors is based in Denmark, including their manufacturing facility.
