South Africa 10T/H Automatic Cattle Feed Plant Project

Client Identity and Project Background: The Transforming South African Beef Feed Market

This client was originally an agricultural enterprise mainly engaged in beef cattle breeding and forage planting, with a stable cattle base and abundant forage resources. However, for a long time, the client mainly relied on external procurement of cattle feed, which not only had large price fluctuations, but also the feed formula could not be accurately controlled, affecting the fattening efficiency and feeding cycle of beef cattle.

As the South African feed industry gradually transitions to modernization, the company is determined to achieve self-production of feed by building its own automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa, enhance feed quality control, reduce breeding costs, and further extend to downstream product sales to expand its influence in the local agricultural supply chain.

This animal feed factory project focuses on the granulation of cattle feed. The planned processed products include powdered feed, 3mm pellets, 5mm pellets and 8mm pellets to meet the nutritional needs of beef cattle at different stages of growth, while providing customized feed products for surrounding small farmers and opening up multiple sales channels.

South Africa's localized raw material combination: flexible and efficient formulation strategy

South Africa is one of the most important agricultural countries in Africa, with a vast corn planting belt and abundant agricultural and sideline product resources. The raw material ratio of this automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa project fully utilizes the advantages of local resources, and mainly uses the following types of raw materials:

• Corn: As one of the largest corn producers in Africa, South Africa has controllable corn prices and high protein content, which is the basic energy source for cattle feed;
• Soybean meal: Partly dependent on imports, mainly used as a protein supplement to improve the nutritional balance of the diet;
• Grass (accounting for up to 50%): The customer's own pasture provides high-quality alfalfa and hay raw materials, which are the core components for increasing fiber content and reducing costs;
• Wheat by-products, cottonseed meal, molasses, etc.: used flexibly as energy and flavor enhancers;
• Mineral premixes, trace element additives, vitamin premixes: ensure a reasonable and stable nutritional structure to meet the special needs of ruminants.

Through the combination of localized planting raw materials and imported protein sources, supplemented by professional formula design, the cattle feed factory has strong cost control capabilities and product differentiation competitive advantages.

Highly integrated feed processing technology: full process optimization from pasture to bagged finished products

This automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa project adopts the fully automated feed pelleting process provided by RICHI. Through continuous processing of multiple links such as pre-cleaning, crushing, mixing, conditioning, pelleting, cooling, screening, packaging, etc., it finally achieves efficient and high-quality cattle feed product output.

The cattle feed pellet production process is as follows:

1. In the raw material receiving and cleaning stage, raw grains such as corn are introduced from the raw material silo and preliminarily screened through the SCQZ6050100 powder cleaning screen to remove impurities such as stones and weeds. Metal foreign matter is removed by the TCXT magnetic separator to ensure the safety of subsequent equipment.
2. Then, enter the SFSP66*80 grinder for raw material crushing. Crude fiber raw materials such as forage grass are also crushed at this stage to facilitate subsequent mixing and pelleting.
3. The mixing link is completed by the SLHY2.5L double-axis high-efficiency mixer, and the PLC1.0A electronic batching system is used to achieve accurate measurement of various crushed materials and trace elements. In order to adapt to the production of various formulas, the system has a multi-bin allocation function, and the TFPX6 rotary distributor is used to achieve rapid switching and distribution of materials.
4. The mixed materials are then sent to the SZLH420 ring die cattle feed pellet making machine, and the steam conditioning system is used to heat the materials to a suitable temperature to complete the pelleting.
5. The fresh pellets enter the SKLN20x20 countercurrent cooler, which reduces the moisture and temperature while improving the pellet hardness and storage stability.
6. Some products are adjusted to particle size by the SSLG15*150 pelletizer as needed, for example, 3mm pellets are used for calf feeding, and 8mm pellets are suitable for adult beef cattle fattening.
7. Finally, all products are graded by the SFJH125*2C vibrating screening equipment, and qualified products are packaged into bags by the DCS-50 automatic weighing and baling machine, and enter the finished product warehouse or are loaded and shipped out of the factory.

