How about straw pellets? Why do cattle and sheep love to eat?

With the continuous development of new energy, the utilization of straw has become one of the new projects. Boiler sprays, straw vaporization, fermentation treatment, straw plates, straw return to the field, grass processing companies, straw feed mills, pellet feed processing Households, biological power plants, cattle breeding, sheep breeding households, straw carbon plant, density board, straw door making, straw charcoal, straw board, feed and other fields. Today we are going to talk about straw pellets for animal feed.

The great prospect of straw pellets as animal feed

Looking at the development trend of the world's feed industry, the processing and utilization of roughage such as straw is playing an increasingly important role in the feed industry. This is mainly because:

• The roughage such as straw is abundant in reserves and low in price, and currently the proportion of processed and utilized feed is small;
• Ruminants and other herbivorous livestock, which account for a large proportion of animal husbandry, feed on pasture and certain roughages as their staple food;
• As the demand for feed grains in various countries continues to increase, leading to a shortage of feed grains. This forces people to try to use coarse fodder and straw to develop animal husbandry, and give priority to the development of herbivorous livestock.

Take China as an example. China's straw resources are very rich. According to statistics, China's annual output of various crop straws amounts to 600 million tons, accounting for 20 to 30% of the world's total straw production, which is equivalent to more than 50% of the grassland in the north. Times. At present, China's crop stalks are rarely used for feed. Only 6-8% of the meat is converted from grass, while the United States accounts for about 73% and Australia accounts for about 90% of the meat. This shows that China's straw resources still have great potential for utilization.

In recent years, people's living standards have been continuously improved, and the demand for meat, eggs, and milk has increased rapidly, which has brought about the great development of animal husbandry. While the population continues to increase and the arable land decreases, the natural pastures are seriously degraded, and the conflict between humans and animals competing for food is becoming more and more serious. The effective use of straw is a major task for agricultural development.

The yellow-ripened plant stems and leaves are tightly covered by the epidermal gel layer and silicon cells, and the intercellular essential elements hinder the digestion and absorption of livestock. The yellow-ripened stems are thick and hard and have poor palatability, which also affects the feeding of animals. In addition, due to the low content of crude protein and certain trace elements of straw, the effective energy is also low, which affects the use value of straw as animal feed. In view of the above reasons, this huge reserve of feed resources has not been fully exploited.

Why do cattle and sheep love straw pellets made by straw pellet machine?

The straw pellet mill machine has 4 main applications: the first is for livestock feed production, and ruminant feed production; the second is to make straw pellets for biomass fuel; the third is for horse bedding or cat litter; fouth is used to make fertilizer. Generally speaking, straw-type materials are the first choice for livestock and poultry feed, especially for herbivores such as cattle and sheep, which can intelligently treat waste straws, recycle resources and maintain ecological friendliness.

For cattle, sheep, geese, ducks, donkeys, rabbits and other livestock, straw pellet machineare very popular. In fact, there are many raw materials for making straw pellets, such as wheat stalks, rice stalks, corn stalks, cotton stalks, sugarcane stalks, etc. Straw pellets are pressed at high temperature, and through tempering and gelatinization treatment, the straw pellets are dried in and out, so that the pellets have a "grass flavor". Livestock, such as cattle and sheep, love to eat.

How about straw pellets? Why do cattle and sheep love to eat

How to make straw pellets by straw pellet machine?

Straw pellet production process by straw pellet making machine:

The forming and processing of straw feed is to make powdered formulations, mixed feed or grass meal, grass segments, straws, husks and beet residues and other feed materials, and press them into pellets, blocks, cakes or flakes through a straw pelletizer. In the process of solid feed, the processing and application of pellet feed is the majority, because pellets are the most suitable feed form.

Especially for the processing of straw feed, pellet straw feed is the main form. Farmers and feed mills can according to actual needs, choose a straw pellet machine or a straw pellet production line to process single-type straw cattle and sheep basic pellet feed and compound cattle and sheep pellet feed.

Ring die straw pellet granulators are generally used to make corn straw pellets, concord straw pellets, wheat straw pellets, organic straw pellets, cereal straw pellet, rice straw pellet, etc., because it is equipped with a forced feeding setting, which can lightly feed raw materials such as straw and forage into a pellet machine conditioner or pelletizing room for granulation to prevent backlog of raw materials at the inlet. Straw pellets have good palatability, moderate hardness, and can effectively kill harmful bacteria and diseased microorganisms after high-temperature pressing. Cattle and sheep and other livestock are well digested after eating, and they are an excellent source of feed for livestock and animal wintering, so that the supply of livestock and animal silage is not subject to seasonal restrictions.

