By Callum Littlejohn, ECV Nutritionist
At East Coast Viners, we have been busy over the last few months helping our customers process their cereals for their winter ahead. Our high-capacity bruiser has been out on farm treating barley, wheat, oats, peas and beans. There are a number of different ways to store grain throughout the winter. Our bruiser is capable of crimpring grain, treating grain with ProSid Propcorn, dry rolling and producing Alkagrain with Home n’ Dry pellets.
Alkagrain is produced by taking fully mature, ripe cereal grain (grain must be free from green material) and mixing it with Home n’ Dry pellets. Ideally the grain should be between 15-20% moisture but grain up to 25% can be treated with the addition of more pellets. Through a natural process ammonia is released throughout the crop, stabilising the mix and raising the pH into the alkaline range (pH 8.5 - 9.0) which can then be fed safely to ruminants. The pellets can be applied through our bruiser via an applicator or can be added to whole barley through a mixer wagon. Our applicator is mounted on weigh cells to make sure that the correct amount of product is being applied to each tonne of grain. Each 10kg of Home n’ Dry increases the crop’s protein content by 1.46% with a 30kg minimum application rate, the crude protein of the grain is raised by 4.38%.
Alkagrain is a good quality alkaline ruminant feed with increased protein, pH and high energy levels. The alkaline pH provides a buffer to help rumen function and safely increase the cereal content of the diet which is ideal for finishing cattle. You are effectively using protein, that would otherwise be bought in over the winter, to conserve and enhance the grain during storage. You can do this without the need for bespoke equipment, specialist storage or drying. This gives you a significant saving compared with alternative cereal processing methods.
Many farmers have cut their barley very dry this year so may have opted to dry it down for storage. This does not mean that Alkagrain is not achievable. By adding 2% water to dry barley this adds enough moisture to activate the Home n’ Dry pellets to enable the same reaction as with natural barley off the combine. Our mill has the capacity to add the water and pellets making it a one-step process. We can also offer processing of grain without any extra treatment.
If the grain has too many greens to be treated via Home n’ Dry then we can apply ProSid Propcorn to the cereal. ProSid will quickly and effectively kill all types of yeast and mould and maintain the nutritional value of the crop at a high level. ProSid evaporates much slower than other mould inhibitors currently on the market, due to propionic acid glycerol esters. With less evaporation, ProSid has a longer lasting effect. ProSid is classified as non-corrosive to use and transport (non-ADR) and smells considerably less than pure propionic acid making it a far safer and user-friendly product.
If you have any queries about our services or would like some grain processed, please call the office on 01569 740251 or Calum Littlejohn on 07904 965862.