Native cereals off the combine represent fantastic value per unit of energy compared to anything that will be available in the form of commercially blended feeds this winter. Irish cereals will always be higher in energy than compound or coarse blends constructed on a least cost basis.
Similar to recent years Irish grown cereals are again at a low price and present excellent value for winter feeders price while our Irish feed industry continue to import grain and inferior bye products for inclusion in ruminant feeds. Buying Wheat, Barley or Oats off the combine and storing with the use of a suitable treatment will result in a high energy quality feed available for feeding out at approximately €190 per tonne. Such measures will help to greatly reduce concentrate costs by anything from €50 to €80 per tonne and more importantly significantly improve animal performance.
Maxammon provides a safe and secure method of incorporating high cereal inclusions in dairy concentrates plus an efficient means of Ad-lib cereal feeding to cattle. Maxammon treatment raises the cereal pH to an alkaline level of 8.5 - 9 and also increases the grain protein content by an additional 4.5 percentage points.
Maxammon treatment of grain means that where appropriate you can feed all native cereals to your stock and totally eliminate lower energy imported materials. The resulting high pH from Maxammon treatment prevents the animals from getting acidosis normally associated with high starch feeding.
Current cost per unit of protein is €9.00, a 4.5% protein increase is worth €40.50/tonne grain.
John Roche of Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies with Paul and Jerry Creedon
The Creedon family operate a productive dairy and beef business near Macroom Co. Cork. Their dairy herd comprises of 120 spring calving cows averaging 6500 litres. The Beef enterprise consists of a dairy calf to beef system. These animals are reared in a very sustainable manner to finish at targeted carcase weights.
All concentrates used on the farm are home-produced mixes which contain their own home grown barley, wheat and oats. Bought in ingredients only consist of molasses, soya bean, and minerals. The Creedon’s find home produced feeds allow them to significantly reduce feed costs and manage feed consistency.
Maxammon plays a central role in the animal diets due to its rumen friendly pH benefits and quality protein contribution. The buffering capacity of the grain has also proved to be an excellent complement to grazed grass with positive improvements in the dairy herd’s butterfat and protein percentage. Replacement heifers and calves are also fed on a Maxammon based home mix and performance with these animals has been exceptional at a much lower cost than bought in blends.
William & Patrick Hegarty - Whitechurch, Co Cork
William & Patrick Hegarty
William and Patrick, and their brother James operate Dairy, Beef and Tillage enterprises on their farms north of Cork City. All of their livestock concentrates are Maxammon cereal based.
They use home grown Maxammon Barley, Wheat, Oats and Beans along with Maxammon Maize to feed their milking cows, dairy replacements and beef animals.
The Hegarty’s find that the high pH of Maxammon cereals are an excellent complement to their Maize Silage, Fodder Beet and Grass Silage diets.
They also make their own, home grown, Maxammon based parlour mix for balancing grazed grass.
Redmond Farm - Craanford, Co. Wexford
Tom Redmond with Eoin Jordan of Jordan Agri.
Redmond Farm finish 500 Angus cross heifers annually. The farm specialises in producing beef that is subsequently used in the Redmond’s twin hotels in Gorey. Following a “farm to fork” concept, all their beef can be traced from their own herd.
The farm produces 100% heifer beef and only use Angus stock. All calves are purchased directly from local farms. A lifetime live-weight gain of 0.9 kgs is their target for their calf to beef enterprise. The animals are achieving live - weight gains of 1.2 kgs per head per day during the finishing period.
The heifers are slaughtered at 18 - 20 months of age targeting a 300kg carcase with a kill out percentage of 51.5%. The energy density of the finishing and growing diets are maintained at a high level through the use of home grown fodder beet, quality maize silage and Maxammon treated cereals.
All concentrates used are home-produced mixes which contain barley, wheat, oats, molasses, soya bean, and minerals. Maxammon plays a central role in the animal diets in terms of its pH and protein contribution.
It allows more cereals and starch to be fed safely, significantly enhancing ruminant performance and health.