what is compound feed?

Compound feed refers to the feed that produced on the basis of animals’ different growth stages, different physiological requirements and different production uses, as well as the experiment and Research on the evaluation of feed nutrition value, and according to the scientific formula that mix feed of various different sources uniformly in a certain proportion and processed by  prescribed technology.
 

Compound feed development

The production of compound feed began in the early twentieth Century. Since 1950s, as the understanding of the needs of amino acids, vitamins and trace elements of domestic animals is becoming more and more accurate, antibiotics and sulfonamides are incorporated into the feed field as additives, and the production of compound feed grew rapidly. Its application first became popular in Europe and America, and soon spread to Asia and elsewhere.
 

Compound feed basic information

According to nutritional components and uses, comound feed is classified into:
Complete formula feed, concentrated feed, concentrate mixture, feed additive premix, superconcentrate, mixed provender, artificial milk or milk substitute feed;
Mash feed, pellet feed (Related knowledge: How to make feed pellets?), crumbled feed, expanded feed, floating feed, cubed feed, etc.

 

Classification of compound feed

Besides classified based on the feeding animal varieties, compound feed is classified into 4 main categories:

• Additive premix:

Additive premix is a homogeneous mixture made of various feed additives plus carriers or diluents in accordance with certain formula. Its specialized production can simplify the configuation process and improve the production efficiency. Its basic raw material additives can be generally divided into two categories: nutritional and non nutritional. Nutritional raw materials includes vitamins, trace elements, essential amino acids, and the latter includes growth promoting additives such as antibiotics, protective additives such as antioxidants, anti mildew agents, insect resistant agents, anti coccidiosis drugs such as anti coccidiosis drugs and other hormones, enzymes and colorants. In addition to the above active ingredients, additives also contain a certain amount of carrier or diluent. The additive premix which is made up of a class of feed additives is called a single additive premixture, such as premixture of vitamin and trace element; while the additive premix which is made up of several kinds of feed additives is called synthetic additive premixture or additive premixture for short.

A carrier in feed premix or additive premix is a kind of edible material that can accept and carry powdery active ingredients, with rough surface or small holes. The commonly used carriers are coarse wheat flour, wheat bran, rice hull powder, corncob powder, limestone powder and so on. Thinners are also edible materials, but do not require rough surfaces or small holes. The two function as to enlarge the volume and facilitate the mixing uniformity.
 

• Concentrate feed

Concentrate feed is also known as balanced compound or vitamin protein supplement. It is made up of additives, premix, protein feed, calcium, phosphorus and salt according to feed formula. It is one of the components of full price compound feed. As concentrate feed is necessary to add energy feed to form a complete formula feed, so when preparing, it is necessary to know the composition of energy feed that is intended to match, so as to ensure the balance of nutrition. For example, feeding Broilers, the concentrated feed in the early stage of fattening usually accounts for 30% of the complete formula feed and energy feed accounts for 70%. At final fattening period, the former accounts for 20%, the latter 80%. The concentrate feed of ruminant livestock can be made from urea feed, such as urea and biuret, so as to save protein feed.

• Complete formula feed

Complete formula feed is a feed for a single stomach livestock, which is made from concentrate feed and energy feed. Energy feed is mainly made from corn, sorghum, barley, wheat, bran, fine rice bran, sweet potato flour, potato and some animal and vegetable oils. The full price feed can be mash; also can be pressed into feed pellets (granules) to prevent the stratification of feed components, maintain uniformity and facilitate feeding. Pellet feed is more suitable for domestic animals and fish. (Learn more about animal feed processing technology>>.)

• Concentrate mixture

Concentrate mixture is a feed for feeding ruminants, which is also made up of concentrate feed and energy feed; but a large amount of green and coarse feed should be added to animal feed.

In addition to the above 4 basic types of formula feed, a number of intermediate types of products can also be produced.
In order to strengthen the quality management of feed, many countries have issued the feed laws and regulations to ensure the quality, the nutritional value and the safety of the human and animal in the form of law.
 

Significance of compound feed

1. The compound feed is designed and produced according to scientific experiment and verified by practice. It concentrates the research results of animal nutrition and feed science, and can mix all kinds of ingredients (raw materials) together, so as to ensure the stability and consistency of the effective components and improve the nutritional and economic benefits of the feed.
2. The production of compound feed should be carried out according to the relevant standards, feed regulations and feed management regulations. It is beneficial to ensure quality, to the health of human and animal, to environmental protection and to maintain ecological balance.
3. Formulated feed can be directly fed or simply treated to facilitate user use, facilitate transportation and preservation, and reduce user effort.
4. Feed accounts for 70% of the cost of farming. The quality and price of feed raw materials directly affect the quality and cost of formulated feed.
5. In the process of feed processing, it is directly related to the economic benefit and reputation of the enterprise that whether the nutritional needs and physiological characteristics of the animals can be formulated, and the lowest formula cost and the best feeding effect can be obtained.

 

Compound feed batching technology

At present, the commonly used technological processes for compound feed production include manual addition batching, volumetric batching, one bin one scale batching, multi bins multi sclaes batching, multi bin one scale batching, etc.

• Manual addition batching
  The manual control addition batching is used in small feed processing plants and feed processing workshops. This batching process is to weigh all the ingredients manually, and then dump the weighed materials manually into the mixer. Since all the steps are manually metering and batching, so the technology is very simple, and the equipment investment is less, the product cost is reduced, the measurement is flexible and accurate. But the manual operating environment is poor, the labor intensity is high, and the labor productivity is very low, especially after the worker's long labor time, it is easy to make mistakes.

• Volume proportioning
  Under every batch bin, there is one set of batching device.

• One bin one scale batching
• Multi bins multi sclaes batching
• Multi bin one scale batching

The materials measured are grouped according to their physical characteristics or weighing ranges, and each group is equipped with corresponding metering devices.