The five-step process
- Grind every ingredient to a similar particle size. Whole grain does not bind; very fine powder blocks the die.
- Mix the ground ingredients thoroughly and evenly before any moisture is added.
- Bring the mixture to the right moisture. Too dry and the pellet crumbles, too wet and the die slips and the pellets smear.
- Pelletise, feeding the die at a steady rate rather than in surges.
- Cool and dry the fresh pellets before storage, then bag them. Warm pellets sweat in the bag and mould follows.
| Step | What you are controlling | Symptom when it is wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Grinding | Particle size consistency | Blocked die, or pellets that break in the bag |
| Mixing | Ingredient distribution | Birds picking out one ingredient, uneven intake |
| Moisture | Binding and die friction | Crumbling pellets, or smeared and soggy output |
| Pelletising | Throughput and die wear | Overheating, low output, short die life |
| Cooling and drying | Shelf life | Mould, caking and rejected bags |
Machine list for a small pellet line
- A hammer mill to grind grain and, in the 4 kW version, to chop forage in the same machine.
- A mixer sized to one batch, so mixing and pelletising are not fighting for the same operator.
- A pellet machine: flat die for short daily batches and single-phase power, ring die for continuous production.
- A cooling and drying area with airflow, sized for at least one day of output.
- A scale and bags, because pellet quality is only half of what a customer judges.
Die choice in one paragraph
Flat-die machines are simpler, cheaper and well matched to short batches on a single farm, and the flat-die model in our range runs a 220 V 3 kW motor for sites with single-phase power. Ring-die mills handle longer continuous shifts and higher throughput, which is what a feed line needs when pelletising is the bottleneck.
Pellet diameter and the animals you feed
Pellet size is set by the die, not by the machine, so the die is the part to agree before ordering. Tell us which animals you feed and at what stage, and we will supply the matching die size and quote alternative dies separately.
