AU707606B3 - Animal feed composition made from settable liquid ingredients - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT Name of Applicant: RIDLEY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED 070 077 575) Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Invention Title: CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

ANIMAL FEED COMPOSITION MADE FROM SETTABLE LIQUID INGREDIENTS Details of Associated Provisional Application: No. PP1153 The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to us:

I

ANIMAL FEED COMPOSITION MADE FROM SETTABLE LIQUID

INGREDIENTS

This invention relates to an animal feed tomposition which contains settable liquid ingredients and particularly relates to shaped solid animal feed supplements which contain magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate as the setting agents.

It is common to feed animals and particularly ruminant animals with feed supplements to improve animal performance rate. It has been recognised that animal growth and fertility is limited by the level of nutrients in the feed available for consumption. This is particularly likely when animals graze pasture.

Animal growth rate and fertility can be improved by supplementing the diet with supplemental feedstuffs which are fortified with nutrients such as proteins and minerals.

It is well-known to provide feed blocks containing such nutrients to grazing ruminants, and known types of blocks are salt blocks or salt licks, mineral blocks, protein blocks and molasses blocks.

It is also known to provide supplemental feedstuffs in the form of loose mixes, pellets, licks, liquids and powders but, in practice, feed blocks are preferred as blocks have the advantage of allowing free choice feeding and reducing the labour required in the feeding out process. Animal feed blocks can also be made weather resistant and so do not require sheltered feeding locations. The feed blocks can be easily transported from one location to another.

Currently, there are several disadvantages in the manufacture of the feed blocks and the present invention has been developed to overcome at least some of these disadvantages.

It is known to prepare feed blocks by compressing and moulding a mixture of feed products (proteins, minerals, etc.) to a desired shape and weight. However, feed blocks prepared in this manner require large amounts of pressure to press the blocks and this in turn requires large capital equipment. Blocks produced in this way are also not particularly weatherproof and the pressures need to be varied depending on the ingredients in the block. This makes producing a range of blocks difficult and quite expensive.

It is also known to prepare animal feed blocks by evaporative heating and subsequent pouring of the ingredients, some of which are in the liquid form. However, heating degrades or decomposes any heat sensitive component of the feed block, (for instance the feed block may contain antibiotics which are heat sensitive). Also, the process of heating requires large energy inputs and capital inputs into the manufacture of the block, both of which are undesirable.

Emulsifiers such as gelatinized starch have been used in the preparation of animal feed blocks containing molasses and fatty materials.

It is known to combine calcium oxide with a fatty acid which react with each other to form a soap-type product which can be shaped into an animal feed block.

It is known to prepare feed blocks having molasses and a fat emulsifying agent and heating the components followed by cooling and moulding.

It is known to prepare an animal feed block using magnesium oxide and ferrous sulphate together with various additives to give a solid block. The ferrous sulphate is initially mixed with various nutrients including major minerals and trace elements, and magnesium oxide is added.

However, to manufacture blocks having good weatherability and hardness using ferrous sulphate and magnesium oxide required careful selection of the various other additives, and usable feed blocks cannot readily be manufactured with many desired additives. The variety of feed blocks which can be made in this manner is therefore quite limited. Another disadvantage with using magnesium oxide and ferrous sulphate is that the mixture sets too quickly which makes it difficult to thoroughly mix the ingredients prior to setting. If the amount of magnesium oxide or ferrous sulphate is lowered to slow down the set rate, the formed blocks have undesirable qualities, e.g.

poor hardness.

Another known method to manufacture feed blocks is described in Australian patent 471601 which uses a chemical hardening process employing the reaction between magnesium oxide and molasses. This process however requires molasses to always be present, therefore making the process unsuitable for molasses-free blocks.

Australian patent 516816 improves on the chemical hardening process by using magnesium oxide and dicalcium phosphate as the setting agents. This resulted in a reduction in the time required to manufacture the feed blocks and allow the feed blocks to be made from water bearing media other than molasses. Blocks manufactured in this manner required heating as a process step which is undesirable.

