Based in Finland, Murska is an engineering company specialising in the production of grain treatment machinery for livestock farmers.
The company claims to have developed the process from original research conducted by Nobel Prize winning organic chemist Artturi Ilmari Virtanen in the 1930s, and through necessity after the grain drier of the company, founders broke down in the autumn of 1969.
The two founding brothers, Aimo and Gunnar Korte, were aware that high moisture grains could be ensiled if the protective seed coating was first degraded though crimping.
Crimping would allow a rapid lactic acid fermentation to occur as soluble carbohydrates were released into an oxygen poor environment.
The exclusion of air is vital as lactobacilli thrive in an anaerobic environment, and it this group of bacteria which produce the lactic acid in sufficient quantities to suppress spoilage organisms and reduce nitrogen loss, just it does in grass silage.
Born out of crisis
Yet, at the time of the breakdown there were no crimping machines available, so the brothers decided to build one themselves to enable the ensilage of the grain rather than have it rot due to a lack of a dryer.
The first roller mill was made in conjunction with a neighbouring farm and it was considered a great success, in that it got the brothers through the winter.
It was also noticed by other farmers in the small farming community and soon they found themselves taking orders for further machines, leading to the formation of the company, Aimo Kortteen Konepaja Oy.
The company has expanded a good deal since and now produces a range of crimpers, plate mills and hammer mills, along with applicators and trailed processing plants under the brand names Murska and Korte, available in Ireland through Kelvin Cave Ltd of Somerset in the UK.
New hammer mill
Recently, the Finnish company has added a high output hammer mill to its range with a minimum power requirement of 270hp delivered through a 1,000rpm PTO
Murska claim that a feature unique to the machine is that the hammer rotor can be turned 180 degrees quickly and easily using a simple tool.
The hammers themselves can be turned four times The hammer mill may also be equipped, for example, with a belt conveyor or tube bagger, enabling the milled flour to be ensiled in a plastic tube in the same ways as crimped material.
