NEW FODDER PROCESS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 88, 19 November 1935, Page 6

NEW FODDER PROCESS

USE OP DRIED GRASS.

DOMINION POSSIBILITIES

The possibility of a marked change in fodder conservation methods in New Zealand is indicated in a statement by the Department of Indus-! trial and Scientific Research, which has been investigating the "dried grass" process of retaining the high feed value of young pasture plants. The method has already been the subject of numerous experiments in America, Germany, Denmark and Britain, the main problems being those of cheap suitable fuel and the economic handling of large quantities of grass. New Zealand, by virtue of its long growing season, and its highly-nutritious grasses, appears to be admirably suited for the production of this new feed both for local consumption and for possible export. "The normal process of hay-mak-ing has certain disadvantages," says the report. "Owing to weather conditions the crop has to be cut at a relatively advanced stage of maturity, when its feed value and digestibility are relatively low. Even in good weather losses of nutriment may be as much as 50 per cent., reaching 60 per cent, under bad conditions. With ensilage the losses between cutting and final consumption may be fully as high. THE IDEAL METHOD. "The ideal method is that of artificial drying, which reduces to a minimum respiration, fermentation and digestibility losses, the total recovery being as high as 97 per cent. At the same time the growing of grass to the hay stage has a decidedly deleterious effect on pastures, suppressing clovers, encouraging weeds and weakening growth." Dealing with price prospects, the report states that in the ordinary state of the foodstuffs market, dried grass should find a ready sale at £8 a ton. In England such products sell up to £9 a ton, but with high cost of transport it would be safer to depend on a small local market during the time that the technique of drying and handling is being perfected. Internal transport costs would also indicate the necessity for sale within reasonable distance of drying plants, especially as it would take some time to create a comparatively large demand.

The English factory plant, comprising two units, is of a conveyer hot-air blast type, the dry product being ground into meal, chaffed or pressed into bales as required. An area of 2000 acres was required to supply the plant, the largest in the world, and 9000 tons of lucerne were put through it in only part -of the 1934 season. Other small grass and lucerne plants are being produced in England. Official trials in Denmark were done with two different types of machine, one with an initial feedinlet temperature of 1800 degrees F., the complete process occupying less than one minute.

ESTIMATED COSTS AND PRICE

"Presuming that the dried material is worth £8 a ton to the purchaser," the report states, "and that the processing costs are about £3 10s a ton for the final product, this leaves about £1 a ton for the grass to be delivered at the factory, since 4 a tons of green matter are required to produce one ton of dried material. These figures indicate that the problem is sufficiently near the possibility of practical solution to be worthy of serious consideration, although selling costs are not taken into account."

"New Zealand is capable of producing high per acre yields of grass during long periods of the year. There is a need for evening up supplies of stock feed during the year. The protein figure of New Zealand grass is the highest in the world, while at the same time there is a need for an alternative use for grass other than those of producing milk, meat and wool. Other marked possibilities are the provision of high feed value concentrates for pigs and poultry and the developing of an export trade in dried grass, lucerne, and clover products."