International patent application WO 88/01475 describes animal feed pellets formed from a mixture which contains magnesium sulphate and magnesium oxide, but in this specification the composition is not initially liquified by the addition of sufficient water to allow it to be simply poured into moulds and hardened without requiring any pressing equipment. In contrast, the international patent application describes and claims a dry feed composition where the mixture is pressed using expensive capital equipment into the required blocks or pellet shapes. The specification does describe the introduction of some moisture preferably as steam, but the amount of moisture is not described as being sufficient to allow the product to be simply poured into moulds and hardened. There is no description in this specification that animal feed blocks can be made from magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate, and optionally other components by adding sufficient water to liquify or slurry the components and pouring the slurry into moulds with the composition still being able to harden into commercially usable blocks.

French patent specification 8,007,259 describes a mineral premix for manufacture of animal blocks. In the French patent specification, there is no teaching or disclosure of the use of magnesium oxide as a setting agent. Instead, the magnesium oxide is described as a source of magnesium to the animal. There is no clear and unmistakable teaching in the French patent specification that blocks having acceptable weatherability and water resistance can be manufactured using magnesium sulphate and magnesium oxide mixed with sufficient water to provide a pourable mixture which can subsequently set. The French patent specification teaches only the addition of inorganic water soluble elements to provide the blocks and there is no description or teaching that other ingredients can also be added and which can set into an acceptable block. For instance, the French patent specification does not teach or disclose any organic ingredients such as meal, lupins, soy bean or oil. There is no teaching in the French patent specification that introduction of.these organic components would result in an acceptable block. The French patent specification fails to teach or reference that the blocks can be made in various degrees of hardness by varying the ratio between the magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate. For instance, there is no teaching that variation in the ratio will produce blocks of different hardness.

German patent specification 1,925,180 is mainly directed to a fertiliser but has some description to the use of the compositions as mineral feeds. The compositions are described as being magnesium-calciumphosphate compositions and indeed all the claims are directed to the manufacture of such a composition. There is no description or teaching of the ability to manufacture animal food blocks by the interreaction of magnesium sulphate and magnesium oxide which is initially mixed with sufficient water to allow the product to be moulded.

In summary, it has not been realised that magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate can be used as efficient setting agents to manufacture feed blocks of acceptable weatherability and hardness while still being able to incorporation a very large range of other additives without compromising the weatherability of the blocks. Although it is known to mix magnesium sulphate and magnesium oxide together, the prior art teaches away from a much easier manufacturing process of these blocks which does away with the requirement for mechanical compression and pelletising equipment by allowing the blocks to be formed by a simple moulding process. The prior art teaches away from the realisation that animal feed blocks can be made by initially slurrying the components together in sufficient water to allow the components to be simply poured into moulds, without the subsequent set product becoming too weak.

In the present invention, animal feed blocks or other types of solid shaped animal feed compositions can be prepared without requiring heating or pressure pressing as an essential step, and useful blocks can be made with a large range of additives, and is not necessarily limited to a narrow range of additives.

This has been achieved with the surprising and unexpected discovery that when magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate are used as setting agents, a large range of feed blocks can be made without requiring expensive capital equipment and where blocks have acceptable parameters of weatherability etc.

It is an object of the invention to provide an animal feed supplement which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the public with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a shaped animal feed composition comprising at least magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate as setting agents.

In another form, the invention resides in a shaped animal feed composition comprising at least magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate as setting agents and where the composition has been formed by mixing the components of the composition with sufficient water to allow the mixture to be simply poured into moulds and subsequently set.

In another form, the invention resides in a method of manufacturing an animal feed composition comprising adding to the composition magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate, adding sufficient water to the composition to allow it to be poured into moulds, and subsequently allowing the composition to set to form animal feed blocks.

The amount of magnesium sulphate and magnesium oxide in the block can vary to suit the other additives in the block, the desired weatherability, hardness of the block and the like.

