A new high-specification pump, engineered and manufactured in Germany, has been launched in time for the silage season and will deliver silage additive consistently and evenly on to the forage crop as it is picked up or harvested.
Available exclusively from forage specialist Kelvin Cave Ltd, the Silaspray SP Standard-Maxi can be fitted to forage wagons, balers and forage harvesters – either self-propelled or trailed.
A key feature of the pump is its ability to deliver high volumes of additive, so overcoming the problems associated with many pumps in use in the UK today.
“The main problem in the UK is that the applicators fitted to self-propelled foragers can only apply about one litre of additive per tonne of forage and only cope with water-based additives,” the company’s managing director, Kelvin Cave, said.
“However, the Silaspray SP Standard-Maxi is designed to deal with liquid biological or chemical silage additives, and can deliver them at rates of up to 550 lit/hr, equivalent to up to five litres per tonne of forage.”
This high volume delivery is considered to be increasingly important in today’s additive market, in which some of the highest volume products have been proven to deliver the best performance in terms of forage preservation.
This applies in particular to the food-grade preservative type products, which are based on ingredients like sodium nitrite, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate. These ingredients have been independently proven to eliminate yeast activity, to effectively target damaging clostridial bacteria, and to guarantee prolonged storage stability.
“This is borne out by our own experience, as across our range of silage additives, it’s our food-grade preservative product, Safesil, which is considered to be the most reliable in difficult conditions and has the most rapidly growing following,” Mr Cave added.
“The application rate for this preservative is around three litres per tonne of forage – depending on conditions – which means the Standard-Maxi pump is ideal for the preservative’s delivery.
“Too often in the UK, silage additives have given rise to disappointing results, but this is usually because either the wrong product has been chosen, or it was not applied adequately and evenly through the crop.
“However, we know from our experience that if the right product is applied in the correct manner and quantity, good forage preservation can be achieved in the most difficult conditions.”
Other key features of the Silaspray SP Standard-Maxi include a 12-volt DC/15-amp electric motor, electronic control, a digital display of the flow rate and two integrated memory stores. An electronic cut off switch can also be supplied so that when the forager is not picking up the crop, the pump automatically switches off, so ensuring the most efficient use of the additive and minimising any wastage.
For more information visit: www.kelvincave.co.uk.
