WO2008095254A1

WO2008095254A1 - Method of improving the animal feed value of winery wastes

Info

Publication number: WO2008095254A1
Application number: PCT/AU2008/000155
Authority: WO
Inventors: Simon Walpole Leake; Terence Patrick Corrigan
Original assignee: Hartford Glen Pty Ltd; L & M Corporation Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2007-02-07
Filing date: 2008-02-07
Publication date: 2008-08-14

Abstract

Upgrading wine waste materials in the form of marc or pomace to make acceptable animal fodder or supplements for adding to animal fodder are described in which the waste material is first analysed to determine the nature and amount of deficiencies of essential elements and preferred elements of the waste material. A comparison with the optimal well balanced fodder material determines the amount of elements that must be added to the waste material to upgrade the waste material to the optimal composition for use as the fodder or sole fodder ration for animals, particularly herbivorous animals such as ruminants, cattle or the like. The advantage of the present invention is that low grade winery waste having a low economic value can be upgraded to have a higher economic value by converting the wine waste into high grade animal fodder which can be used as animal fodder in times of drought to maintain cattle healthy.

Description

METHOD OF IMPROVING THE ANIMAL FEED VALUE OF WINERY WASTES

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to beneficiating or upgrading waste materials of various kinds to make nutritious animal fodder or to make one component of an animal fodder or feed having improved nutrition values.

In one form of the present invention, a particularly relevant form of the waste that is upgraded by the methods of the present invention applies is winery waste, particularly the waste remaining from making wine and a particularly relevant form of the animal fodder or feed made from the winery waste is for use with ruminants, such as cattle to improve the diet, health, wellbeing or similar of the cattle, particularly beef producing cattle.

Although the present invention will be described with particular reference to upgrading and/or improving wine wastes to improve their nutrient value so as to produce an animal fodder for cattle having improved nutritional properties, it is to be noted that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments but rather the scope of the present invention is more extensive so as to encompass the use of a wide variety of different materials, including waste or reject materials from various sources, for improvement and upgrading to include the use of different methods of beneficiating or upgrading the various forms of the waste materials, the use of the upgraded waste material in different forms of animal feed or fodder or their use in otter value added materials, used in or for other applications and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Waste materials come in many and varied forms, often as a result of manufaαturing processes and processes used in industry, including the food and beverage preparation industries. One form of waste material produced in the beverage industry emanates from the wine industry, particularly from making wine. The production of wine results in the formation of wastes of various kinds, including waste water, pressings from the juice extraction process used to extract juice from grapes during the wins processing, marc, pomace, filter materials, stems, leaves, roughage, tartrate extraction wastes and the like. Pomace is a term used to refer to substances prepared by pressing or grinding various fruits, such as for, example in the manufacture of olive oil from olives, wine from grapes, cider from apples, juice from berries or the like. Pomace essentially consists of the pulp of the fruit after oil, water or other juice has been pressed from the fruit and includes wastes such as the peel, seeds, stalks, skins, and the like. As an example, the pressing of 100 kg of grapes will produce about 25 kg of pomace. In a typical pomace from grapes, there is about 50% of grape pomace consisting of skins whereas 25% consists of stalks and a further 25% of seeds. Similarly, marc is a term used to refer to the pulping residue left after the juice has been pressed from grapes, apples, berries and other fruits.

The terms pomace and marc can be used interchangeably to refer to the residue wine waste material or reject material remaining as a result of wine production including fermentation.

In an attempt to improve the economics of wine production, in tha past rather than merely discarding or disposing of the waste material, marc and pomace have been used or incorporated into a number of different products 'for a variety of different uses and purposes including their use in animal feed as a way of deriving further income from growing and/or processing grapes since the waste material could be used. In Australia in particular, marc has been fed in the past to animals, particularly ruminants, as part of the feed lot, and especially during periods of drought or other feed shortages. However as marc is considered to be of only poor to moderate quality it was not used, nor could it be used, as the sole ration of feed or fodder or as the sole source of nutrition for an animal. Rather, the marc had to be mixed with other materials, such as mineral supplements or other fodder components to provide an animal feed having acceptable nutritional values to sustain the dietary requirements of the animals. Further, the quality and quantity of the marc that was previously available was extremely variable so that it was difficult to determine the nature and amount of a particular supplement of nutritional additives that needed to be added to the marc in order to produce a nutritionally acceptable fodder that could be fed to ruminants as the sole feed ration. Accordingly, this variability in quality has been responsible in the past for the reluctance to use marc and pomace as animal feed or fodder.

Thus, there is a need for a method or process that upgrades the nutritional value of marc, pomace and the like and a need to provide animal fodder that is made from, wastes that is more consistent in nutritional value in order that such waste materials can be used to provide a more economical return for growing and processing grapes and similar.

In some situations, such as for example, with lactating cows, the feeding of roughage to the cows is required to ensure reasonable milk production and adequate utilisation of the high value fodder being fed to the cows. However, most roughage is low in quality with regard to energy, protein and digestibility; is bulky to transport leading to expensive freight; and is often the by-product of other crop or food industry processing with their own attendant problems which often make them unsuitable for use as feed or fodder. Such roughages are not complete feeds but rather must be mixed with other supplements to provide the energy needs of cows and the like. Marc and pomace have been used in the past to provide this alternative roughage or to be a source of the alternative roughage. However, such use has not been entirely satisfactory since not only is the availability of alternative roughage sources inconsistent but also the quality of the roughage, even the same type of roughage, is variable, sometimes extremely variable so that it is difficult, if not impossible, to provide a well balanced asid nutritious fodder supplement. Again, this variability has led to low acceptance of the use of marc or pomace since the variability in the quality of the roughage can lead to sickness and death in the cows. Therefore, in the past there has been only limited use of existing supplies of marc and pomace as animal fodder owing to the inherent variability of supply, quality, usefulness and the like of the waste material which, limited their value as sources of animal feed.