The entire automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa is fully automatically controlled by a computer control system, which can realize fully automatic operation from formula switching, ingredient weighing, crushing and mixing, granulation and packaging, greatly improving production efficiency and operational safety.

Product type and use positioning: meet the dual needs of self-feeding and marketization

The main products of this automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa include:

• Powdered feed: mostly used in low energy consumption stages, such as maintenance cows;
• 3mm pellets: suitable for calves and newly weaned calves, to improve feeding rate and nutrient absorption;
• 5mm pellets: suitable for growing and fattening beef cattle;
• 8mm pellets: suitable for high-yield beef cattle diet or grazing supplementary feeding.

These products from this automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa are mainly used to meet the customer's own beef cattle breeding base, while radiating small-scale farms and cooperative households in the surrounding areas. South Africa has a strong market demand for high-quality and standardized cattle feed. The customer has established a stable sales network and initially formed a dual-track parallel model of "self-production and self-feeding + market sales".

Introduction to the core equipment system: Building the most advanced local pelleting production line

In order to ensure stable operation and high-quality output, the automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa project selected mature models provided by RICHI based on many years of export experience, including:

1. Crushing system: SFSP66*80 cattle feed crusher, suitable for high-fiber material processing;
2. Mixing system: SLHY2.5L high-efficiency horizontal mixer, high mixing uniformity, suitable for ruminant formula;
3. Pelletizing system: SZLH420 ring die animal feed pellet machine, which is the core model of medium and large cattle feed plants;
4. Cooling, screening, and pelleting system: SKLN20x20 cooler, SFJH1252C grading screen, SSLG15150 pelletizer;
5. Automatic control and packaging system: including PLC electronic batching system and DCS-50 weighing and sealing bag all-in-one machine;
6. Conveying system: including TLSS25 screw conveyor, TDTG36/28 bucket elevator and other components.

These equipments constitute a complete, compact and continuously operated cattle feed pelleting system, making the automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa project one of the most technologically advanced and automated animal feed mills in the area.

Prospects of the cattle feed industry in South Africa: triple benefits of policies, resources and markets

The animal feed industry in South Africa started in the 1930s. After more than 80 years of development, it has formed a relatively complete industrial structure. According to data from the South African Feed Manufacturers Association, the annual feed production in China is stable at around 3.5 million tons, of which cattle feed accounts for an important proportion. Especially with the intensive development of beef and dairy cattle farming, the dependence on high-quality and standardized cattle feed is increasing.

As the largest corn producing area in Africa, South Africa has significant raw material advantages, rich pasture resources, sufficient technical personnel, and the government's encouraging policies on agricultural modernization, which provide a good environment for the continued operation and profitability of cattle feed mills. As climate change brings about pasture fluctuations, pelletized feed has outstanding advantages in storage and nutritional stability, and market acceptance is increasing year by year.

Especially in agricultural areas such as Limpopo Province and Free State Province, cattle feed plants similar to this automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa project have not only improved the stability of the local beef industry chain, but also enhanced the ability to convert agricultural products into added value, and are expected to become a new fulcrum for regional economic growth.

Project evaluation and future prospects: From manual to intelligent, moving towards industry benchmarks

Looking back on the entire process of this cattle livestock feed production line project, the customer's repeated inspections, site selection evaluation, equipment selection, process optimization, strict supervision during construction, and full participation in installation and commissioning reflect its ultimate pursuit of quality and efficiency.

After the animal feed production line project is completed, it not only frees the customer from the uncertainty of external feed supply, but also greatly reduces labor costs, improves formula accuracy and finished product consistency through advanced automation systems.

At present, the cattle feed factory has achieved an average daily production capacity of more than 200 tons, and its products are sold to many surrounding provinces. In the future, the customer plans to introduce a liquid addition system and an RFID traceability system on the original basis, and prepare to build a raw material pretreatment center to adapt to the application trend of diversified feed raw materials.

This automatic cattle feed plant in South Africa project not only improved the client's own market position, but also provided a modern model worthy of reference for the South African feed industry. It also once again verified the replicability and vitality of the investment concept of "using technology to promote benefits and using systems to seek development" in developing economies.