0.8–1.2 T/H Barley Straw Hammer Mill in Jordan

Why Barley Straw Fits a Sheep Feed Project in Jordan

Barley has an established role in Jordan's dryland farming and livestock systems, particularly in northern and eastern production areas. After grain harvest, straw can be baled and used as a roughage resource for sheep and goats. For the Mafraq customer, barley straw is purchased seasonally from local farms and stored under cover before grinding.

The project does not treat barley straw as a complete feed or a high-value protein ingredient. Cereal straw is relatively high in structural fiber and low in protein and available energy compared with concentrate ingredients. Its role is to contribute roughage to a balanced sheep ration, while barley grain, protein sources, minerals and other ingredients provide the remaining nutritional requirements.

The hammer mill changes only the physical size of the straw. It does not increase protein content or automatically improve digestibility simply because the material has been ground.

SFSP56×40 Project Configuration

The 0.8–1.2 T/H range is a project-specific straw capacity rather than the throughput expected when the same hammer-mill structure processes denser grain materials. Straw has much lower bulk density, occupies more volume per tonne and requires controlled feeding to prevent long fibers from accumulating ahead of the grinding chamber.

Whole Straw Bales Do Not Enter the Hammer Mill Directly

The SFSP56×40 crusher machine is a fine grinding machine, not a complete bale breaker. Rectangular or compressed straw bales first pass through an opening and coarse-preparation stage. Twine and visible foreign material are removed, and the straw is loosened and reduced to approximately 20–50 mm.

This prepared material is then transferred through a controlled feeder toward the hammer mill. Metering is important because loose straw has irregular bulk density. Feeding a large bundle suddenly can overload the chamber even when the average hourly tonnage appears low.

The two-stage arrangement — bale opening and coarse cutting first, hammer milling second — also gives the customer more stable control over the final particle distribution than attempting to push long stems directly into the grinder.

From 20–50 mm Straw to 5–10 mm Ground Roughage

Inside the SFSP56×40, high-speed hammer impact reduces the prepared barley straw until material can pass through the selected screen. For this sheep-feed project, the target output is an approximately 5–10 mm fibrous fraction.

The customer can test different screen apertures during commissioning because screen size affects both throughput and the amount of fines produced. A smaller opening generally requires more grinding energy and can reduce T/H, while an excessively coarse setting may leave long pieces that distribute less evenly through the mixer.

Screen aperture should not be confused with exact finished particle size. A hammer mill produces a distribution containing shorter fibers and some fines as well as particles closer to the selected screen dimension.

Why the Straw Is Not Ground into Fine Powder

The purpose of this project is to prepare a roughage ingredient for sheep feeding rather than manufacture very fine straw powder. Reducing barley straw unnecessarily far below the required size would increase dust, lower practical hammer-mill capacity and change the physical structure of the roughage.

For ruminant diets, particle size should be selected as part of the overall ration design. The customer therefore targets a relatively coarse 5–10 mm ground material that can be metered into the mixer while still remaining identifiable as a fibrous ingredient.

The nutritionist determines how much barley straw enters each ration. Grinding convenience does not justify increasing the straw percentage beyond the level supported by the required energy, protein and effective-fiber balance.

Moisture Control Is Important in Jordan's Straw Storage

Barley straw for this project is normally ground at approximately 10–15% moisture. Very wet material becomes more difficult to fracture cleanly, can reduce screen throughput and creates additional storage concerns. Very dry, brittle straw can generate a higher proportion of fines during aggressive grinding.

Moisture is therefore checked from representative bales before a large batch is processed. The customer also stores the bales under cover to protect them from rain and ground moisture before they enter the feed-preparation area.

The exact acceptable range can vary with storage duration and straw condition, so 10–15% is used as the normal project operating range rather than a universal limit at which the hammer mill suddenly begins or stops working.

Dust and Foreign Material Need Separate Control

Dry cereal straw can generate substantial airborne fiber and fine dust during grinding. The SFSP56×40 therefore operates with an aspiration and product-separation system rather than discharging directly into an open workshop.

A cyclone can separate much of the conveyed ground material, while suitable filtration handles finer dust from the exhaust air. The required filter area depends on actual airflow and dust loading, so the project does not claim one fixed collection efficiency without a defined filtration system.

Magnetic protection is also installed ahead of the grinder. Baled straw may occasionally contain wire or other ferrous material from harvesting, baling or storage. Twine should be removed during bale opening, while the magnet provides another protection stage before the rotor.

How the Ground Straw Enters the Sheep Ration

After grinding, the 5–10 mm barley straw moves to the customer's existing mixer. It is combined with concentrate ingredients and other forage components according to the required Awassi sheep ration rather than fed as a standalone complete diet.

Jordanian feeding research has long identified barley and wheat straws as important roughage sources for local ruminants, while also noting their relatively low protein and high fiber and lignin levels. This is why the customer treats grinding as a handling and formulation step, not as a substitute for nutritional supplementation.

The mixer benefits from receiving a more controlled straw length because very long stems can segregate or bridge during mechanical handling. The hammer mill therefore helps prepare the material for dosing and mixing, while formulation determines the actual feeding value of the finished ration.

Why 0.8–1.2 T/H Is Enough for This Project

The customer expects to process approximately 700–800 tonnes of barley straw annually. At a practical hammer-mill rate of 0.8–1.2 T/H, this requires approximately 580–1,000 effective grinding hours per year.

Across roughly 250 operating days, the grinder therefore needs about 2.3–4 effective hours per day on average. Straw can also be processed in larger seasonal batches after harvest and held as prepared inventory, so the hammer mill does not need to operate every day throughout the year.

This operating pattern makes the SFSP56×40 suitable for the project without artificially describing the machine as a 5–6 T/H straw grinder simply because a larger throughput may be possible on dense grain materials.

Shipping the Hammer Mill through Aqaba

The SFSP56×40 Barley Straw Hammer Mill in Jordan is prepared for export from Qingdao, China, with Aqaba Container Terminal used as the national maritime gateway before inland delivery toward Mafraq in northern Jordan.

Before shipment, RICHI reviews the bale-opening discharge, coarse straw size, feeding arrangement, 37 kW electrical load, grinder foundation, aspiration ducting, cyclone or filter system and downstream mixer interface. This allows the hammer mill to be integrated into the customer's existing feed operation without replacing equipment that remains correctly sized.

What to Confirm Before Selecting a Barley Straw Hammer Mill

• annual tonnes of barley straw requiring grinding;
• bale size and bale-opening method;
• straw moisture and storage condition;
• coarse-cut length before hammer milling;
• required final particle-size range;
• target hourly capacity;
• dust collection and magnetic protection;
• how the ground straw will be incorporated into the final sheep ration.

A 0.8–1.2 T/H Barley Straw Hammer Mill in Jordan

This Barley Straw Hammer Mill in Jordan project uses one RICHI SFSP56×40 with a 37 kW main motor to prepare dry barley straw for an Awassi sheep feeding operation near Mafraq. Bales are opened and reduced to approximately 20–50 mm before hammer milling, and the machine produces an approximately 5–10 mm ground roughage fraction at a project working capacity of around 0.8–1.2 T/H.

For another sheep farm or feed processor evaluating a straw grinder, RICHI Machinery needs the straw type, bale dimensions, moisture, incoming cut length, required finished particle range, annual tonnage, operating hours and existing bale-breaking, mixing and dust-control equipment. These parameters provide a more reliable basis for selecting the hammer mill than motor power or screen aperture alone.