On Tuesday 28th March our international Home n' Dry agents Alan and Paul Sayle welcomed a group of visitors to the UK from Sweden. The group included 2 representatives from HK Scan and 7 Swedish farmers from beef and dairy farms around Sweden. Alan and Paul were also joined by Roger Dugdale from Dugdale Nutrition.
Day 1
Visit to Dugdale Nutrition - Compound Feed Mill
The week started off in Clitheroe with a visit to Dugdale Nutrition where Managing Director Matthew Dugdale and Marketing Director Hannah Dugdale showcased videos outlining the history of the company and its mill operations. Matthew elaborated on how Dugdale Nutrition has been producing Home n' Dry since the mid-1980s.
The visitors were treated to a buffet lunch before Paul Sayle of Sayle-Agri International delivered a comprehensive presentation on Alkasystems, which covered various aspects of Home n' Dry, Alkalage, Alkagrain, Alka compound feeds and AlkabupHa. Paul also discussed how the use of Alka products is continuing to grow across Europe.
To finish the visit, Matthew Dugdale led the group on a tour of the facility at Bellman Mill including Alkagrain and how it was produced and used in compound feeds to produce Alkanuts and Alkablends.
Visit to Cropgen - Renewable Energy
Peter King kindly hosted a visit to Cropgen, Gisburn. Peter demonstrated the forages used to 'feed' the digester and outlined how the facility worked from producing the crops, harvest, feeding the digester, output of the digester, the engines powered by gas produced, electricity produced and the use of the digestate. It was a very interesting insight into producing renewable energy.
Unrelated to the digester but of much interest was the fact that Peter had helped Claas UK in the 1990's develop the first small grain primary processing mill that fit into their foragers and was instrumental in the growth of farms producing Alkalage.
Day 2
Visit to Slack Farm
Day 2 began in with a visit to Slack Farm, Newsholme which was kindly hosted by David and Pauline Newbould. The group were given a tour of the farm which included the impressive milking herd building containing 4 robot milking machines.
The herd was very impressive as was the whole farm. The group were shown the Alkalage Clamp and discussed how critical its inclusion was in the diet of the cows. The farm has been producing Alkalage for 25 years.
Visit to Broom House Farm
Following on from Slack Farm the group visited Broom House Farm, Lothersdale which was kindly hosted by David, Margaret and Jennie Booth. The group toured the whole farm and was shown the Alkalage on top of the Silage, the milking herd and the young stock.
The Booth family's award-winning herd was highlighted, and they discussed the Alkanuts that were fed to the milking herd through the robots, as well as the Alka Rearer Nuts that were given to the young stock. The family has been producing Alkalage for more than 25 years and boasts the highest field of wheat in England at 1200 ft!
Farm tour at Broom House Farm
Day 3
Visit to Taylors Farm
Finally, the group were taken down to Lathom, Ormskirk to Taylors Farm which was kindly hosted by Roger, Bernie, Andrew and Joe Webster. The group were given an in-depth tour of operations at Taylors Farm observing the quality beef stock that supply the farm shop which are fed on a ration of Alkalage and Alkagrain.
Quality beef stock at Taylors Farm which are fed on a ration of Alkalage and Alkagrain
The group were also intrigued by the impressive self-designed cattle handling system. The tour included a visit to the store of Alkalage and Alkagrain, which were used on the farm and supplied to compound mills and the grain cleaning and storage systems.
The group seeing the store of Alkalage and Alkagrain
The Webster family provided an exceptional buffet lunch, and the group were given a tour of their multi-award winning farm shop.
Taylors Award Winning Farm Shop
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dugdale Nutrition, Cropgen, the Newbould family, the Booth Family and the Webster family for kindly hosting our visits.
For more information about Home n' Dry please get in touch with our International or UK Agents, depending on your location.
International Sales & Technical Enquiries:
Alan Sayle T. +44 (0) 1200 445525 Email. alan@sayle-agri.co.uk
Paul Sayle T. +44 (0) 1200 445525 Email. paul@sayle-agri.co.uk
Great Britain Sales & Technical Enquiries:
Rob Cockroft T. 07748 651906 Email. rob.cockroft@fivefalka.com
Rob Smith T. 07930 943073 Email. rob.smith@fivefalka.com