We now have stable production

More efficient grain cleaning has reduced dips and fluctuations in production says pig producer Jens Hjort Jensen.

Pig producer Jens Hjort Jensen has overcome a problem of the more annoying kind. After installing a SKIOLD Sigma Planet Drum Cleaner before last year's harvest, the number of sudden deaths, protruding rectums and other forms of poor welfare has been drastically reduced.

- The problem is usually linked to toxins in the grain. We had problems with this for a while before we got the grain cleaner. Typically a few times during the year, because we empty the storage silos several times a year. When we hit the last 10-20 per cent of the silo's content, the concentration of impurities increased. This passed when we finished the silo and we lived with that fluctuation. We tried adding one to two kg of toxin binder per tonne of feed, but without much success,’ says 49-year-old Jens Hjort Jensen.

Sixth generation on the farm

He is married to Karen Mønsted Jensen, a graduate farmer who helps with the daily operations and is the sixth generation on the couple's property, Fævejle near Trustrup in Djursland. The second of their three children is studying to become a farmer like his father and his two brothers, Mogens and Peter, are dairy farmer and sow farmer respectively on farms near Fævejle.

- ‘My brothers and I grew up on a farm a few kilometres from here. After Karen and I took over Fævejle in 2003, we expanded production by building and renting stables and buying property. Today, we have reached a size that allows us to have six employees and the opportunity to take holidays and travel when it suits us,’ says Jens Hjort Jensen over a cup of coffee in the kitchen at Fævejle.

After getting the Sigma Planet Drum Cleaner, he can report increased growth and stable production all year round.

- This is worth its weight in gold. Because in an increasingly high-performing production, you can't afford to have down periods several times during the year with poor-quality feed and production not running properly, he says after inviting us to a demonstration of the Sigma Planet Drum Cleaner.

Large capacity

The machine is located in an annex and is connected to the feed storage, where a 10-year-old and smaller SKIOLD screen cleaner is placed in front of the disc mill.

- ‘We still use it because it does a good job and an extra cleaning doesn't do any harm, on the contrary. But the screen cleaner only has a capacity of up to six tonnes per hour and cannot keep up with the transport system to and from the storage silos,’ explains Jens Hjort Jensen.

Over time, the annual production has grown to 55,000 slaughter pigs from 30 kg and a feed consumption of approximately 10,000 tonnes.

The Sigma Planet Drum Cleaner fulfils this need. It can clean 80 tonnes per hour and removes chaff, stones, gravel, dust and other impurities. The machine's special cleaning principle, where the kernels both hit the sills and are rubbed against each other, enables it - unlike other grain cleaners on the Danish market - to also remove the toxins on the kernels.

- 1-2 percent comes off, which adds up to a lot - about a tonne - when you clean 80 tonnes of grain. ‘Right after I got the grain cleaner, I was surprised at the large amount that was sorted out and previously ended up with the pigs,’ says Jens Hjort Jensen.

Now the waste ends up in a ‘waste house’, a container whose contents he occasionally takes a look at through a hatch.

- It makes me feel good to look at the waste house, because what's in there is not the kind of feed I want to give to the pigs. Now I sell it to a biogas plant. And you might ask yourself why I didn't buy a Sigma earlier,’ says Jens Hjort Jensen.

The wife had a point

Sigma was developed 45 years ago for pre- and fine cleaning of raw materials in industrial operations. With the emergence of ever larger pig productions and the industry's increased focus on grain cleaning, interest in the machine has increased in the agricultural sector.

Jens Hjort Jensen was introduced to the Sigma at a pig congress a few years ago, but turned it down. After all, where would the relatively large machine fit on an older property characterised by budding and equipped with - according to Jens Hjort Jensen - ‘Denmark's smallest feed storage’?

- But then my wife, Karen, and an employee attended a slaughter pig course where they heard about the Sigma Planet Drum Cleaner. ‘We should get one of those,’ she said, and I did what she said. It was the right thing to do,’ says Jens Hjort Jensen with a smile.

Even though the Sigma cost half a million kroner plus the same amount for transport equipment, electrical installations and materials for the extension.

- ‘It's quite an expense, but even though I can't measure the effect of the grain cleaner in terms of money, I'm convinced that the money will be paid back over the next 10 years. The well-being and welfare of the pigs increases because the quality of the feed is higher, and that can be measured on the bottom line.

Want to know more about SKIOLD's grain cleaning equipment?

Read more here: Reduce mycotoxin levels with SKIOLD Sigma or