Thus, it was recognised that there was a need for the nutritional quality of the marc and pomace to be upgraded in order that these materials could be used as animal fodder, either alone as the sole fodder ration or as a supplement to other fodder, and/or to enjoy more widespread acceptance of the use of such waste materials.

Therefore, there is a need to treat the wastes from various sources, particularly wine wastes such as wine rejects to upgrade the properties of this material so that the material could be resold as, or for use, as a feed material or fodder having more consistent quality and having known or improved nutritional values which were more standardised than was previously possible, such as for example, by the fodder having certain key or critical nutritional elements being within specified limits or amounts.

Surprisingly, it has been discovered by the inventors thatwhilst marc is deficient in certain amounts and ratios of elements necessary for the nutrition of animals, this deficiency occurs substantially in all samples of the marc regardless or irrespective of the geographical region from which the marc originates i.e. no matter where the grapes are grown, the marc derived from the same variety of grapes exhibits similar deficiencies of the same key components or elements. The inventors have now been able to use this discovery as a basis upon which to upgrade the nutritional content of wine wastes and rejects. The inventors, by using the method and process of the present invention have been able to increase the value, including both, the nutritional value and the economic value, of reject material from the wine, fruit and vegetable processing industries significantly by enabling the amount of the deficiencies of selected key nutrients to be quantified and then supplemented by the addition of certain additives to the waste material to produce a nutritionally acceptable and/or balanced feed or fodder, or a nutritionally acceptable component for mixing with other components to make a well balanced and nutritious feed or fodder which has the required range of amounts of key or critical components or elements closer to the ideal amounts of such materials.

Therefore, it is an aim of the present invention to provide a method of upgrading waste material, particularly wine waste material or wine reject material so as to improve the value of such material as a feed or fodder for animals either by itself or for use as one component of the fodder or feed in which the feed material has more consistent qualities, is nutritionally more acceptable and/or is more well balanced.

SUMMARY OP THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of treating or improving the quality of a waste material or a reject material in order to improve the nutritional value of the waste or reject material for use as a feed material comprising the steps of (i) providing the waste or reject material, (ii) conducting an analysis of the waste or reject material to determine at least some of the key characteristics, properties or qualities of the waste or reject material including the amounts of certain key or critical constituents, (iii) comparing the values obtained from the analysis of predetermined or preselected properties of the waste or reject material with at least some of the values of corresponding properties, that are key requirements of an animal and determining which of the key properties needs to be adjusted, and by what amount in order to improve the nutritional value of the waste or reject material including the amounts of the certain key or critical constituents, (iv) calculating the amount of additives to be added to achieve optimal requirements of at least some of the key or critical constituents, and (v) adding a calculated amount of selected additives to the waste material to bring at least some of the required properties up to the required limit or value in order to convert the reject material into a fodder, feed or feed supplement that has sufficient nutritional value or energy content for feeding to an animal.

According to another aspect of the presernt invention, there is provided a method of enhancing the health and/or well being of an animal, including improving the nutrition of an animal comprising the steps of feeding to the animal optionally in need of improvement of the nutrition of the animal, a feed material made essentially from a waste or reject material in which the waste or reject material has undergone treatment for upgrading the waste or reject material to improve the nutritional value of the waste or reject material, said treatment comprising the steps of (i) providing the waste or reject material, (ii) conducting an analysis of the waste or reject material to determine at least some of the key characteristics, properties or qualities of the waste or reject material including the amounts of certain key or critical constituents, (iii) comparing the values obtained from the analysis of predetermined or preselected properties with at least some of the values of corresponding properties that are key requirements of an animal and determining which of the key properties needs to be adjusted, and by what amount in order to improve the nutritional value of the reject material including the amounts of the certain key or critical constituents, (iv) calculating the amount of additives to be added to achieve desired requirements of at least some of the key or critical constituents, and (v) adding a calculated amount of selected additives to the waste material to bring at least some of the required properties up to the required limit or value in order to convert the reject material into a fodder, feed or feed supplement that has sufficient nutritional value or energy content for feeding to an animal thereby improving the health and well being of the animal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an animal fodder material or a supplement for adding to an animal fodder material for feeding to an animal to obtain and/or maintain health and/or wellbeing of Che animal comprising a waste or reject material having at least one key characteristic, property or quality in which at least one of the key characteristics, properties or qualities has been improved by adding a least one material to upgrade the value or amount of the key characteristic, property or qualities to an upgraded amount or value wherein the upgraded value or amount is determined in accordance with a comparison of the required amount or value of the key characteristic, property or qualities necessary to provide sufficient nutritional value or energy content for feeding the animal fodder as animal fodder supplement to the animal to improve and/or maintain the health and/or well being of the animal .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Typically, the waste material being upgraded by the process and method of the present invention is any waste material that can be improved nutritionally or made to have an increased nutritional content for animals. More particularIy, the waste material is an industrial, agricultural or horticultural waste material, such as for example, the residue of a production, manufacturing, preparation or treatment process or the like. Even more particularly, the waste material is a vegetable or fruit waste material, such as for example, a waste material remaining from the food and beverage industries, including a wine waste or wine reject material, a beverage waste material, a beer waste material, a yeast waste material or the like. More typically, the waste wine material is a waste water, pressings from the juice extraction process of making wine, marc, pomace, filtrate materials, stems, leaves, roughage or the like derived from fruit growing and/or processing, including grape growing and harvesting and/or wine production. The present Invention could also be applicable to reject materials from a wide range of industries including fruit and vegetable processing, particularly fresh fruit and vegetable processing but is particularly preferred for upgrading marc and its equivalent materials and stems and their equivalent materials. Typically, in one form, the marc or pomace useful for upgrading in accordance with the present invention, is about 40% seeds and about 60% skin, juice and pulp. In one form, two or more separate wastes can be combined to form the material which is upgraded by the present invention. One example of this separate waste includes stem and tendril waste. In a typical situation, of the grape harvest about 17%-20% ends up as marc and about 5% as stem and tendril. These two types of waste can be upgraded separately or can be combined together for upgrading.

