CA2122665A1

CA2122665A1 - Gum base-containing animal feed and method of production thereof

Info

Publication number: CA2122665A1
Application number: CA002122665A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Anthony Ernest Dempsey
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-05-02
Filing date: 1994-05-02
Publication date: 1995-11-03

Abstract

A compressed mixture of feed for animals contains a blend of two or more vegetables such as corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, alfalfa, soybeans, clover and timothy and an edible gum base such as chewing gum as a binder. The quantity of gum is restricted to that required to maintain the mixture in the form of solid particles of a size suitable as feed for anim-als. The compressed mixture is produced by mixing particles of vegetables in the range of about 0.25 inch to about 300 mesh U.S. Sieve Scale in size with particles of an edible gum base in the range of about 50 mesh to about 100 mesh to produce a mixture containing from about 0.1% to about 1.0% by weight edible gum base and the balance made up of vegetable part-icles. The mixture is then heated to a temperature at which the edible gum base becomes adhesive or tacky and the heated mixture is then heated to produce solids of a size suitable for feeding to animals.

Description

2~266s BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to animal feeds compacted into pellets, cubes, blocks and the like. More particularly the invention relates to a mixture of vegetables and gum-binder compacted into a size suitable as feed for animals.
Many commercially available feeds for animals are composed of finely divided solid particles of food compacted to the desired size and shape under high pressures and at elevated temperatures. The process by which they are produced is broadly referred to as "bulk densification" and includes pelletization, briquetting, extrusion, compression moulding and like processes. The primary objèctive of such a process is to obtain a durable, cohesive product which does not break down or disintegrate and which is of a size which is commercially suitable as feed for animals.
The products resulting from bulk densification can range in size from small pellets of about one half inch in length to cubes of about one to four inches to mineral blocks of a foot or more in length. The pelléts are usually used as fish food and as feed for rabbits, poultry, hogs and dairy cattle. The cubes and blocks are usually fed to beef cattle.
Many problems are encountered in the production of animal feed by means of bulk densification. Among the problems are 212266~

high costs of production because of large energy requirements, low yields and a final product that is not well bonded. Num-erous proposals have been made to eliminate these problems but the proposals have not been successful in eliminating them.
Certain proposals alleviate some of these problems while worsen others. For example, if the temperatures or pressures during the bulk densification process are increased, bonding will usually improve but the consumption of power required to achieve these higher temperatures and pressures will increase as will the cost of production.
Lubricants added to the feed during the process of densification will reduce the power requirements of the process but the food particles in the final product will usually not be well bonded. For example lubricants such as vegetable and animal fats and oils and mineral oils, indivi-dually or in combination if added in substantial amounts, i.e.
from 1% to 2% by weight of the total feed will substantially reduce the power required to produce the finished product.
Such high concentrations of fat or oils however generally result in a product which is crumbly and poorly bonded.
Tallow is another lubricant which will substantially reduce the power requirements but it is not palatable to 212266~

ruminants. Excessive quantities of tallow in feed will produce oily, fat animals. The meat of such animals tends to be greasy and to have an unattractive texture.
It is known to add binding agents to particulate animal feed prior to the process of bulk densification in order to improve the cohesiveness of the final product. Lignin is a well known binder of animal feed. If however lignin is mixed with the particles of animal feed, the power required to bulk densify it increases markedly. Clays such as attapulgite and bentonite are also effective binding agents but only in large quantities. Generally, such materials to be effective must be present in amounts of at least 1% to 2% by weight of the total feed. In such amounts they form a significant proportion of the final product but contribute little in terms of food value to it.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has been found that a mixture of particulate animal feed and a binder in the form of an edible gum base can be formed into pellets, cubes, blocks and other forms suitable for feeding to animals by conventional bulk densification processes. The problems encountered in the conventional process for production of such feed are alleviated, and in some cases entirely eliminated, by the use of an edible gum base as a binder instead of conventional binders such as lignin, attapulgite and bentonite. For example the bulk densification of a mixture of animal feed and edible gum base may be conducted at higher temperatures than the densification of a mixture containing many of the known commercial binders.
As a result the feed particles tend to be better bonded. In addition edible gum base has lubricating properties and as a result the power requirements of the bulk densification process per unit yield of product is significantly less.
Production costs are accordingly less.
The product of the invention may be broadly described as a compressed mixture of feed for animals containing a sub-stantial proportion of a vegetable and an edible gum base which adheres to the vegetable and which is restricted in quantity to that required to maintain the mixture in the form of solid particles substantially of a size suitable as feed for animals.
The product of the invention may be produced by providing particles of vegetable substantially in the range of about 0.25 inch to about 300 mesh U.S. Sieve Scale in size; mixing the particles with particles of an edible gum base substantially in the range of about 50 mesh to about 100 mesh to produce a mixture containing from about 0.1% to about 1.0%

