Patent ID: 6055771
Filing Date: 2000-05-02
Classification: A01C

Abstract:
A process for germinating a feed grain to a plurality of sprouts for use as a livestock feed and comprising the steps of:(a) mechanically depositing a layer of said feed grain onto a grain tray at a grain deposit station by the steps of:(1) depositing a quantity of said feed grain into a grain hopper including a grain deposit gate and a gate motor engaged with said gate and operable to open and close said gate;(2) positioning said hopper at one end of a hopper guide track extending across said grain deposit station;(3) mechanically conveying said hopper along said track between said opposite ends;(4) opening said grain deposit gate at one end of said track by operation of said gate motor to deposit said layer of said feed grain onto a tray positioned at said grain deposit station; and(5) closing said grain deposit gate at an opposite end of said track using said gate motor;(b) mechanically conveying said tray to a spray station of a plurality of spray stations, each spray station including an effluent sprayhead communicating with a source of a plant nutritive effluent from a manure treatment process;(c) spraying a selected quantity of said effluent onto said feed grain at said spray station;(d) retaining said tray at said spray station for a selected interval of time;(e) at an end of said selected interval, conveying said tray to a subsequent spray station;(f) repeating steps (c), (d), and (e) for a selected number of cycles to germinate said feed grain into a plurality of sprouts having a selected degree of maturity;(g) offloading said sprouts at an offload station; and(h) mechanically conveying said tray back to said grain deposit station.