Typically, the waste material, and more typically the marc, is deficient in certain materials, typically deficient in critical amounts of certain materials that are regarded as key components necessary for the health and wall being of an animal, particularly a farmed animal responsible for producing food for humans.

Typically, the waste material when upgraded can be used as the sole animal feed ration or one component of an overall animal feed ration or as a major or significant part of the animal feed ration. More typically, the upgraded material can be added to other materials to produce the fodder or animal feed. Examples of the other materials include grains, hays, sugar, barley, forages, silages, lucernes, grasses and the like, including raw materials or processed materials, such as for example, barley that has been steamed or the like.

Typically, the upgraded wine reject and waste material, preferably the upgraded marc, can be used as a sole ration for animals, such as non-growing ruminants, or as the sole ration of a maintenance and/or drought ration for non- growing ruminants. More typically, for growing ruminants or for conditioning of ruminant animals at an acceptable commercial rate, the upgraded marc can form 65%-80% of the feed ration, a level not previously achieved.

Typically, use of the upgraded waste material made in accordance with the method or process of the present invention results in an animal feed ration that is of sufficient quality to permit weight gain and improve condition in animals. More typically, the improved ration quality is suitable for use in herbivorous animals, such as for example, ruminants, horses, poultry, rodents, pigs, goats or the like. Typically, the weight gain is from about 0.5 kg/head/day to about 10 kg/head/day, preferably from about 1.0 to 3.0 kg/head/day, more preferably from about 1.0 to 2.0 kg/head/day and most preferably about 1.4 to 1.5 kg/head/day.

Typically, the waste winery material or reject material includes waste waters, juices, stems, leaves, skins, stalks, reject fruit, filtrate, seeds or any other by- product or residue material remaining from wine production. More typically, the seeds are cracked prior to or during the upgrading.

Typically, one embodiment of the process of the present invention is a combination of the following steps:

(a) conducting a chemical and/or physical analysis of the nature of the reject material to determine the type and/or amount of preselected materials within the waste material,

(b) calculating tha amount of mineral content, protein content and energy content of the waste material,

(c) determining the nature and/or amount of key materials required for health and well being of the animal,

(d) calculating the amounts and/or nature of deficiencies of the key materials or elements or compounds required to be added to the waste material in order to produce a better quality feed material having acceptable nutrition for the particular animal selected, and

(e) calculating the optimal amount of available chemicals or other additives required to be added to the waste material to. achieve better nutrition of the target animal.

Typically, the additives added to upgrade the waste or reject material can be derived from any suitable source, such as for example, any materials from any source, including commercially available chemicals, other waste materials, mixtures of materials, combinations thereof or the like. Typical examples of additives include sugar, barley, cottonweed, or the like.

The beneficial effect of the present invention is achieved by better management and handling of waste materials including marc, pomace, and other reject material including the chemicals and additives that are to be added to the waste material to ensure a reasonable expectation of achieving the target ratios of materials in the waste material.

Typically/ the method or process of the present invention includes the additional step of preserving the upgraded waste material . More typically, a further step which enhances the nutritional value and economic value of the upgraded waste material is the preservation of the upgraded waste material such as for example, by ensilaging of the waste material and/or rapid drying of the waste material .

In one form of the present invention, the seeds of the waste or reject material, particularly the grape seeds, are treated, such as for example, by being comminuted, cracked, opened, shelled or the like. Preferably, the grape seeds are cracked prior to being upgraded.

Typically, the seeds are cracked to a size of up to about 3 or 4 mm, preferably in the range of 1 mm to 3 mm, more preferably from about 1.5 mm to 2.5 mm to open the skin, test, outer coverage, shell or the like of the seeds. More preferably, the seeds are cracked using a roller mill, such as for example, a knurled roller mill set at 1.5 to 2.5 mm gap to crack the seeds. Other mechanical devices can be used to crack the seeds, such as for example, hammer mills, ball mills, or the like.

