Alkagrain - Farm Feeds and Forages for the Future: You’ll be Home n’ Dry thanks to The Farm Store

Alkagrain - Farm Feeds and Forages for the Future: You’ll be Home n’ Dry thanks to The Farm Store

24 July 2012

Leading expert in farming practice and technological advances, The Farm Store, is delighted to announce that Home n' Dry, a product used to create Alkagrain, the most effective way to utilise home grown grain, is now in season, and is available in store. The protein based system to actively increase the value of grain in the diet of animals, without the associated drying costs, which are sure to be high after the amount of rain we've seen this summer, is now available in Cork and Kerry exclusively from The Farm Store, with stores in Bandon and Belgooly, and from its partner store, Rhyno Farm Store in Castleisland.

Farmers in Cork, Kerry and further afield can now purchase Home n' Dry locally, for use in the Alkagrain process, allowing them to preserve, store and feed grain on their farms without specialist storage, without drying and without further processing. Home n' Dry is the essential ingredient in Alkagrain, and is formulated as a mini pellet to aggressively release ammonia in the presence of minute amounts of moisture, which eliminates moulds and other spoilage organisms and attacks any pre-existing mycotoxins present on the harvested grain.

All grains or cereals are suitable for Alkagrain production, e.g. wheat, barley, oats, triticale, maize and sorghum; as well as on straw or wholecrop to compensate for poor grass silage. Alkagrain has unique nutritional characteristics that enhance the whole diet fed to farm livestock; and every 10kgs of Home n' Dry added to a crop increases its protein content by 1.46%. This added protein reduces or eliminates the need to buy protein supplements in the feeding period. Taking these factors into account, Alkagrain production is typically 15% more cost effective than other methods of harvesting, storing and processing grain.

The success of the Home n' Dry based preservation system to create Alkagrains lies in the fact that it effectively conserves materials without drying, and without specialist storage systems, so saving on energy and energy costs, resulting in a lower final cost than other methods of grain storage and treatment. It also conserves grains without fermentation hence eliminating fermentation losses that amount to at least 10% of the dry matter in all fermented crops. As well as that, the alkaline pH provides a buffer to improve Rumen function; and it reduces or eliminates attractiveness to vermin.

Home n' Dry is used in a simple four step process used to produce Alkagrain, and the finished product is ready to feed from just two weeks of storage and can be fed to milking, dry and suckler cows, as well as calves and rearing cattle, and intensive beef. Alkagrain can also be fed to ewes and intensive lamb, and as creep feeds as high as 60% of the mix for lambs and calves according to feeding objectives. It is highly flexible in use for trough feeding, parlour feeding, out of parlour feeders, as a home mix ingredient, as a hopper feed for beef and lamb finishing and, of course, a TMR ingredient.

Commenting on the arrival of Home n' Dry, Hugh Sisk, owner and Managing Director of The Farm Store said "We have been selling Home n' Dry in The Farm Store for over 12 years now, as well as using it on our own farms. With the particularly wet summer we've seen so far, this product offers the ideal solution for drying grain and reaping the benefits. The recent bad weather means that that grass silage is scarce and of very poor quality; it is also very wet, therefore a wholecrop silage which is dry and has starch and fibre is an excellent replacement."

The Farm Store prides itself on knowing what its customers need and want, and strives to supply the best quality products. Hugh added "20 years of research and development has gone into creating Home n' Dry, and at The Farm Store this is key - we will only sell products we trust in and are happy to use ourselves. There is a huge drive from within our business to provide products that will meet the needs of the modern farmer. Home n' Dry is so simple to use, with no mixing required or estimating of weights. There are no delays at rolling and doesn't stick to rollers so is ideal for today's busy farmers."

Home n' Dry is now available from The Farm Store in Bandon and Belgooly; Rhyno Farm Store, Castleisland; and online at www.thefarmstore.ie.