It is a busy and important time of the year for farmers and their crops. It’s also an important time here at Connolly’s RED MILLS.  

Here are some interesting facts about the Harvest at Connolly’s RED MILLS.

Connolly’s RED MILLS work closely with local farmers.

Connolly’s RED MILLS have built trade relationships with farmers dating back for generations – some for more than 100 years! More than 40-50% of our grain growers are local farmers, growing all native grains. Our agronomists work closely with these local grain producers and global ingredients suppliers to ensure the grains, beans, seeds, and fibres selected, meet the specification required for high performance.

Connolly’s RED MILLS delivers the security of full traceability; from cross-pollination of seed grains to the delivery of the highest quality finished nutritional products.

A sample from every trailer load of grain is taken for testing.

The grain and raw materials are transported to the mill and are ‘weighed in’. Each load is recorded and given its own unique traceability number.

Every trailer load is sampled using long sampling spears to ensure an accurate and representative sample. The sample is taken to the Harvest Lab and tested for the presence of bushel weight, protein, moisture, impurities and dust mites.

Our lab team run up to 300 samples a day checking for nutrient profiles using our NIR machine and wet chemistry.

Connolly’s RED MILLS was one of the first feed manufacturers in the world to have on-site laboratories to test for product quality and naturally occurring prohibited substances (NOPS). Our testing technologies are similar to those used by the Olympic Council and forensic bodies around the world.

The state-of-the-art laboratory ensures each ingredient is tested promptly prior to being carefully graded and stored. All raw materials that enter the mill are tested for naturally occurring prohibited substances (NOPS) and microbes such as moulds, yeasts, entro-bacteria, mycotoxins and alfatxoins.

Samples are stored for up to a year in our ‘cold room’.

The sample taken from the batch of raw materials is tested for moisture levels, protein, oil, fibre and ash. Nutrient profiles are used to ensure feeds are consistent with our declarations. These samples are retained and stored in the ‘cold room’ for full traceability and in line with the Department of Agriculture regulations.

Our grain dryers can dry 100 tonnes of grain every hour.

Irish grain has an average moisture content of 16-20%. At Connolly’s RED MILLS the grain is dried to 14% in the grain dryer. Constant airing and cooling of the grains help to minimize the risk of mycotoxins and maintain the quality over long-storing periods (up to 9 months).

There is storage capacity onsite for over 70,000 metric tonnes of raw materials.

Our mill at Goresbridge has the highest inland grain store in Ireland! In order not to allow any cross-contamination, each variety is held in specific stores and dried on a specific dryer.

We use advanced cooking techniques.

The next step is manufacture, the stored raw materials enter our production mill to be made into horse feed. At Connolly’s RED MILLS, we developed some of the most technologically advanced manufacturing processes in the world. These include steam cooking, double pelleting and extrusion.

You can find out more about our feed making process here

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