Typically, cracking of the seed of the waste or reject material, particularly the grape seeds, results in an improvement in growth rate of cattle, optionally, in combination with improvements of energy, protein and minerals, particularly in connection with the growth rate of beef cattle since the test of the seeds is disruptive making the oil, fat, protein or the like located inside the seed available.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

1. Chemical Analysis

In order for a fodder to be an acceptable feed for an animal, the fodder must contain certain selected amounts or amounts within specified limits of selected elements, groups of elements, compounds/ selected groups of compounds or the like. Some of the materials are key or critical materials that must or should be present in fodder in amounts which are within limits, such materials being substantially essential for the health and wellbeing of the animal, whereas the presence of other materials within the fodder are merely preferable or ideal and should be present, but it is not absolutely necessary that they be present. The waste material must first be analysed to determine the amount of nutritional elements or compounds in the waste material in order to establish the value of the waste material so as to establish whether the waste material is suitable for upgrading to a fodder for use as an animal feed. As a minimum, an animal feed should contain the following analytes: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, molybdenum, cobalt, selenium and iodine. Such materials are referred to as the key elements of the waste or reject material, other compounds which need to be tested include protein, such as crude protein, acidic detergent fibre, ash or the like.

Ideally or advantageously, there are a range of other non critical materials that can be present.

Typically, the following ingredients are deemed critical but depending inon regional characteristics/ for the amendment of marc in the manner described in accordance with the present invention. Sodium chloride (common salt) , magnesium sulphur, in some cases phosphorus, in some cases calcium and zinc, in some cases manganese, iodine and selenium. Marc, upgraded by the inclusion of these additives, can be used as a sole ration for maintenance and drought feed of non-growing animals. Other materials which can be added as additives to upgrade the marc include sugar, urea, salt (NaCl) , monoammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, magnesium sulphate, zinc sulphate, manganese sulphate, and variously depending upon the region from where the grapes are grown, sodium molybdate, sodium selenate, limestone (dolomite), iodine and similar.

For fattening and growing ruminants, the following ingredients should variously be added as determined by the method developed in accordance with the present invention and illustrated in the tables accompanying the description of the examples. Grains of various kinds, preferably rolled or flaked and/or steamed. A supplementary energy source such as sugar, molasses and organic acids. It is to be noted that if the value of any one of the elements or compounds is known by having been tested previously or otherwise established, it may not be necessary to conduct the test for that particular element or compound and accordingly, the test can be omitted since the information about the particular element or compound present in the sample is already known, having been obtained previously so that this value can be used in. subsequent calculations to determine the nature and amount of the additives.

After the amount of the selected elements or compounds in the waste material have been determined, the amounts of the corresponding* elements or compounds that are required by or must be present to satisfy the needs of the target animal are investigated so as to determine both the nature and amounts of the elements or compound's which must be added to the waste material to upgrade the waste material to form a nutritionally acceptable fodder which can be fed to the animals. The corresponding elements or compounds are selected from such materials which are essential to the well being of the animal and/or from the materials which desirably should be fed to the animals.

2. Calculation of Quantities

Table 1 presents an example of a typical analysis of marc from the Mildura area of Australia in comparison to the amount of each selected element or compound that is required to be fed to a growing young steer of between 200 and 600 leg weight in order to provide the dietary requirements of the animal to maintain health and well being of the animal.

Table 1

Table 2 presents a further example of the comparison of the analysis of certain elements and- compounds present in a marc sample obtained from the Mudgee area of NSW in Australia in comparison to the optimal requirements needed by the same type of steers of Table 1.

Table 2

From the test: results shown in Tables 1 and 2 , and from other tests conducted on samples of wine reject material to date, it has been discovered that grape marc is usually deficient in certain elements which, in descending order are as follows: chlorine, sodium., magnesium, sulphur, zinc, molybdenum, selenium.

Additionally, some samples of grape' marc are also deficient in phosphorous and manganese to differing amounts .

Calculation of the amount of chemicals or additives needed to be added to the marc sample in order to improve the quality to the optimal requirements for the target animal. Mineral and other supplements are available on the market that can be added individually to make up the particular deficiency of selected elements or compounds as identified in Table 2 or as a result of calculations performed- identifying the amount of materials to be added. The required amount of deficient element or compound can then be added to the marc to form a nutritionally acceptable product. The deficient elements or properties can typically be obtained from a variety of sources such as for example, agricultural fertilizers, food industry additives, laboratory grade chemicals, other waste products from other industries, such as for example, molasses wastes or the like. A wide variety of sources are available for the individually deficient elements.

The determined amounts of deficient elements is added to the tαarc to beneficiate or upgrade the marc into a nutritionally acceptable feed portion for the target animal, typically a feed portion that can be added as a sole portion.

It is to be noted that the nutrient, qualities of the additives added to the marc to upgrade the amount of deficient elements can be variable, particularly in the case of other waste materials, or the nutrient quality may be precisely known as in the case of purchased chemicals, food additives or commercially manufactured materials. In deriving the amount of additive required to redress the deficiency, its variability and type is taken into account when determining the precise amount of material to be added to upgrade the waste material.

Although there are a number of ways of calculating the deficiency of any one material and calculating the amount of additive needed to be added to the marc to redress deficiency, it has been discovered by the inventors that there are methods of calculation which are more advantageous than others. In some embodiments the calculations that are necessary to determine the amount of an individual additive required can be simplified into two equations depending upon the units of measurement used. One form of the equation allows for the amount of additive needed per cubic meter of transported marc to be determined.

