€10,000 prize for automated mineral dosing system
Terra Liquid Minerals in Kildare, an agri-business set up by Tom and Padraig Hennessy in 2012, was named as the overall National Enterprise Award for 2018 winner last week.
Having worked with water piping systems for over 10 years, Tom had seen the advantages of using a farm’s water piping system for adding minerals.
Their automated controller pumps in a dosage of minerals based on the number of animals and the amount of water being consumed.
It works for any type or size of water piping.
It automatically adjusts the concentration of minerals depending on volume of water been consumed.
A higher concentration is dosed into the water if the herd drinks less in wet weather.
The concentration is reduced if they consume extra water in warm weather.
For example, the Terra Liquid Minerals intelligent controller ensures accurate dosing of magnesium (to prevent grass tetany) regardless of weather, so the cows get it when they need it most, on cold wet days.
Usage rates or minerals, and water consumed, are displayed on a LED screen.
A mineral package to suit the farm can be formulated after herd health tests.
Tera is automatically alerted by the controller when minerals run low, and visit to replenish the supply.
The company’s service includes full support and monitoring of the system at no additional cost.
Organised by the Local Enterprise Offices, the National Enterprise Awards celebrate the success stories behind the micro-enterprises which account for more than 90% of all businesses in Ireland. In the National Final, 31 finalists were chasing a prize fund of €40,000.
Terra Liquid Minerals won €10,000, there were €5,000 prizes for best start up, best export business, and best innovation, and eight regional awards of €2,000 each.
Previous winners now employ 832 people and generate over €131 million in turnover, €58m of which is generated from exports to 52 countries.
Since winning, 11 of these companies have also scaled-up their businesses to become Enterprise Ireland clients.
