Poultry and cattle are important revenue earners for rural economy especially in a country having a powerful agrarian sector. Consequently, the need for poultry and cattle feed mills is important.  Making of feed for cattle and poultry is an organized process and involvesmachines of different kinds.

Infrastructure for an animal feed mill

An animal feed mill is mechanized and involves a well established infrastructure. It needs to be connected well to procurement and marketing centres by roads, railways, or both. Entrepreneurs should always set have factories in areas that have easy access, adequate water supply, and electricity. As most poultry and cattle farms are located in villages, towns or city suburbs, their feed mills should likewise be located in these places. There being a considerable set up of machinery items their maintenance should be regular and prompt. So, if you are planning to put up an animal feed plant, make certain that support is available readily. Without timely support keeping a mill functional could become a worry.

Machines needed for cattle and poultry feed mill

For a mill producing animal feed, at least four types of machines are needed: feed mixing machine, material conveyor, paddle mixer, and storage bins. Separate feed mixing machines are needed for poultry feed, and cattle field.

• Feed mixing machine – In feed mixing machine you could make cattle feed, poultry feed, bird feed, and animal feed. Poultry feed in different from bird feed, while animal feed and cattle feed are not the same. For viability a factory should have separate mixing machines for different feeds as it not only helps in controlling the quality of output but also regularize on the quantity of output.

•  Material conveyor – Conveyors are put to multiple uses. They are used for carrying ingredients to a missing machine or conveying finished products to packing  station.

• Paddle mixer – A paddle mixer is used to separate finer particles from coarser ones. Sieving is an entirely mechanical process involving two drums. These mixers are  available in capacity ranging from 150 kg/hr to 1000 kg/hr.

• Storage bins – Storage bins are made from superior quality material as they are used to store fruit, vegetables, grains, and pulses. These are used as ingredients for feed manufacturing.

Forage (grass, legumes or silage) is a main constituent of cattle feed. Most beef cattle are raised on grassy pastures. There are two types of feed for the beef cattle.

One mainly consists of pasture and other which comprises of grain, soy, corn and supplements. Poultry feed mainly includes grain, household scraps, calcium supplements and garden waste.
New technologies and techniques need to be continuously developed to cope with the growing demand for animal poultry and cattle feed.

Such development will not only help environment conservation but will allow the farmers to cope with the price hike.

Thus research and technology requires inventing ways to overcome food insecurity and poverty which is essential for agriculture and rural development.

Because of the growing demand of animal feed, new technologies should be developed in order to avoid environmental deterioration or increases in the prices of food products.

Research and advancements in technology are seeking ways to overcome food insecurity and poverty that are essential for agricultural and rural development. For proper functioning and better results the poultry and cattle feed mills should follow the mentioned:

• Appropriate technology
• Feed research
• Proper hardware

The feed requirement of each cattle is different thus, their needs must be met. Proper feed will increase the milk or meat production of the livestock.

As already discussed how the poultry and cattle feed mills should increase their productivity, it is important to know about the quality of materials they are using.

Forage is the chief component of a cattle feed. It is because it affects the dry matter and the nutrient consumption. Thus, quality and technology should always be maintained in the poultry and cattle feed mills.