Examples of this type of calculation include:

1. Where the major elements are measured in % by weight on a dry weight basis, the amount of additive to be added is measured in kg/m³ referred to as ^wfertiliser" in; the following discussion is as follows; kg fertiliser/m³ to be added =.Q.d./P where

Q a quantity of element to be added in % dwb. d = density in kg dwb/m³, and P s % of element in fertiliser.,

2. Where the elements are measured in mg/kg on a dwb., i.e. trace amounts of elements or trace elements . For trace element nutrients measured in mg/kg the relationship is - Kg fertiliser/m³ = Q.d.lO^"4/p where Q is determined from a table such as Table 1 above and represents the amount needed to be 5 added in % or mg/kg as determined from a comparison of the actual analysis of the waste product with the known optimal amounts of ranges required by the target animal.

10 d is the density in kg dwb/m³ and can be measured using simple equipment, and

P is the percentage of element in an additive . compound which can be determined from the 15 molecular weights or from tables in the published literature. One example is Table 15.3 from Handreck and Black (2000) given in. Appendix 1.

20 Calculation of the optimal amounts of additives.

In a similar manner the amount of any deficient element could be made up using commercially available compounds. To add zinc, for example,

25 zinc sulphate or zinc chloride could be used. To add potassium, potassium chloride may be used. Other elements can be added in other forms, including salt forms or the like.

30 In some cases one compound can redress two different deficiencies, such as for example, a calculated amount of potassium ^:chloride can make up the deficiencies of each of potassium and chloride. Thus, only the calculated amount of one compound need be added to rectify two separate deficiencies . A mineral additive may be an anion, a cation, or a combination of both, 5 Further, it may be a metal or a non metallic material . When taking account of both anion and cation contributions of a fertiliser salt, it will be found that the perfect or accurately determined amount of each element required cannot

10 be derived but rather only an "optimal" or approximate amount can be determined providing generally the correct amount of each element even if the absolutely accurate amount of each one is not present. The small deviation resulting from

15 this does not present a serious disadvantage when upgrading wastes in accordance with the present invention.

Typically, the preferred error range when

20 optimising the amount of each element or compound in the marc or other waste is +/- 20% of the ideal amount unless an excess of the element is of no consequence and can be tolerated by the target animal in which case amounts greater than 25 20% in excess of the ideal amount can be tolerated readily.

, In the example of the Mildura marc, details of which are provided in Table 1, the calculations

30 show that the following additions are required to bring the marc to within optimal ranges, in descending order- Cl Na Mg

5 P

S

Mn

Zn

Mo

10 Se

The compounds used to make up these deficiencies could include respectively, NaCl to add both Chloride and Sodium

15 MgCl₂ to add both Chloride and Magnesium

MgSO₄ to add Magnesium

(NH) 4HPO₄ to add Phospherous MnSO₄.5H₂O to add Manganese ZnSO*.7H₂O to add Zinc

20 Ammonium Molybdate to add Molybdate

Sodium Selenate to add Selenium

As an example 0.97% of Cl is required (ie 0.97kg of Cl per 100kg dwb of marc) to bring the

25 chloride within the normal or ideal required range of the animal being fed this sample of marc.

By using sodium chloride which is 50% chloride 30 and assuming a density of 600kg/ m³ this calculates to be-

Kg WaCl/m ³ = Q.d./P Q is the quantity of element to be added, d is the density of tlie material to be added, and P is the percentage of the element in the material being added 5 Q = 0.97, d=600, p = 60

= 0.97x600/60

= 9.7 kg HaCl/m³

10

Thus, 9.7 kg of NaCl for every cubic meter of marc is required to be added to the marc to bring the amount of chloride up to an optimal or ideal or required amount in the upgraded marc.

15

Taking Zinc as the next example of one of the deficient elements, it is noted from Table 1 that the amount of deficiency of Zinc is 36.

20 For adding zinc, zinc sulphate which contains

22% zinc, is used. Accordingly, the calculation would be-

ZnSO₄.7H₂O = 36.600.10^"4/22 = 0.098 kg/ m³

25 ,

Thus, the amount of Zinc Sulphate hydrate that needs to be added to the marc sample is 0.098 kg/m³ in order to redress the zinc deficiency and bring the amount of zinc to an optimal or ideal

30 amount corresponding to the required amount.

In such manner all deficient mineral quantities may be made good by using either one of the formulae to calculate the amdunt of each element that needs to be added. Other, formulae could be used in other situations for other elements.

5 A further deficiency that may occur in marc is in the metabolisable energy (ME) content. Typically this is 6-12% in marc products. However, the range to ensure weight gain would be about 10-12% which would be an ideal range. 10 Energy content may be improved by adding carbohydrates such as sugars, carboxylic acids and celluloses, or other agents such as proteins and amino acids.

15 Typically formic acid, sugars and sugar refinery wastes (eg molasses) may be added.

Usually, the protein content o£ marc products is typically at about 12-15% which is not deficient 20 but within the target range. Protein levels can be boosted, if necessary or desired, by the addition of nitrogen as urea, ammonium salts or protein rich additives like grains or the like.

25 In the two examples from Mildura and Mudgee in

NSW a close approximation to the ideal mineral balance can be estimated to occur from the mineral supplement additions listed in Table 3.

30 Table 3. Examples of calculated additive additions for Mildura and Mudgee Marc in kg per cubic metre unless stated. Table 3

Table 3 represents two examples of how the elemental deficiencies in marc may be optimised to improve the feed quality as determined by the method described in this specification. Other chemicals or wastes could be used than those illustrated. For example Mg could come from Mg sulphate or from Mg Chloride. The differences in the chemicals used to improve the two marc wastes illustrate attempts to optimise all of the needed additives. Depending on economic and availability factors many other combinations are possible.