~1 22665 by weight edible gum base and the balance substantially made up of vegetable particles; heating the mixture from the pre-ceding step to a temperature at which the edible gum base becomes adhesive; and compacting the heated mixture to produce solids of a size suitable for feeding to animals.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The term "edible gum base" in the context of this invent-ion is intended to refer to gum bases which may be safely consumed by animals. The edible gum base may be one or a blend of two or more natural latexes such as chicle, leche caspi, sorva and jelutong. The gum base may also be a synthetic pre-paration having properties similar to those of the natural latexes. Synthetic gum bases include vinyl resins, butyl rubber, synthetic latexes and microcrystalline waxes. The gum base or bases may be mixed with other ingredients. Chewing gum, for example is a mixture of gum base, sweetening and flavouring and gum base in this form is particularly suitable for the purposes of the present invention. For reasons of economy the chewing gum may be a waste product of a commercial operation by reason of its being stale dated, discoloured, broken or otherwise slightly off specification. The waste chewing gum may also be the product of an overrun.
Sweeteners added to the gum base increase the palat-21226~65 ability of the mixture of animal feed and gum base to animals.
Sweeteners also soften the mixture and make it easier for animals to chew. Suitable sweeteners are sugars such as corn syrup, dextrose, icing sugar and glucose. Other ingredients such as starch, artificial or natural flavours such as pep-permint and spearmint and colour may also be added to the gum base.
The size of the particles of gum base and the optional sweeteners and flavouring has a bearing on the ease with which the particles may be uniformly distributed throughout the particles of animal feed. Preferably the particles of gum base are in the range of about 50 mesh, U.S. Sieve Scale to about 100 mesh. Larger particles will not readily disseminate uniformly throughout the feed and smaller particles are too fine for easy handling.
Throughout this application and claims, the mesh number will refer to the number in the U.S. Sieve Scale.
The animal feed is a vegetable including one or a blend of corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley and other cereals or it may be such legumes as alfalfa, soybeans, clover and timothy. The size of the particles of feed can vary depending upon such factors as the composition, type of feed, operating conditions of the process of bulk densification and the like. These det-212266~

erminations and the factors which influence them are familiar to those skilled in the art. Nevertheless, a suitable particle size range for animal feeds can vary from about 0.25 inch to about 300 mesh, preferably from about 0.125 inch to about 100 mesh.
In general, the total amount of gum base in the animal feed can vary from about 0.1% to about 1.0%, more preferably from about 0.25% to about 0.5%, by weight of the total weight of the final material. Greater amounts can also be used, how-ever, no additional advantages are accrued thereby and the food value of the finished product is unnecessarily dimin-ished.
Formation of the compressed mixture of animal feed and gum base involves first mixing the particles of animal feed and the gum base. The mixture is then heated to a temperature at which the gum base becomes adhesive. In general this temp-erature will be in the range of from about 115 degrees F. to about 200 degrees F., preferably from about 140 degrees F. to about 180 degrees F. When the gum base is adhesive or tacky it will bind the particles of animal feed.
The preferred method of heating the gum base is by means of an aqueous diluent heated to a temperature sufficient to elevate the temperature of the gum base to the required level.

