Hybrid fodder project wins funding award

Ecosyl Products, of Ellerbeck Way, which invents treatments for cattle and sheep forage, has won the award to develop a process to create a hybrid of hay and silage.

About 95pc of British cattle are fed silage instead of hay, which has less nutritional value as it has to be harvested at a more mature stage and dried out in order to preserve it.

Silage is currently made using a fermentation process which produces acids which preserve it, but this has a major environmental disadvantage as it produces large amounts of effluent, which can leak into watercourses.

Ecosyl's answer has been to develop a formula for producing a hybrid "moist" hay.

The concept of moist hay has been around for some time but, until now, it has only been possible to produce it using corrosive and hazardous chemicals, an option unappealing to farmers.

Ecosyl's new process combines environmentally-friendly preservatives used in the food industry with anti-fungal micro-organisms to produce a fodder with all the nutritional attributes of silage without the effluent or the need for harmful chemicals.

The company claims that it will lead to an increase in both beef and milk productivity, as cattle can consume more hay than silage.

Ecosyl was formed as a management buy-out from chemicals giant Zeneca in 1996 and has subsidiaries in the US and Canada.

Research director, Dr Terry Owen, says: "This process has the potential to revolutionise the animal feed industry. We already export our products all over the world and have identified vast markets for this new process. If successful, we would expect to expand rapidly, creating a number of jobs in the Stokesley area.

The company received vital help and guidance in securing the award from Roger Benson, Business Link York and North Yorkshire's innovation and technology adviser, who has helped 77 companies secure £3.1m in Smart awards in the last four years.

Dr Owen said he was not sure Ecosyl would have secured the grant without his help