4. Method of Mixing.

Once the calculation of the appropriate amounts of available fertilisers that are required to be added to the reject product has been done, a method of introducing the fertilisers to the marc so as to uniformly and evenly mix the fertiliser throughout the marc is required. Processes for uniformly mixing include mechanical mixers, movement with a wheeled front bucket loader, or any mechanical process shown to give an appropriate level of mixing resulting in a substantially homogenous mixture.

Various mixing methods may be required. Additives required in very small amounts/ for example ultra trace elements/ may be applied advantageously in liquid solution. Additives required in larger amounts/ for example sodium or potassium chloride may be added advantageously in solid form.

5. Method of preservation.

In the most usual forms of the invention vineyard rejects are mixed with additives as described previously. In order to preserve the resultant product the materials may then be ensilaged as an economical and beneficial method.

Typically, ensilaging is the most advantageous form of preservation for wet materials containing 25 to 35% moisture.

Ensilaging has the following advantages-

Marc ensilages easily and rapidly due to the already acidic nature of the marc.

Ensilaging results in a stable product preserved for many years or even decades.

Ensilaging is cost effective and easily performed with marc which is conventionally produced at close to optimal moisture content and packs down easily to exclude oxygen as is required by the, process. The ensilaging process also benefits from the addition of the chemical additives to the marc resulting in improved microbial growth and improvement in the digestible protein content.

Ensilaging may be performed in silos, bunkers, pits, wrapped bales or above ground windrows or the like.

Tables 1 and 2 illustrate two examples of elemental analyses of marc from widely different geographical areas and soil types of Australia. The analyses show similar nutrient deficiencies these being (in descending order) -

. Chloride

Sodium

Magnesium

.Sulphur

Phosphorus Manganese

Zinc

Molybdenum

Selenium.

It is claimed that these nutrient ratio deficiencies are relatively constant for the marc of the grape vine and may reasonably and affordably be rectified by means of this invention.

By way of example the compounds used to make up these deficiencies could include: NaCl

MgCl₂

MgSO₄ NaH₂PO₄

MnSO₄.5H₂O

ZnSO₄.7H₂O

Ammonium Molybdate

Sodium Selenate and may be used in ratios and amounts such, as to render the marc more useful and valuable for the nutrition of animals. Further it is observed that the resulting value of the mixture exceeds the cost of applying the additives.

The present invention will now be described lay way of example with reference to the following non-limiting examples of aspects of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1

Unprocessed Marc

An analysis of a typical sample of waste or reject material in the form of marc is shown in Table 5.

EXAMPLE 2

An analysis of the properties of a typical waste or reject material, marc is shovm in Table 11. EXAMPLE 3

An analysis of the properties or characteristics of a typical stock feed which has been upgraded by the addition of certain additives in accordance with the present invention is shown in Table 7.

EXAMPLE 4

In an experimental trial in wodonga, Victoria,

Australia, marc from two vineyards in ME victoria were ensilaged by compacting in windrowa and covering with silage plastic. Marc was than analysed and data entered into the "Marc Calculator" spreadsheet to determine the levels of mineral and energy supplements needed.

Formula for Marc Wodonga Product: Marc Table S Densities

Table 9 Test Criteria

Table 10 Additives

Note importantly that in this example raw cane sugar is used as a supplementary energy source. In another manifestation of the invention rolled barley was added and the following formula used in feeding trials at Wodonga-

Table 11

* Salt mix contained sodium chloride about 75%, magnesium sulphate 20%, mono ammonium phosphate 3% and trace elements 2%.

In this example weight gains of from 1.4 to 2.0 kg/head/day were achieved in feeding of steers with an average weight gain of around 1.6 kg/head/day. In a typical feβdlot situation steers would, thus be expected to grow and fatten from 300 kg to 650 kg in around 220 days using upgraded feed material made in accordance with the present invention.

It has been discovered during the wodonga trial program that the seed of grape is covered in, a hard woody test or testa that largely prevents digestion of the fat and oil and protein content of the seed. By cracking the seed using a knurled roller mill set at 1.5 to 2.5 mm gap the seed is effectively cracked. In vivo such energy as appears available from the test will not in fact be digestible when the seeds are not cracked and this explains published results where ruminants do not appear to grow well if at all on grape marc because the grape seeds are not cracked. This is a novel and important further aspect of the invention.

The improvement in growth rate of cattle from cracking the seed and optimising the ratios of energy, protein, and minerals within the upgraded fσdd&r material can be seen from a graph of growth rates of smaller steer animals at the Wodonga trials.

Seeds cracked in roller mill.

The data demonstrates that the energy deficit in grape marc can be met by the addition of economical amounts of grain and sugar and by cracking the grape seeds.

Respectable daily weight gains were obtained once the three processes of-

Cracking grape seed

Addition of 20% rolled barley

Addition of about 1% wwb of sugar were made.

The attached page (Table 12) shows the growth rate occurring after these changes were introduced. Average gains of 1.45 kg/head/day for the "B" group and 1.62 kg/head/day for the "W group were realised from this feed known as the ^wNutrifeed Premium" blend. Up to 1.95 kg/head/day was seen in some cattle. In this manifestation high energy and protein are required to obtain the weight gains for rapidly growing meat steers. Trials at "Glenburn", Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia.

