Grass drying

The main activity of the drying industry is the artificial drying of lucerne crop or grass crop into bales or broks. The dried product/crop is then processed into horse feed, poultry roughage and / or fodder feed.

Our drying room has two dry turning installations. Both drying plants together have an evaporation capacity of more than 90,000 liters of water per hour. The chopped crop is dried in a tumble dryer and processed into bales or broks.

During the season, the fresh crop has an average moisture content of around 65 percent. The final product has a moisture content of max. 12% or the dry matter content is at least 88%.

Ensuring quality during the drying process

In principle, the drying process is quite simple, but because every freshly fed crop is different there's some things to look at to ensure quality. At the start, each party is provided with a unique party number and the crops become strictly separated from each other. The parties submitted are weighted at night weight and then poured into our dry-cleaning area. Then, with a shovel, the fresh crop is shipped into a hopper and then transported into the drum. The large fan at the end of the dryer draws the hot air from the oven (= for the drum) through the drum and dries the crop. Once the crop is dry enough, it is automatically sucked out of the drum.

The process operator dries all batches and closely monitors the quality of the product. Many differences exist between the parties (type of crop, moisture content). The dry installation is adjusted every time to make an optimal final product. Grasdrogerij Hartog is the only green fodder dryer in Europe that performs temperature treatment with natural gas. The taste, smell, nutrients, vitamins and minerals of the fresh product remain due to the rapid drying. The temperature treatment guarantees that our products remain completely free of germs, such as salmonella or para tbc.

When the dry crop leaves the installation and is separated from the water vapor, it is transported to the large baler. The big baler makes bales of about 380kg. Also, we can transport the dried product to the hammer mill. There the crop is completely crushed to a powder. With the aid of the bitter presses (KAHL), the powder is pressed after adding a fraction of molasses (max 3%) into a nice hard bark.

Full process monitoring

 In the contract cultivation (lucerne or grass), the entire process of sowing is to the distribution to the final consumer in charge of Grasdrogerij Hartog. The crops mainly grow on heavy limestone clay in the Wieringermeer. After careful selection of growers (mainly arable farmers) sowing takes place with the varieties chosen by Hartog.

Because Hartog harvests the green fodder, this can be done at the right time. Hartog cultivates the products as close as possible to the drying so that the time between mowing and drying is as short as possible. Mowing is done with mowers 10 meters wide which get almost immediately followed by the chopper. Following is the transport to the dryhouse in container cars. Due to the high degree of organization within Grasdrogerij Hartog, this process of mowing up to drying is optimal because Hartog has all the links within the process itself.

Dehydration for farmers

Our drying facility also offers the opportunity for farmers' dry grass or lucerne, within 100 km of the drying room, and returns as broks or bale. In this way you are gaining food produced by your own business.

If you have grassland or a plot of lucerne, you can dry the crop by Grasdrogerij Hartog. Anyone who chooses for artificial drying of grass automatically chooses for no-risk feed. As an entrepreneur you want to take advantage of your own feed recovery, Grasdrogerij Hartog would like to help with (wage) drying your own crop. We bring the dried product to your home in bales or bunches.

Winning with your own business

With dehydrating, there is no dependency on the weather. Within a 100 km radius of dry land, the fresh grass of the country is reached, dried within 24 hours and returned to your home. For those who live further away, we ask to arrange mowing, hatching and transportation yourself. We then dry it for you and often the car that supplies the grass can bring the dried product right away. We can also provide the dried product with your home delivery. For practical advice, additional information, prices and conditions, you can contact us for further information.

• Important: The supplied grass MUST be chopped, otherwise we will not process it!

Moisture content

The rates of lending will depend on the distance between the pickup location and our drying location, as well as the shape in which you will return the grass. Rates on request. The rates apply to 70% moisture, with every 5% increase in moisture there is a surcharge on the price per kg of dried product. If you wind dry, the value remains below 70% moisture.

Feel free to select from:

• Dehydrated Grass or Dehydrated Lucerne (Alfalfa) of ± 380 kg
• Grass Pellets or Lucerne Pellets (in bulk, in 1000 kg bigbags, handy bags of 20 kg)

The benefits of dehydration:

• Feed produced by your own farm, so no supply of minerals
• Higher productivity of the land
• Optimal utilization because no storage or feed losses occur
• No preservation losses, so higher feed value
• Free of germs (para-tbc)
• More stable protein
• Labor saving (less fieldwork)
• Faster crop regrowth
• The large drying system provides a fully computer controlled drying process at low temperatures, which ensures optimal digestibility, odor, color and taste.
• The dried product is delivered to your home and put to the place desired
• Saving on the purchase of concentrated feed

Organic feed materials

There are increasing numbers of livestock farmers who make the transition from common to organic farming. In addition to commonly used Grasdrogerij Hartog, organic feed materials are also used. We are certified for the production and processing of organic feed materials. Grasdrogerij Hartog is registered with SKAL under company number 001195. For more information on our biological activities, please visit our website Skal certificate.

An increasing number of livestock farmers are drying their crops to use it as a food feed. For a biological farmer, it is also very interesting to have green foods dry from their own company. This is because the costs of lending are considerably lower than the purchase of biofuels.

Grasdrogerij Hartog also has EKO products in the assortment, for more information see our products.