Every two years, the showgrounds of Hanover, Germany, are the venue for Europe's largest animal husbandry show, EuroTier.

The show opened its doors on Tuesday, November 16 and will run four days. No less than 1,939 exhibitors from 49 countries are on display at an 18 hectare exhibition area.

Speaking at the opening press conference, Dr Reinhard Grandke, CEO, German Agricultural Society, DLG, said that 778 exhibiting companies came from abroad. Especially the number of Chinese exhibitors, to a total of 52, was striking.

President of the German Association of Veterinary Practitioners, Hans-Joachim Goetz, signaled that with the requirements made of producing foods of animal origin, the vet's work has changed too. It now extends well beyond purely beyond therapeutic work. "Treating an individual sick animal is naturally still part of a livestock practitioner today," he said. "However, attention is focused on preventative measures and treating entire herds or flocks. The field of work is termed 'integrated veterinary herd health care'. This holistic and sustainable animal health and hygiene management gives the farmer comprehensive and systematic support."

The German Agricultural Society itself is present with a large booth, helping farmers find their way in livestock production.

A large part of the EuroTier is taken up by halls dedicated to intensive livestock production, like pigs and poultry.

Among the exhibitors, the larger German agricultural companies like animal health company Boehringer Ingelheim, present themselves prominently.

German feed cooperative Agravis is well rooted in northern Germany. With a turnover of almost 5 billion euro and around 5,000 employees it is one of the largest agriculture companies in the area. In a press conference at their stand the national and international press was informed about the company's activities. With a feed production volume of 2 million tonnes in nine factories and another 1.2 million tones toll manufactured Agravis has a market share of about 10% in Germany.

Livestock equipment manufacturer Big Dutchman, this year focusing on pigs only, launches at least five innovations at EuroTier, among which BigFarmNet – an all-encompassing computer system for the whole farm. The company also received a gold medal for its SonoCheck, an automated system for pregnancy examination in sow group management.

As always, German animal nutrition company Sano manages to attract very many people.

This EuroTier focuses more on pigs than on poultry. Due to a decision of the so-called "Showco group" of companies the majority of exhibitors in the poultry business are not on display at this year's EuroTier. Still, there are non-Showco members at the show, such as Cobb breeding which attracts many visitors.

Besides the well-known exhibitors in the poultry business, also relatively unknown companies are trying to get access to the international marketplace, such as Jomapeks from Serbia. The company supplies and installs feeding and drinking equipment from manufacturers in Italy and Germany.

Other booths worth mentioning includes Belgian animal nutrition company Vitamex, which introduced its product Vitadys, a mixture of natural components to tackle swine dysentery.

Dutch animal nutrition company Sloten launched its Nuklospray Yoghurt at EuroTier. This is described as being a pre-weaning solution, developed to keep more piglets with sows.

Animal nutrition company Global Nutrition, headquartered in Fougeres, France, was only found in 2002 and is now successfully building a global network.

Dutch livestock systems producer Nedap presented its hi-tech system for sorting sows (Nedap Velos Sorting), after having already shown its Electronic Sow Feeding concept in the market for many years. The company is also introducing technology to allow individual finisher pig monitoring.

This last philosophy was also apparent at the "Electronic Animal Identification" seminar, organized by Schippers. Using High Frequency and Ultra High Frequency signals, producing affordable ear tags has come within the reach of pig producers, with great monitoring advantages. Marc Cox, from AgriSyst introduced the software package belonging to the new identification possibilities by comparing it to a sat-nav system in a car: "How fast am I going? Where am I going? When do I get there? How did I get there?"

In a multi-media approach to close the gap between animal producers and veterinarians, German animal health company Bayer Animal Health presented checklists related to piglets from birth to weaning and mastitis in dairy cattle. In addition, the company launched a Bayer TV iPhone application and the BayTool - an online programme to monitor the fight against unwanted visitors on-farm, like rats, mice or flies.

As always, Reed Business International Agri Media, publisher of e.g. World Poultry, All About Feed, Vetsweb.com and Pig Progress made its appearance in hall 16, J18. Paying a visit definitely is rewarding as an iPad can be won.

The German government is strongly supporting the development of alternative energy sources. Not surprisingly at EuroTier is the presence of many companies active in this area. Two halls were dedicated to this sector, which is unique in the world of agriculture exhibitions. More than 550 exhibitors from 20 different countries are showing their new and further developments.

During the forum special mini-seminars were organized on the bioenergy-subject.

Biomass from water and exploitation of substance cycles were themes discussed at the well attended aquaculture forums.

Although it is not a car show, quite some car brands were showing their latest models. Here a Suzuki Jimmy with "straw bale" print. You probably will not find it back in the straw shed.

The first night closed off with the awarding of various medals at the EuroTier exhibitor's party. A silver medal was awarded for the product CreAmino - a joint effort between Evonik and Alzchem. From left to right: Ricardo Gobbi, product manager Evonik, Klaas Kryer, Evonik, Dr Ulrike Braun, product manager Alzchem, DLG president Carl Albrecht Bastmer.

A silver medal for the Mix - Mobile Information Xtraction, a development from Weda. From left to right: Carsten Bergstedt, Ralf Meyer, Weda and DLG president Carl Albrecht Bastmer.

Heard enough about animals? There's always a way to enjoy some popcorn, try your luck at the Wheel of Fortune (or do both at the same time)...

... or instead, turn into one!

After a long day walking in and between the enormous exhibition halls, visitors gather as many gadgets as possible and Dr Eckel supplied a carrying box, which makes the trip back home a bit easier.