Marc was obtained from wineries in the NE Victorian area and ensilaged under plastic after packing down with 4 wheel drive tractors. Product was analysed as shown in . "Wangaratta Marc" result. Example 1, Table 5.

The two calculation spreadsheets developed for the process of optimising mineral and energy/protein formulation were applied (see "MineralMixCalculator.xls" (Table 13) and "Glenburn CPME Spreadsheet (Table 14) ) used to determine the needs for minerals. Note that data is entered in the areas highlighted in RED in an iterative process to determine the mix required to provide a given Crude Protein, Metabolisable Energy and mineral ratios.

A PEED FORMULATION was arrived at-

Note: Stigar additions can vary with external energy- needs such as cold windy weather and growth stage of the animal, urea will normally vary with protein requirement, the larger amount for younger animals with high protein needs and reduced amounts' as the animal stops growing and puts on body fat. At'> this stage energy will be increased and urea, decreased.

This formulation was revised as the animals matured and as a result of analysis entitled "Wangaratta Feed" (Example 3, Table 7) to

Note;

• increased zinc and magnesium

• Addition of lime due to low Ca result

• Reduced salt

■ Ultra-trace elements I and Se due to observance of possible low level symptoms or as a precaution.

Animals in this full scale commercial trial started at an average 280 kg and gained weight to around 590 kg in 210 days. An average growth rate over the period of 1.48kg/head/day.

Preferred aspects of the key components of the present invention include the following: 1. The need for careful mineral analysis of the marc on a region by region, basis

2. Determination of the mineral additive requirements for the ruminant animals (sheep, cattle or goat) using the calculators developed.

3. Use of the Crude Protein and Metabolisable Energy Calculator (CPME Calculator) using local process for commodities, to optimise the ratio of protein and energy baaed additives (most commonly rolled grains/ molasses and cane sugar).

4. Cracking in a roller mill or other mechanical device or- using chemical or other physical disruption to the seeds, the grape seed in order to fully realise the energy and protein determined by the analysis.

5. Use of magnets in the processing of the marc to remove potentially lethal metal objects .

6. Quality control analysis to calibrate and adjust the feed in terms of growth stage of the animal and to validate the additions.

By application of the invention using ,all of these components it is believed that commercially viable growth rates of ruminantB may £>e obtained using marc as a component at up to 65-80% of the ration on a dry weight basis.

It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, soich reference does not constitute an admission that the, publication forms a part of the common, general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country.

It will be understood to persons skilled in the art of the invention that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1

Table 5 Unprocessed Marc

EXAMPLE 2

Table 6 Energy protein before upgrading

EXAMPLE 3

Table 7 Upgraded Marc

TABLE 12

TABLE 13

TABLE 14

TABLE 15

Additions for Marc Product: Marc Barley mlx

Table 15.3

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. A method of treating or improving the quality of a waste material or a reject material in order to improve the nutritional value of the waste or reject material for use as a feed material characterised in that the method comprises the steps of (x) providing the waste or reject material, (ii) conducting an analysis of the waste or reject material to determine at least one key characteristic, property or quality of the waste or reject material including the amount of at least one key or critical constituent, (iii) comparing the values obtained from the analysis of the at least one key characteristic, property or quality of the waste or reject material with at least one corresponding characteristic, property or quality required by an animal and determining which of the at least one characteristic, property or quality needs to be adjusted, and by what amount in oarder to improve the nutritional value of the waste or reject material, said at least one characteristic, property or quality including at least one key or critical constituent required of fodder for animals, (iv) calculating the amount of additives to be added to achieve optimal requirement of at least one key or critical constituent, and (v) adding a calculated amount of selected additive to the waste material to bring at least one required chara teristic, property or quality to the required limit or value in order to convert the reject material into a fodder, feed or feed supplement that has sufficient nutritional value or energy content for feeding to an animal to obtain and/or maintain health and/or well being of the animal.

2. A method of enhancing the health and/or well being of an animal, including improving the nutrition of an animal comprising the steps of feeding to the animal optionally in need of improvement of the nutrition of the animal, by feeding a fodder material to the animal characterised in that the feed material is made essentially from a waste or reject material in which the waste or reject material has undergone treatment for upgrading the waste or reject material to improve the nutritional value of the waste or reject material, said treatment comprising the steps of (i) providing the waste or reject material, (ii) conducting an analysis of the waste or reject material to determine at least one key characteristic, property or quality of the waste or reject material, (iii) comparing the values obtained from, the analysis of the at least one characteristic, property or quality with at least one corresponding characteristic, property or quality that is a key requirement of an animal and determining which of the key properties needs to be adjusteid, and by what amount in order to improve the nutritional value of the reject material including the amounts of the certain key or critical constituents, (iv) calculating the amount of additives to be added to achieve desired requirements o£ at least some of the key or critical constituents, and (v) adding a calculated amount of selected additives to the waste material to bring at least some of the required properties up to the required limit or value in order to convert the reject material into a fodder, feed or feed supplement that has sufficient nutritional value or energy content for feeding to an animal thereby improving and/or maintaining the health and well being of the animal.