In a preferred form, the feed composition can comprise between 1 to 50% by weight and preferably between 2 to 15% by weight of magnesium sulphate and between 1 to 50% by weight and more preferably between 2 to 15% by weight of magnesium oxide. The ratio between magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate can be from 1:1 up to 2:1 with larger amounts of magnesium oxide relative to magnesium sulphate increasing the hardness of the blocks.

The size and shape of the shaped feed composition can vary and can comprise small cubes or pellets which can be mixed with other animal feedstuffs, or larger blocks which can be licked or nibbled by the animals. The blocks can weight between, for instance, a gram or less to up to 1 tonne or more depending on their use.

The feed composition can contain a variety of additives which can include organic and inorganic additives.

The additives may include various inorganic ingredients such as salt, urea, calcium compounds such as calcium carbonate, calcium bicarbonate, calcium phosphate, calcium sulphate; phosphate additives such as ammonium polyphosphate and tetra sodium pyrophosphate. These additives can be between 5 to 80% by weight of the composition.

Other additives can include feedstuffs such as cotton seed meal, soy bean meal, mill run, lupins, molasses, dunder, other molasses byproducts (dried); grains, cereals, legumes, straw, hay, soy flakes, dried alfalfa, soy meal, wheat middlings, corn; fats such as edible animal and vegetable fats and oils, for instance soy bean oil, cotton seed oil, fish oil, grease, tallow, beef fat and the like; barley meal, blood meal, dried buttermilk, linseed meal, meat and bone meal, peanut meal, rice meal and sunflower meal. If these additives are present, they can be present in an amount of up to 50% by weight or more.

The feed composition may include various vitamins, trace elements and minerals, and if these are present, they can be present in an amount of up to 10% by weight or more. These ingredients include copper -i sulphate, cobalt sulphate, zinc sulphate, manganese sulphate, sulphur, zinc oxide, ferrous sulphate, ferrous oxide, iodines, potassium iodate, selenium and its compounds such as sodium selenite and the like. Added vitamins may include vitamins A, E, the B group vitamins, D and K.

The feed composition may include further additives such as clays including the bentonite and kaolin clays.

Other additives such as medicaments, antimicrobials, probiotics, enzymes, insecticides and anthelmintics may be added to the composition in an amount to about 25% by weight.

Water is added to the composition in sufficient amounts to allow the composition to be poured into moulds. The water can include aqueous solutions as well as substantially pure water. If the components of the composition are already watery molasses), a smaller amount of extra water can be added. If the components absorb water, a larger amount of water may need to be added provided that sufficient water exists to allow the composition to be poured into moulds. As an example, the composition can contain up to 30% by weight of water.

With current blocks, difficulties are experienced in ensuring adequate block supplement consumption by animals. It is critical that the animals consume at least a minimal amount of the feed supplement without the intake being excessive. Therefore, the supplement needs to be nutrient dense, palatable to encourage consumption, and hard enough to limit consumption. Molasses and salt are widely used to attract animals to the supplement and to manage consumption. However, blocks containing high levels of molasses (typically 30% by weight or more), while being palatable to animals, are not hard enough to limit animal intake to the required level.

Supplement blocks containing high levels of salt (typically 40% by weight or more), are difficult to form and require large amounts of applied pressure to form the block. However, such salt enhanced blocks are effective in controlling intake. Because of the difficulty in manufacturing pressed blocks with a high salt content, these blocks have hitherto been limited to relatively small sizes (typically 25kg or less) as the pressure required to form larger 9 blocks requires extremely expensive capital equipment.

It is found that the present invention allows salt enriched blocks to be formed without requiring pressure or heat with the blocks having desirable hardness, palatability and weatherability. Thus, salt enriched blocks of up to 1000 kg or more can now be manufactured in an economical manner.

By using magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate as setting agents in the feed composition, it has now surprisingly and unexpectedly been found that a greater range of raw materials can be included into the block formation thereby offering more flexibility in the nutrient analysis of the supplement.

There appears to be improved control over block hardness and therefore regulation of animal intake (the harder the block, the less the intake will be).

Feed blocks made according to the present invention also appear to show improved weatherability allowing the blocks to be used under various weather conditions (expensive covered feeders do not appear to be necessary). Also, the blocks can be manufactured using simple economical machinery without the requirement of high heat input or high pressure.