The addition of a diluent at this stage serves as a so-called "pre-conditioning operation" and results in dispersal of the additive form throughout the particles of animal feed. Steam is an excellent diluent since it causes the gum base to dis-solve and to disperse uniformly throughout the feed. The steam temperature can generally vary from 115 to 200 degrees F. for most efficient operation. The steam is applied until the moisture content of the feed mixture ranges from about 14 to about 20~, preferably from about 16 to about 18~, by weight of the total feed composition.
The preconditioning operation is preferably carried out after the animal feed and gum-additive have been mixed to-gether. Less preferably the operation can be accomplished by diluting the additive and feed material separately, then mix-ing them together.
The next step in the process involves bulk densification of the pre-conditioned mixture. Pelletization is a suitable means for doing so. Pelletization involves feeding the finely divided particles of the mixture between adjacent pairs of rollers and through a die. The mixture may be subjected to compression either in a closed mould or in passage through a die to produce a compacted, pressure-formed product having a predetermined configuration. The product is then allowed to -cool in order to harden it.
Other methods for compacting or densifying the mixture include briquetting, extrusion or compression moulding and the like.
During the process of bulk densification the gum base acts as a lubricant to reduce the amount of heat generated and the amount of power consumed. Moreover the gum base allows the pellets, briquettes or the like to be produced at a high rate.
To ensure that animals are fed a nutritious, well-rounded diet, it is common practice to prepare a compacted feed mat-erial formed from a combination of cereals containing the des-ired nutritional value. One method c~ ~rcially used to do so involves first mixing granular animal feed in a 4000 lbs.
batch capacity Ribbon Mixer for about 5 minutes. The mixed solids are transferred to a storage bin where they are fed into a conditioning chamber and contacted with 60 psig steam for 30 seconds. The mixed solids exiting the conditioning chamber are at a temperature varying from 100-170 degrees F.
and have a moisture content of from about 15 - 18%, by weight.
The conditioned feed or mash is fed to stationary rollers which force the mash through circular, spinning die openings to compress the solids into pellets. Usually, the heat rise during passage through the die is about 20 F. degrees. The pelletized material leaving the die is then air cooled and dried.
General techniques for pelletizing animal feed are con-tained in the booklet entitled "Pelleting Animal Feed", pub-lished by the American Feed Manufacturers Association, 1701 N.
Ft. Meyer Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22209.
Pelletized cattle feed is often subjected to rather rough handling during storage, transportation and dissemination in the fields. Accordingly, the pellets have to be sufficiently hard and durable to withstand such handling without disint-egrating into undesirable fines. Fines are undesirable be-cause the nutrients are not uniformly distributed through them and because cattle have difficulty in consuming them. A
standard test for durability of the pellets is the "tumbling can" method, wherein a 500 gram sample of the pellets is tumb-led for 16~ minutes in a 12 inch by 12 inch by 5 inch rect-angular box revolving at 30 rpm, about a single transverse axis, i.e. the axis which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the can and which passes through its midpoint. Follow-ing the tumbling, the pellets are removed, passed through a screen having opening of about ~ inch to separate out the fines and are then weighed. The standard value PDI (Pellet Durability Index) is obtained by the following formula:

PDI = Screened pellets (less fines) x 10 Original sample weight The higher the PDI value, the more durable the pelletized product.
The following examples set forth specific embodiments of the invention and are not intended to be exclusive of its scope. All parts and percentages are by weight unless other-wise noted.

1 ton 16% natural protein Hog Grower pellets were milled at a mill speed setting of three turns on a Reeves drive mech-anism and at a conditioning temperature of 188F. The pellets were produced from a 3/16 inch die and had a PDI value of 9.12.
The pellets had the following composition:
Weight (percent) Ingredient 19.8% Wheat Chop 56.5% Corn Chop 19.8% 48% Soya

3.0% Canola 0.1% Tylon 10 0.8% Binder Additive The binder additive was a mixture containing approx-imately 50% gum base and the balance wheat by-product. Tylon 10 is the trade mark which identifies a common pharmaceutical supplement to hog feed.