3. An animal fodder material or a supplement for adding to an animal fodder material for feeding to an animal to improve and/or maintain health' and/or wellbeing of the animal characterised in that the feed material comprises a waste or reject material component having at least one key characteristic, property or quality which is deficient when compared to the value or amount of that key characteristic, property or quality required by an animal for good health, and an additive material component in which the additive material component improves at least the one key characteristic, property or quality that is deficient in the waste material by adding a least one material to upgrade the value or amount of the key characteristic, property or quality to an upgraded amount or value in the feed material, wherein the upgraded value or amount is determined in accordance •with a comparison of the required, amount or value of the key characteristic_/ property or quality necessary in the feed material to provide sufficient nutritional value or energy content for feeding the animal fodder or animal fodder supplement to the animal to improve and/or maintain the health and/or well being of the animal.

4. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that the waste material is a residue or by-product remaining from or produced by a production, manufacturing, preparation or treatment process.

5. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that the waste material is derived from a food or beverage product including a wine waste or wine reject material, a beverage waste material or the like.

6. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the waste wine material is a waste water, pressings from the juice extracting process of making -wine, marc, pomace, filtrate material, stems, leaves, stalks, roughage or the like derived from fruit growing and/or processing including grape growing, grape harvesting and/or wine production.

7. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the wine material, including marc and pomace, is deficient in certain essential nutrients, typically deficient in critical amounts of certain essential materials regarded as key components for the health and wellbeing of the animal .

8. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the waste material, when upgraded, can be used as one of the food materials for the animal or as the sole animal feed ration of the animal.

9. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the material further comprises other materials including grains, hays, forages, silages, grasses, lucernes or the like.

10. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the animal feed ration made from the material is of sufficient quality to permit weight gain and improved condition of animals being fed the fodder.

11. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the animal is a herbivorous animal, including ruminants, horses, poultry, rodents, pigs or the like.

12. A method of producing an upgraded waste or reject material from a waste or reject material deficient in at least one essential nutrient comprising the steps of

(a) conducting a chemical and/or physical analysis of the nature of the reject material to determine the type and/or amount of certain preselected materials within the waste material,

{b> calculating the amount of mineral content, protein content and energy content of the waste material,

(c) determining the nature and/or amount of key materials required for health and wellbeing of the animal, (d) calculating the amount and/or nature of deficiency of any key material or element or compound that is required to be added to the waste material in order to produce a higher quality feed material having acceptable nutrition for the particular animal to which the feed material is to be fed, and

(e) calculating the optimum amount of available chemicals or other additives required to be added to the waste material to achieve better nutrition of the target animal,

thereby producing a fodder material or fodder supplement .

13. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the method further comprises the additional step of preserving the upgraded waste material.

14. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the preserving step is ensilaging the upgraded waste material or rapid drying of the waste material.

15. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the essential materials required of a fodder or fodder supplement include nitrogen/ phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, molybdenum, cobalt, selenium and iodine.

16. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the non essential but preferred materials include the following: sodium chloride (common salt) , magnesium, sulphur, in some cases phosphorus, in some cases calcium and zinc, in some cases manganese, iodine and selenium.

17. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that the element or nutrient to be added to the waste material to upgrade the waste material includes chlorine, sodium, magnesium, sulphur, zinc, molybdenum and selenium.

18. A material or method according to any preceding claim characterised in that the form of -the equation allowing for the amount of additive needed per cubic meter of waste material is A = Q.d./P where A equals the amount of material to be added to the waste material, i.e. the additive, Q equals the quantity of element to be added in percent dwb, d equals the density in kilogram dwb per cubic meter, and P equals the percentage of element in the mixture provided.

19. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that one added material can provide upgrading of two or more individual deficient elements to the upgraded waste material .

20. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that the amount of each element or compound added to the waste material is + 20% of the ideal amount.

21. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that the waste or reject material, preferably the marc or pomace, contains seeds and the method includes at least partially cracking the seeds to form a waste material that is ,at least partially cracked.

22. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that the cracking of the seed occurs using a cracking device.

23. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that the cracking device is a knurled roller mill set at about a 1.5 mm gap to effectively crack the seed to release energy and nutrients to the animals.

24. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that cracking of the seeds of the waste or reject material releases energy and nutrients, such as proteins, fats,' oils or the like and making the contents of the seeds more accessible to the animals, preferably, the ruminants and thereby effecting weight gain for the animals.

25. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in that cracking of the seeds disrupts the test or testa of the seeds which prevents digestion of the fat, oil, protein or the like contained within the seed thereby making the contents of the seed, including fat, oil, protein of the seeds available to animals, fodder or similar containing the upgraded material in which the seeds have been cracked.

26. A method or material according to any preceding claim characterised in. that the following elements are added to the waste material: sodium chloride is added to add both chloride and sodium, magnesium chloride is added to add both chloride and magnesium, magnesium sulphate is added to add magnesium, ammonium phosphate is added to add phosphorus, magnesium sulphate is added to add magnesium, zinc sulphate is added to add zinc, ammonium molybdate is added to add molybdenum to the waste material and sodium selenate is added to add selenium.

27. A method or material according to, any preceding claim characterised in that ensilaging of the upgraded waste material occurs using wet materials containing 25% to 55% moisture, preferably about 45% to 55% moisture.

28. A method of enhancing the health aaid/or well being of an animal, including improving the nutrition of an animal substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying examples, tables and charts .

29. An animal fodder material or a supplement for adding to an animal fodder material for feeding to an animal to obtain and/or maintain health and/or wellbeing of the animal substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying examples, tables, and charts.

30. Every novel feature as hereinbefore disclosed or defined in the specification when taken alone or in combination, with any other feature including features that are novel or otherwise, including groups of two or more features.