CRIMPED GRAIN is proving to be increasingly popular with the UK”s livestock farmers, according to crimping specialist Kelvin Cave.

Ensiling crimped cereals and pulses provides a high quality alternative to expensive concentrate feeds. The system has been shown to result in significant savings compared to traditional drying and rolling of grain, says the firm.

But, as with all feedstuffs, it has to be stored somewhere and often space is at a premium. To tackle this problem the company has launched a crimper/bagger to give farmers the option of extra storage where clamp space is limited.

The Korte machine discharges and compacts crimpled feeds directly into plastic “sausage”. All that is required is a stone -free, flat surface.

Each sausage can stretch to 60m in length and has a diameter of 1.5m. Current machines are capable of processing between 8t/hour and 18t/hour. Costing 25,000, the largest model is expected to be most popular with contractors who have already built up a crimping client base.