If you have cleaner raw materials, you can be more efficient with grinding

04 November 2024 | Skiold A/S

• Crop management

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I/S Feldthusen has seen cleaner grain and improved well-being among the farm's 575 sows and 14,000 slaughter pigs since the installation of a SKIOLD Sigma Planet Drum Cleaner in spring 2022.

Cleaner raw materials, healthier animals and improved well-being. These are some of the positive effects that Bjarne Feldthusen - who together with his brother runs a pig farm and 970 hectares of land in I/S Feldthusen - has achieved with a SKIOLD Sigma Planet Drum Cleaner. It was installed as part of a new grain plant with four Sukup Europe silos with a total capacity of 3,600 tonnes in spring 2022.

- ‘We decided to go up in capacity to be future-proof and had decided that we also needed a cleaner. Because when you have pigs, you focus on removing toxins from the grain. We had considered models with simpler screens, but ended up with the SKIOLD planet drum cleaner. We haven't regretted it, even though it's one of the most expensive on the market, because it removes the waste in the grain efficiently - around 2 tonnes per 100 tonnes,’ explains Bjarne Feldthusen during a demonstration of the planetary drum cleaner.

Large amount of waste
The Sigma is located at Brandelevgaard near Næstved, one of I/S Feldhusen's three locations, in a building from 2022. The new building also houses a 50 cubic metre grain pit, part of the transport system and a room for operating the system, which is connected to the company's existing system via a large control panel.

- Everything around the planet drum cleaner is the same, and it's clear to see how much waste it removes. It ends up in a five-tonne grain cart that is situated next to the cleaner. It's amazing to see how much runs out that used to end up with the pigs. During harvest, we empty the cart of waste once a day,’ says Bjarne Feldthusen.

This benefits production:

- If you have cleaner raw materials, you can grind the grain more thoroughly and make it finer. The pigs can tolerate this better. Many factors come into consideration in pig production, which makes it difficult to measure a direct effect of the planetary drum cleaner. But since we got the grain cleaner, we have had fewer dead sows, castings, gas puffers and balloon sows. We still use toxin binder, but we've halved the dose from two to one kg.

Bjarne Feldthusen also notes that the cleaned grain reduces wear on pumps, membranes and other parts in the transport equipment, disc mill and dryer.

- For example, no dirt gets into the blower. Overall, the planet drum cleaner increases reliability and at the same time we save money on service and maintenance,’ he says.

Cleans 100 tonnes per hour

The SKIOLD Sigma Planet Drum Cleaner can clean 100 tonnes per hour and removes chaff, stones, gravel, dust and other impurities. The machine's special cleaning principle, where the grains both hit the sods and are rubbed against each other, enables it - unlike other grain cleaners on the Danish market - to also remove the toxins on the grains. And because the conveyor system is used for both filling and emptying the silos, the crops are cleaned twice.

- It never hurts, because we get to sweep off the last of the rubbish. Before we got the SKIOLD Sigma Planet Drum Cleaner, we could see a greater concentration of dirt in the last period when we emptied the silos in May and June,’ emphasises Bjarne Feldthusen.
He is responsible for looking after 575 sows and the annual production of 14,000 slaughter pigs up to 30kg. Mogens Feldthusen takes care of the cultivation of 970 hectares of grain, red fescue, rape and ryegrass as well as spinach and dill on 25 hectares, and together the brothers run a farm that must be a strong candidate for the title ‘Denmark's oldest I/S’.

- My grandfather started Brandelevgaard in 1940 as a tenant farmer, bought it after the end of World War II and bought the neighbouring farm in 1958. It's my brother's and my childhood home. My father had joined the business, and when he and my grandfather set up I/S in 1969, they were ahead of their time. I/S Feldthusen has had the same company registration number since 1970. I started the business at the age of 18, and my brother and I took over I/S Feldthusen in a smooth generational change,’ says 53-year-old Bjarne Feldthusen.