Yakov Yarotsky, the leading specialist in consulting at the Center for Advanced Training of Managers and Specialists of the Committee on Agriculture and Food of the city of Gorki, told us about the essence of the corn crushing process:

— Today, there are two relevant areas of work with corn feed: silage production and more concentrated feeds from corn grain. Corn grain has a moisture content of 38 percent, and drying it is very expensive. This can only be afforded by agricultural enterprises that have feed mill lines. Others use the technology of crushing with the use of preservatives and packaging in polyethylene sleeves or storage in small trenches. For this purpose, a grain harvester equipped with a KOH-6 or KOH-8 attachment, or wet grain crushers-packers are used.

When 4-5 combines are launched into operation, the daily grain harvest in good weather can amount to 500-600 tons of corn grain. At the same time, one crusher-packer can pack up to 120-150 tons per day. Conditions are created for the accumulation of raw corn grain on the site, which must be processed and stored within no more than 3 days. Otherwise, it is subject to self-heating, and fungi and mold develop in it. To avoid stopping and reducing the pace of harvesting, the seminar demonstrated a technology for significantly increasing the duration of processing wet grain.

For crushing the incoming corn grain from the field, a KVK-80 forage harvester was used with grain feeding into it by an Amkodor loader. And for packaging, a UMS-1 packer of silage and haylage materials was used, which is equipped with a polyethylene sleeve with a diameter of 2.7 meters and a length of up to 80 meters with a filling of up to 300 tons of crushed grain mass. The combine processes and crushes from 50 to 60 tons of grain per hour.

The use of a preservative in this technology is mandatory, in both the first and second variants, by introducing it into the crushed mass. For this purpose, a domestic chemical preservative "Gumo-plus" from ChP "Cherven Agro" was used. Its distinctive feature is that it is a natural chemical preservative-enricher, consisting of 20 percent carbamide. The natural bioactive substance consists of humic compounds, including humic and fulvic acids, low-molecular-weight carboxylic acids, phenolic carboxylic acids, as well as pectins and amino acids. The mechanism of action of the preservative is based on the antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of its organic and mineral components. The organic acids present in the preservative have a high preservative effect, suppressing putrefactive microorganisms and preventing the heating of feed. The dose of the preservative varies within the range of 3-5 liters per ton.

During the production experience, shortcomings of the USM-1 packer were identified. The representatives of the Bobruyskagromash plant, who were present at the seminar, recorded them and promised to eliminate them in the near future, in order to prevent the spillage of crushed grain through gaps, bypassing the polyethylene sleeve. Also, the main points of preparation for work and adjustment of the KZS-1218 combine harvester, which arrived from the field at the time of the seminar, were demonstrated to ensure high-quality threshing of corn and prevent losses of whole ears and grain. Exhaustive answers were given to all questions.