COMMERCIAL GRASS DRYING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3823, 19 October 1936, Page 3

COMMERCIAL GRASS DRYING

At the last Oxford Conference, commerical grass drying was referred to as follows: Commercial grass drying for the farmer has arrived. It represents one of the greatest advances in agriculture for centuries. Some winters ago, when I was not satisfied with the milk yield from my cows (I never am), the adviser of the cake manufacturers told me that the cake and the cows were all right but the hay was awful. He suggested obtaining the advice of a grass expert. Under his guidance my grassland improved wonderfully both in quality and yield; but the expert seemed hazy as to what to do with the surplus. He introduced me to Messrs. Chemical Industries and in August, 1934, a Billingham grass drier was installed—certainly the oddest looking contraption that ever came to my farm. The drier I use is of the tray type. This is economical, positive in its drying, and extraordinarily simple in its construction, so much so that if anything breaks it can be temporarily repaired with our beloved bits of string and wire. The machine is really a gigantic oven in which the grass is put on trays. There is a coke furnace to produce gas for a bunsen burner. The hot air from this is drawn through the trays of grass by means of a fan. About half a ton of wet grass is loaded on a tray 80 square feet in extent. After partial drying it is forked to another tray. This is the most important part of the whole operation. Should there be a wet patch in the first operation it will be found in the tedding. After a second cooking at a finishing temperature of somewhere about 55 degrees centigrade the grass is dried and is pushed along the floor with a fork to the. hydraulic baler, making a bale of about 1 cwt. The effect of the dried grass on 'the colour of the milk was marked. It was pleasant to have customers sending mesages of congratulation. More, next year I shall cut my feeding bill in half. In addition I shall employ 10 extra men permanently; for with the money saved on purchased goods I shall be able to keep on hedging and other work when the drier is not working, and so improve the productivity of my farm.