Straw feed pellet production process flow for farmers or small-scale processing

Straw pellet feed processing is to pulverize or knead the straw into a silk, mix and match it with other agricultural and sideline products and feed additives according to a certain formula, and then make a pelletized mixed feed. Straw pellet feed processing can intensify vitamins, trace elements, non-protein nitrogen, additives and other ingredients into the feed to achieve the balance of nutrients.

1. Material selection. Most crop stalks can be used as raw materials for pellet feed. The selected stalks must be free of rot, stones and other impurities.
2. Short and crushed. First, the straw stalks are smashed to a length of 3 to 5 cm, and then crushed to corn kernel-sized pieces. It can also be treated with a guillotine shredder at one time. Spread the crumbs out to dry, dissipate the heat and moisture, and pack them in bags and store them in a dry place for later use.
3. Mix the starter. Sprinkle the fermentation inoculum into the crushed straws according to the proportion, repeatedly stir and mix evenly.
4. Mixed with water. Gradually add warm water to the mixture at the ratio of 100 kg mixture to 85-100 kg warm water, and stir while adding to make the mixture completely moist. It is better to add water until the material is held into a ball by hand and does not drip.
   Special attention should be paid to the fact that too little water will result in impermeable fermentation, and too much water will result in less air in the feed, which is not conducive to the propagation of bacteria, and will easily cause anaerobic butyric acid fermentation and reduce the quality of feed.
5. Fermentation in a container. Put the mixed raw materials into cement tanks, ceramic tanks, plastic bags and other containers, step on or compact them, and then seal and ferment.
6. Granulation. After sealing and fermenting for more than 1 day, the raw materials can be taken out for granulation by straw pelletizing equipment. The diameter of pellets for sheep is 4-6 mm, and the diameter of pellets for cattle is 6-8 mm.
7. Heat dissipation, dry, bag and store. Keep in a cool and dry place for use.

This pelletizing technology is suitable for the company-and-farmer model, which can be manufactured in feed factories, circulated in commercial products, and has low production costs. A complete set straw feed processing equipment can also be used to automatically complete straw crushing, lifting, stirring and feeding functions, and various additives can be added at any time, fully enclosed production, is a highly automated and efficient straw pellet feed processing unit.

Straw feed pellets production in medium and large feed mills

A complete set straw pellets production technology for straw concentrate feed suitable for large-scale feed companies, with a higher level of automation control. Taking the complete set of processing technology of compound straw feed pellets as an example, the feed pellet manufacturing process includes the crushing system, the batching mixing system, the pelletizing system, the cooling system and other parts.

Picture source: South Africa straw feed production line project testing site

The characteristics of the straw pellets production process in the feed factory: computer-controlled ingredients and weighing, precise control of the amount of lye added, to ensure that the lye is added in proportion, so that the lye is fully reacted with the straw in the reactor and converted into organic matter, so that there is no lye residue Harm the stomach and intestines of animals.

Under the action of steam, straw and sodium hydroxide will accelerate the chemical reaction and generate heat, which makes the temperature of the material rise quickly to 90°C, which can be kept in the reactor for more than ten minutes. The chemical reaction is carried out under high temperature and high pressure, making the product non-toxic and sterile. Under the action of high temperature and high pressure, the material is pressed into the straw pellet making machine ring die by rollers to make straw pellets. The material is compressed ten times, with a bulk density of 450-500 kg/m3.

Straw pellet machine for feed vs straw pellet machine for biofuel

Can a straw feed pelletizing machine be used to process straw pellets for heating?

The raw material composition, process route and working conditions of straw pellet fuel and pellet feed are different, and the wear and tear on the straw pelletizer equipment is also different. The straw fuel pellet production process of is short and the working conditions are more complicated. If the key components do not reach the designed service life, it will increase the maintenance cost.

Generally speaking, in order to shorten the life cycle of the straw pellet press, the molding principle of the ring die pellet press used for making straw pellet feed will be used to optimize the structure and components. Therefore, the feed pelletizer cannot directly produce straw pellet fuel, and the key components need to be improved, and it is recommended that the straw be used for different purposes to adapt to different uses of feed and fuel.