Magnesium oxide is well-known as an ingredient of animal feed compositions and is also well-known as a setting agent. It appears that the magnesium oxide has water binding properties to facilitate the formation of a hard feed block. However, magnesium oxide by itself provides blocks having undesirable strength and stability, and the time required to harden the blocks is undesirable.

After much research and experimentation, we have found that improvements can be made to the block and methods of making the block by including magnesium sulphate in the formulation as a setting agent.

It appears that by using magnesium oxide with magnesium sulphate as the setting agents, a large range of materials can be used that can be mixed in a water containing medium. It is preferred however that the mix prior to setting is neutral to alkaline in pH.

The magnesium oxide is of sufficient reactivity, particle size, surface area and citric acid reactivity to form a suitably hard block in an acceptable period of time. The magnesium oxide can be obtained from various commercial sources.

It is preferred that the magnesium sulphate is magnesium sulphate heptahydrate as this product is available commercially and is relatively easy to work with.

The addition of magnesium sulphate appears to dramatically improve the weatherability of the shaped animal feed composition. Tests have shown that blocks containing magnesium sulphate and magnesium oxide can be immersed in water for extended periods of time and show only minimal weathering at the surface. Thus, these blocks are particularly suitable for high phosphate-containing blocks and high urea-containing blocks which may be toxic if overconsumption occurs due to block softening from exposure to water.

In the manufacture of the shaped animal feed composition, water, or an aqueous mixture, is preferably added to reduce the viscosity of the block mix, to improve the intermixing of the various components and to allow the mixed product to be poured into moulds for setting. The amount of water can be varied with lower levels of water producing harder blocks. If some of the additives are water-containing (for instance molasses, dunder or liquid whey), less water can be added to provide the required viscosity. It appears that magnesium sulphate reduces the viscosity of the mix thereby allowing lower levels of water to be included in the formulation while maintaining flowability. Thus, harder blocks can be formed using magnesium sulphate and magnesium oxide than would be possible by using magnesium oxide by itself or in a mixture with other ingredients.

The shaped animal feed composition can be produced simply and economically, and there is no strict order of addition of the raw materials.

In an example, liquid raw materials and soluble raw materials are added together followed by insoluble raw materials with the reactive magnesium oxide being added last. There is no requirement for heating in the process and the magnesium sulphate prevents premature setting of the composition before it can be properly mixed and poured into moulds. There appears to be no requirement for time delays between raw material addition and therefore the production rate is limited only to the speed by which the raw materials can be added to the mixer, blended together and poured into the moulds for setting.

The setting time for the blocks is somewhat dependent on the choice of raw materials and ambient temperatures. External heat can be applied if it is necessary to set the blocks more quickly. It is found that blocks with low levels of molasses (typically 10% or less) set within 3 to 24 hours, while blocks with up to 50% molasses may take up to 7 days to set.

The blocks have acceptable hardness and a typical range of 2 2 hardness is from 4Kg cm to 50Kg cm 2 It can be seen that these hardnesses are quite surprising and unexpected considering the amount of water added to the composition to allow it to be poured into moulds. To date, conventional teaching has been away from adding too much water as the blocks were considered to be too soft and therefore unusable. The present invention has realised that this is not the case with the careful selection of the setting agents.

Table 1 (attached) shows 39 different blocks formed with various additives and using magnesium oxide and magnesium sulphate as the setting ingredients.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (3)

1. A method of forming an animal feed block which comprises the steps of mixing at least one animal feed component with magnesium sulphate and reactive magnesium oxide to form a composition, adjusting the water level of the composition to a level to allow the composition to be poured into a mould, allowing the composition to at least partially set in the mould.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the composition contains between 2 to by weight of the magnesium sulphate and 2 to 15% by weight of the magnesium oxide and the formed block has a hardness of at least 4Kg cm 2

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2 substantially as hereinbefore described. DATED this 6 thday of April 1999 RIDLEY RESEARCH AN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED 070 077 575) By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO. i 3 k I- S X (2