An identical one ton batch of pellets was manufactured with the addition of 0.05% by weight binder additive.
Mill speed and conditioning temperature were held iden-tical to those recorded in the control run. A marked decreasein power requirements (14~) resulted from the addition of the binder additive which also increased pellet durability. With this feed formula, results appear in TABLE 1.

Additive Conditioning Mill Speed Amperes PDI
Temperature F (Turns of Reeves Drive setting) Control 188 3 119 9.12 Binder Add- 188 3 102 9.22 itive Three one ton batches of a dairy feed similar to the 16%
natural protein pellets of Example 1 were pelleted through a 3/16 inch die with the following additions:
Batch 1: 1 ton as a control (without any additive) Batch 2: 1 ton with addition of 0.05% by weight of the binder additive of Example 1 Batch 3: 1 ton with addition of 0.06% by weight of the binder additive.
Batch 2 could be treated 15~F hotter and 30% faster in a mill than the control Batch 1. Batch 3 could be treated 35F

hotter in the mill than the control. The mill speed was 30%
faster that the control, and the PDI of Batch 3 showed a marked impLov~ --nt over Batches 1 and 2. Results appear in Table 2.

Additive Conditioning Mill Speed Amperes PDI
Temperature F (Reeves setting) Control 135 3.7 95 9.6 0.05% Bind- 150 4.8 90 9.6 er Additive 0.06% Bind- 160 4.8 84 9.76 er Additive Three batches, each weighing one ton, of high corn content feed (36% Layer feed, Mitchell Co-Op) were pelleted through a 3/16 inch die in a 150 horsepower California Pellet Mill (CPM). The feed had the following composition:
Weight (percent) Ingredient 17.9~ 36% Layer Supplement 10.7% 48% Soya 10.7% Feed Lime 30.4% Corn chop 30.4% Barley chop Batch 1, the control, contained no binder additive. Batch 2 contained 6.6% by weight Production Aid Plus, a lignin sulphonate based binder. Batch 3 contained 0.9~ by weight of the binder additive of Example 1.
The results shown in Table 3 demonstrate that the mixture of the present invention may be pelleted at a higher temper-ature, higher mill speed and with lower power requirements.
The resulting pellets are more durable than the other pellets that were tested.

Additive Conditioning Mill Speed Amperes PDI
Temperature F (Reeves Setting) Control 152 2.5 95 8.7 Production 178 2.5 86 9.44 Aid Plus Binder 198 3.0 75 9.66 Additive The results demonstrate that the addition of the binder additive of the invention enables pelleting of the feed to be carried out at a higher temperature than the control. Addit-ionally, pelleting of the additive of the invention consumes less power. The feed pelleted with the additive was also of a higher quality as evidenced by the higher PDI.
It will be understood of course that modifications can be made in the preferred embodiments illustrated and described herein without departing from the scope and purview of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A compressed mixture of feed for animals containing a substantial proportion of a vegetable and an edible gum base which adheres to said vegetable and which is restricted in quantity to that required to maintain the mixture in the form of solid particles substantially of a size suitable as feed for animals.

2. A compressed mixture of feed for animals containing a substantial proportion of a vegetable and chewing gum and which is restricted in quantity to that required to maintain the mixture in the form of solid particles substantially of a size suitable as feed for animals.

3. A compressed mixture of feed for animals containing a substantial proportion of a vegetable and an edible gum base which adheres to said vegetable and which is restricted in quantity to that required to maintain the mixture in the form of solid particles substantially of a size suitable as feed for animals, said vegetable being one or a blend of corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley and other cereals, alfalfa, soybeans, clover and timothy.

4. A compressed mixture of feed for animals containing a substantial proportion of a vegetable and chewing gum and which is restricted in quantity to that required to maintain the mixture in the form of solid particles substantially of a size suitable as feed for animals, said vegetable being one or a blend of corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley and other cereals, alfalfa, soybeans, clover and timothy.

