GB2165133A

GB2165133A - Complete feed system

Info

Publication number: GB2165133A
Application number: GB08425431A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Horrell
Original assignee: Dodson & Horrell Ltd
Current assignee: Dodson & Horrell Ltd
Priority date: 1984-10-09
Filing date: 1984-10-09
Publication date: 1986-04-09
Also published as: GB8425431D0

Abstract

A shaped, coherent but rupturable feed block comprising a compressed and adhered mix of protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients, with discernable lengths of cellulosic fibre dispersed through the block. The invention also comprises equipment for producing the feed block which comprises feed hopper 14 for the raw materials, feed means 16, e.g. a screw feed, for positive feeding of the raw materials from the hopper; piston extruder 18 fed by the feed means and operable to compress and extrude the raw material by reciprocating action of the piston, a conveyor 20 for receipt of the compressed material, and heating means 22 for heating the compressed material on the conveyor. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Complete feed system The present invention relates to animal feeds.

A number of animal species are capable of bacterial digestion of cellulose as a dietary source of nutrients.

In all of these species, not only is the presence of fibre in the diet important for proper gut function, but the physical form (staple length) is also an important factor.

Current practice with these animals is to provide long fibre, usually in the form of hay or straw, as a separate dietary component to the compounded portion of their feed. This situation gives a number of disadvantages; firstly the quantity cannot be controlled, since it is usually available ad lib, and secondly the quality is often unknown. Thus, the compounded portion of the diet may or may not be producing a complete balanced diet.

It would be desirable therefore, to devise a system whereby both conventional ingredients and long fibre source were presented to the animal as a complete compounded feed, in a dust-free and palatable form.

A number of machines exist on the market for compressing finely-ground fibre into cubes or blocks, but for a correct nutritional regime the physical form of the fibre is important and it should not be finely ground.

The available machines can not meet this criterion. Chopped hay and straw are difficult materials to handle, and a new system is needed.

According to the present invention, there is provided equipment for producing a shaped, coherent but rupturable feed block comprising a compressed and adhered mix of protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients, with discernable lengths of cellulosic fibre dispersed through the block, the equipment comprising a feed hopper for containing edible raw materials including lengths of cellulosic fibres and sources of protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients, a feed means for positive feeding of the raw materials from the feed hopper, a piston extruderfed by the feed means and operable to compress and extrude the raw material by reciprocating action of the piston, a conveyor for receipt of the compressed raw material, and heating means for heating the compressed raw material on the conveyor.

The present invention further provides a shaped, coherent but rupturable feed block comprising a compressed and adhered mix of protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients, with discernable lengths of cellulosicfibre dispersed through the block.

The blocks of this invention can be made of a size suited to the intended recipient animal, though in general they will have maximum dimensions of 2 inches by 4 inches by 8 inches, with 1 by 2 by 4 inches being typical for a horse feed.

The cellulosic fibre can for example take the form of chopped hay or staw. A fibre length of up to 3 inches is normally preferred, with a typical fibre length being from 0.5 to 2 inches. The fibre can suitably form up to 25 or 30% by weight of the block, though usually the fibre will amount to from 5 to 20% of the block.

The other raw materials will typically include cereals and pulses, feed meals, vitamin supplements, mineral supplements, and possibly further materials. Examples of suitable cereals include whole cereal grains such as wheat or barley grain, and processed grain products such as milled, rolled, cooked or otherwise processed grains, for instance rolled oats, rolled barley, cooked barley, cooked maize, etc.

Examples of suitable pulses include whole proteinaceous beans such as soya bean, and processed pulse products such as cooked peas and cooked soya beans. Examples of feed meals include extracted soya bean meal, meat meal, bone meal, and fish meal.

The raw materials preferably further include an edible adhesive in order to achieve the desired physical properties for the block. An example of such an adhesive is the proteinaceous material available as a semi-solid byproduct from the extraction of gluten or starch from wheat grain. This paste-like material is commercially available from ABR Chemicals Limited.

Thus, a preferred mix for the raw materials is as follows: chopped straw or hay 5 to 25 other materials 95 to 75 made up of: cereal grain 40 to 80 pulses 5to20 vitamins/minerals 0.5to 5 adhesive 0.2to10 Such a mix will not give a suitable block by direct compression, nor by auger extrusion. However, by use of the equipment of this invention a feed block can be obtained which meets the desired objects.

The equipment of this invention includes a feed hopper with an internal feed means. The feed means preferably takes the form of a worm feed and not only serves to feed the raw materials to the extruder but also gives some mixing of the raw materials. The extruder is piston-based in contrast to most extruders which employ an auger. The extruder barrel is preferably cooled to dissipate heat generated by the compression of the raw materials.

The compressed material is extruded as a continuous length and a rotating knife or equivalent device can be used to give blocks. The blocks are then transported by the conveyor to an oven or other heating means to set the block. The heating process serves to stabilize and dry the block, with some incidental cooking.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure lisa vertical section of equipment of this invention; and Figure 2 is a perspective view of a feed block of this invention.

Referring first to Figure 1,there is shown equipment 10 for producing a feed block 12 as shown in Figure 2.

The equipment 10 includes a feed hopper 14 for containing edible raw materials including lengths of cellulosic fibres and sources of protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients. Within the hopper is provided a screw feed constituting a feed means 16 for positive feeding of the raw materials from the feed hopper. A piston extruder 18 is fed by the feed means and operates to compress and extrude the raw material by reciprocating action of the piston within the extruder. The exit of the extruder has a rectangular orifice about 1 inch by 2 inch, and a rotating knife (not shown) cuts the compressed material in to lengths of about 4 inches. The blocks are then fed on to a conveyor 20 and conveyed to an oven 22 with twin burners in order to stabilize and dry the blocks.

The equipment thus produces batches of the block 12 shown in Figure 2 in the form of a shaped, coherent but rupturable feed block comprising a compressed and adhered mix of protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients, with discernable lengths 24 of cellulosic fibre dispersed through the block.

Claims

1. A shaped, coherent but rupturable feed block comprising a compressed and adhered mix of protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients, with discernable lengths of cellulosic fibre dispersed through the block.

2. Equipment for producing a shaped, coherent but rupturable feed block comprising a compressed and adhered mix of protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients, with discernable lengths of cellulosic fibre dispersed through the block, the equipment comprising a feed hopper for containing edible raw materials including lengths of cellulosic fibres and sources of protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients, a feed means for positive feeding of the raw materials from the feed hopper, a piston extruder fed by the feed means and operable to compress and extrude the raw material by reciprocating action of the piston, a conveyor for receipt of the compressed raw material, and heating means for heating the compressed raw material on the conveyor.