In addition, feedstuffs pelleting procedures may lower the effect of antinutritional factors, which are often neglected, but it can also be beneficiary for better handling, storing and logistic procedures. Pellets minimise feed waste, prevent behavioural feed sorting (ruminants > monogastrics), and because of their concentrated form, animals tend to perform well because of even and balanced nutrients received per individual meal. This comes down to the advantages of pelleting procedures on feedstuffs. There is no doubt that animals (monogastrics > ruminants) make better gains (mainly average daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio) when fed quality pelleted feeds compared to animals fed with meal – mash rations. Studies are proving how this cost circulates back as profit for the farmers, and this can be expressed mainly in the form of dairy performance in several key phases in the production cycle, so maintaining such farm data is rather critical. It goes without saying that there are additional fixed costs and logistics expenses (variable depending on the mill operator) for pelleted feeds further affecting farm financials and KPIs related to dairy nutrition (income over feed cost – IOFC etc.). ALSO READ: Controlling cow metabolic diseases via balanced rations Nevertheless, PDI improves with the die thickness the lower the thickness, the better. Total formula oil and fat content act as a barrier for steam penetration causing segregation of fines thus lowering PDI. ![]() The higher the proteins in the recipe the higher the PDI. Furthermore, moisture and temperature alter the molecular structure of proteins. Moisture should not be 15-17% and starch gelatinization depend on residence time and temperatures in the preconditioning phase. This increases moisture (steam condenses) and temperature. Preconditioning of feed mixture causes the starch granule to gelatinize via the addition of steam. In addition to that, pellet durability improves with the use of finer particle-sized materials, meaning the grinding procedure is also very important as the smaller the particles size the less time required for hydration. Formula ingredients with a high palatability index could be the means to produce quality pellets at the lowest cost with energy savings being significant. Several physiochemical and nutrient characteristics may alter the results. ALSO READ: Precision feeding and dynamic nutrients in dairy cowsįormulation and feed ingredients are the first steps in pellet durability, and the treatment of the feed mixture in terms of moisture, temperature and pressure leads to producing quality pellets. The higher the PDI %, the better and the less segregation of fines is observed. It usually describes the percentage of pellets remaining intact after some kind of mechanical force is applied to pellets. The Pellet Durability Index (PDI %) is the key measurement of final pellet quality. ![]() These are weighting, grinding, mixing, conditioning, pelleting and cooling. There are several steps in the pelleting procedure that can define the final pellet quality although the main steps are common for every mill operator. Pellets are produced when a feedstuff or a mixture of feedstuffs is forced to pass through a cylindrical shape material, the die that has a length up to 4 times its diameter. Key quality factors in the pelleting process Nowadays, precision dairy feeding is more critical than ever and aims to meet production requirements with lower methane emissions. The transition from on-farm feed processing operations to larger industrial-type feed manufacturing facilities has made processing technologies more economically feasible with pellet mill operators playing a vital role in the animal feed business.
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