ACCORDING to Peter Rich-
ardson, Marketing Manag-er at McAree Engineering: “Sales of silos in Northern Ireland have continued to be brisk across all sectors over the past few years.
“All sectors have experienced significant growth with poultry, pigs and dairy sectors all seeing high levels of investment. This year we are expecting to see a levelling off as farm input prices have escalated considerably.”
However, Peter went on to say: “Nonetheless, farmers are seeing a major increase in the cost of animal feed and it is important that they protect their feed now, not just from a biosecurity perspective but also to reduce the waste that comes with storing feed in a shed or loft.
“Up to 10 per cent of feed can be wasted through vermin and handling damage when feed is not stored in silos and with prices approaching £400 per ton that can be an expensive waste.
“There is also the time saved on feeding livestock by using an auger or even a barrow.”
McAree is displaying its popular range of V-Mac Silos and handling equipment at Balmoral Show as well as featuring Silo Spi, its silo monitoring solution, featuring Lv-logics software and monitoring application.
Since February 2021, the UCD Lyons research farm has been using Lvlogics system to monitor feed silo stock levels and to check the humidity and temperature of the various feed diets stored in the six meal bins. Backed by Lely, the Lvlogics system provides accuracy on silo contents to within 2-3 per cent.
The UCD Lyons farm has six V-Mac feed silos manufactured by McAree Engineering on site. These feed silos are used to store beef and dairy rations along with numerous feed diets currently being trialled at UCD Lyons.
Dr Eddie Jordan, the farm manager, and his team at Lyons can access all this data easily on their smartphone or on the office computer. When feed stocks fall to a predetermined level, they receive an alert and can order further supplies in good time.
The plan is to allow feed millers access to this data so they can manufacture the speciality diets and arrange delivery in a more cost- effective manner. The laser sensors used by Lvlogics system have a patented self-cleaning mechanism to deal with the dust in a silo, so the data supplied is always accurate.
According to Eddie Jordan: “Prior to installing this system monitoring feed stocks was very time consuming and we didn’t always get it right. It can be difficult to see what is in a silo and manual checking takes time.”
Eddie explained that “due to changing weather conditions the humidity and temperature in the feed silos could change leading to condensation, etc. So we could have unforeseen problems with feed bridging in the silos or going mouldy.”
Humidity checking is becoming more important with more complex feeds which have a range of additives and are more reactive to heat and humidity.
The feed silo monitoring system can be powered by batteries, mains electricity or even solar panels. This technology is unique, patented and Irish.
The multiple award winning Lvlogics system, which has world-wide potential due to its ability to improve feed quality, farm safety and logistics issues, was developed by Barry and Eileen Finnegan, who are based at Oldcastle, County Meath.
Peter Richardson, Fergal Sherry, Noel Kiely, Barry and Eileen Finnegan look forward to meeting visitors to stand C54, where one can also enter a free raffle for a V-Mac Barrow worth £300.
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