5. The mixture as claimed in claims 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein the edible gum base makes up from about 0.1% to about 1.0% by weight of the mixture and the balance is substantially made up of animal feed.

6. The mixture as claimed in claims 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein the edible gum base makes up from about 0.25% to about 0.5% by weight of the mixture.

7. A method of production of a compressed mixture of feed for animals containing a substantial proportion of a vegetable and an edible gum base including the steps of: providing part-icles of vegetable substantially in the range of about 0.25 inch to about 300 mesh U.S. Sieve Scale in size; mixing said particles with particles of an edible gum base substantially in the range of about 50 mesh to about 100 mesh to produce a mixture containing from about 0.1% to about 1.0% by weight edible gum base and the balance substantially made up of vegetable particles; heating the mixture from the preceding step to a temperature at which said edible gum base becomes adhesive; and compacting said heated mixture to produce solids of a size suitable for feeding to animals.

8. A method of production of a compressed mixture of feed for animals containing a substantial proportion of a vegetable and an edible gum base including the steps of: providing part-icles of vegetable containing one or a blend of two or more of the group comprising corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, alfalfa, soybeans, clover and timothy, said particles being substant-ially in the range of about 0.25 inch to about 300 mesh U.S.
Sieve Scale in size; mixing said particles with particles of an edible gum base substantially in the range of about 50 mesh to about 100 mesh to produce a mixture containing from about 0.1% to about 1.0% by weight edible gum base and the balance substantially made up of vegetable particles, heating the mix-ture from the preceding step to a temperature at which said edible gum base becomes adhesive, and compacting said heated mixture to produce solids of a size suitable for feeding to animals.

9. A method of production of a compressed mixture of feed for animals containing a substantial proportion of a vegetable and an edible gum base including the steps of: providing part-icles of vegetable substantially in the range of about 0.25 inch to about 300 mesh U.S. Sieve Scale in size; mixing said particles with particles of an edible gum base substantially in the range of about 50 mesh to about 100 mesh to produce a mixture containing from about 0.1% to about 1.0% by weight edible gum base and the balance substantially made up of vegetable particles; adding a diluent to the mixture from the preceding step to disperse the edible gum base throughout the vegetable particles, said diluent being heated to a temp-erature sufficient to cause said gum base to become adhesive;
and compacting said diluted mixture to produce solids of a size suitable for feeding to animals.

10. A method of production of a compressed mixture of feed for animals containing a substantial proportion of a vegetable and an edible gum base including the steps of: providing part-icles of vegetable containing a blend of two or more of the group comprising corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, alfalfa, soybeans, clover and timothy, said particles being substant-ially in the range of about 0.25 inch to about 300 mesh U.S.
Sieve Scale in size; mixing said particles with particles of an edible gum base substantially in the range of about 50 mesh to about 100 mesh to produce a mixture containing from about 0.1% to about 1.0% by weight edible gum base and the balance substantially made up of vegetable particles; adding a diluent to the mixture from the preceding step to disperse the edible gum base throughout the vegetable particles, said diluent being heated to a temperature sufficient to cause said gum base to become adhesive; and compacting said diluted mixture to produce solids of a size suitable for feeding to animals.

11. The method as claimed in claims 9 or 10 wherein said diluent is steam.

12. The method as claimed in claims 9 or 10 wherein said diluent is steam at a temperature of from about 115 degrees F.
to about 200 degrees F.

13. The method as claimed in claims 9 or 10 wherein said diluent is steam at a temperature of from about 140 degrees F.
to about 180 degrees F.

14. The method as claimed in claims 9 or 10 wherein suffic-ient diluent is added until the moisture content of the mixture is in the range of from about 14% to about 20% by weight.

15. The method as claimed in claims 9 or 10 wherein suffic-ient diluent is added until the moisture content of the mixture is in the range of from about 16% to about 18% by weight.

16. The method as claimed in claims 7, 8, 9, or 10 wherein the particles of vegetable are in the range of from about 1/8 inch to about 100 mesh.