In 2015 the Heatwave was launched, and won the RABDF Livestock Machinery & Equipment award. Soon Gill & Alan had set up a business promoting the Heatwave through Pyon Products Ltd, based near Canon Pyon in Herefordshire.
Following the success of the Heatwave there arose a demand for a good hygienic product to warm up hypothermic lambs. Drawing on their own experience with rearing pedigree sheep in the 1990s, the family developed the Frisky lamb warmer. Plastic was used for the construction, as it had to be a hygienic system which was easily dis-assembled for disinfection, as well as cheap and reliable. The original single lamb version in 2016 was soon upgraded to the 2-3 lamb version on sale today. It soon became apparent that the same dairy farmers who wanted a quick start for their dairy heifers also required a system to manage cows’ colostrum. For a variety of reasons farmers wanted to store frozen colostrum, and this needed thawing very quickly without harming the valuable antibodies.
As calf rearers Gill & Alan had bought in many colostrum deficient calves and were well aware of the devastating effects that poor antibody transfer can have, so were very keen to devise a system which would solve this problem.
The challenge was to make the new Store & Thaw system affordable for all dairy farmers. The large 5 litre screw top storage bag was developed specifically by Pyon Products, and plastic was used to make the insulated thawing tank. Pyon worked alongside a UK company specialising in thermostatically controlled pasteurisers to develop their unique thermostatically-controlled heater & agitator unit. This makes it possible to thaw colostrum safely at below 50C or pasteurise at 60C for 60 minutes. The system was launched in July 2016 and won the RABDF Livestock Machinery & Equipment award.