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North Antrim based animal feed compounder Chestnutt Animal Feeds is in the throes of completing the construction of a new feed store at its Stranocum premises. The facility has a floor area of approximately 17, 000 square metres and will be used for the storage of both bulk feeds and pallets.
Chestnutt Animal Feeds services customers in Counties Antrim, Londonderry, Tyrone and Donegal.
“Construction got underway in January of this year,” confirmed company managing director James Chestnutt.
“The new store has become operational over recent weeks and its development represents a major investment for the company. The decision to go ahead with the project reflects our confidence in the future of agriculture throughout Northern Ireland.”
The internal fit-out of the new building features the use of bunker walls to create the various storage bays. These wall units were manufactured by Ballymena – based Moore Concrete. Chestnutt’s operations’ director Norman McConaghie takes up the story:
“The Bunker Walls provide us with complete flexibility when it comes to making optimal use of the entire store.”
“With built in forklift recesses for mobility, they can be re-configured easily to provide us with the specific storage options that we need at different times of the year.”
Moore Concrete’s Nicola McAdam was a recent visitor to Chestnutt Animal Feeds. She confirmed that a total of 42 bunker walls were required to fit-out the store: 24 of these were 4.3m (14’) in height with the remainder 3.0m (10’) tall.
She commented:
“Bunker walls also provide a very flexible option for farmers when it comes to the storage of bedding, root vegetables, grain, animal feed and fertiliser.”
Nicola added:
“The unique curved shape of the bunker wall base has been developed to allow the free flow of material to the floor. There is a 100mm straight portion at the bottom edge to aid the removal of material from the storage bays formed by the bunker walls.”
“Units range from 1.5m (5’) to 4.3m (14’) in height, with the ability to bear loads in 2 directions.”
“Walls up to 3.0m (10’) in height do not need bolting down when retaining materials which have a density of less than 12 kN/m3 of such as grain, solid fuels, recycling materials and wood chip.”
Nicola concluded:
“We also manufacture a Bunker Wall suitable for the storage of silage, designed with a heavier profile and available in 2.4m (8’) and 3.0m (10’) high.”
