This week, the Irish Farmers Journal caught up with grain crimping specialist Stephen Kelly from Fenagh, Co Carlow. Stephen has been offering a grain crimping/rolling/treating service to farmers in Carlow and the surrounding counties for a number of years.

“Basically, there are about three options that farmers can choose from, but it all depends on the type of grain to be stored and the storage facilities available,” says Stephen.

For crimping, the grains must be harvested at a high moisture content of between 25% and 35%. The grain is then passed through the crimping machine and an additive is applied. The crimped grain can be stored inside or outside. The clamp must be rolled and sealed with polythene. Many farmers will store the crimped grain in long, narrow silage pits to reduce wastage at the feed face. It costs about €35/t crimping and additive.

According to Stephen, the big drawback with this type of crimping is that the crop has to be harvested at high moisture content, which makes it difficult to combine and the tillage farmer is left with green straw. In response to this, many farmers have switched to storing grain with a lower moisture content.

To successfully store grain, it must have a moisture content of 16%, or less. Any higher than this and there is a risk of heating. Typically, ripe grain comes off the combine harvester at a moisture content of 18% to 20%, so tillage farmers who store grain must have some way of drying it before putting it into the store.

For livestock farmers who don’t have a grain drier and who want to buy green grain for feed, there are two main options – crimping and treating the grain with propionic acid or urea. Propionic acid treatment, or propcorn, involves crimping the grain at a moisture level of between 16% and 25% and adding propionic acid after crimping.

The propionic acid treated grain can be left in a shed without being covered or rolled but the heap must be kept dry. With the propionic treatment, vermin is not an issue. The amount of propionic acid used depends on the moisture content of the grain, with higher moisture contents requiring higher additive use.

The other option is protein treatment or urea treatment of grain. Again, the grain is crimped and the protein or urea is added after treatment. Like propionic treatment, the urea can be mixed with the grain through a diet feeder or added to the grain with an applicator on the crimping machine.

Unlike propionic acid treatment, the amount of urea-based additive to be applied to the grain does not change depending on moisture content. The protein additive costs in the region of €40/t to €45/t, depending on product used. The treated grain should be heaped and sealed under polythene in a dry shed for two to three weeks after treatment. Thereafter, the polythene can be removed but the shed must be kept dry.

Value for money

Value for money is always top of my agenda when looking at sources of feed. With international grain markets under pressure, it is likely that a tonne of barley or wheat direct from the combine will be cheaper this year. Whether that’s a reason to purchase grain and store on farm depends on the alternatives. The price of a tonne of grain is just one factor to take into account – the grain must be crimped, treated and stored and all of this comes at a cost, along with the preservation losses. In some cases, up to 5% can be lost at preservation and feed-out. All of these factors must be added together and compared against the price of purchased concentrate. Other factors to be considered are labour input and balancing for protein. While the urea-treated grain option is said to increase the protein content in the treated grain, barley and wheat on their own are low-protein feeds, so a protein balancer is required for feeding to growing cattle or dairy cows.