A delegation from NFU Scotland has received important reassurances over availability of distillery by-products to livestock farmers in the North East after a meeting with representatives of Helius CoRDe Ltd.
Date:
Thu, 02 Jun 2011
Source:
NFUS
NFUS:
website
The news was well received by the thousands of beef farmers attending Scotland's Beef Event 2011 at Corskie Farm, Garmouth, Fochabers yesterday.
Helius CoRDe has commenced building a combined heat and power biomass energy plant at Rothes that will use distillery by-products, such as draff, as its fuel stream for energy generation. The production of dark grains at Rothes will be discontinued and replaced by the production of pot ale syrup. The new facility is due to come on-stream in early 2013.
Traditionally these products have been fed to livestock and this has led to concerns from local farmers over the availability and price of such products in the future.
Speaking from the beef event, NFU Scotland’s North East regional chairman, Charlie Adam said that he has met with Helius CoRDe managing director Frank Burns. Mr Adam added:
“Draff is a hugely important wet feed for livestock producers in this part of the world. Given the number of distillers in the area, it is a readily available, competitively priced animal feed that many farmers rely on to form part of their stock rations.
“Helius CoRDe has provided reassurances that the draff intended for the biomass plant is a product that does not normally find its way onto the North East or Scottish markets. As such, supplies of draff to farmers in the area are likely to be unaffected by the development of the new biomass plant.
“We also discussed the local availability of dried product, such as Distillers’ Dark Grains, as well as pot ale syrup – both popular feeds for livestock. The indication from Helius CoRDe is that availability of dark grains will be unaffected by the planned plant and, in the case of pot ale syrup, available supplies will actually increase.
“The likely availability of by-products is good news for livestock producers planning their rations for the year ahead and we plan to keep regular contact with Helius CoRDe to review availability looking forward.
Helius CoRDE’s managing director Frank Burns added:
“A plentiful supply of various forms of distillery-derived protein feeds will continue to be available to farmers in the area and it is our hope that local farmers will make good use of these excellent, locally-produced products.”
Helius CoRDe Ltd is a joint venture between The Combination of Rothes Distillers (CORD, which comprises Ben Riach, Chivas Brothers, Diageo, Edrington, Glen Grant, Inver House and John Dewar and Son), Helius Energy and Rabo Project Equity BV.
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