Cattle Feed Processing Plant in South Africa

RICHI MACHINERY

overview

This is a turnkey project of 10T/H Cattle Feed Processing Plant in South Africa.

In an arid but fertile agricultural and pastoral interlaced zone in the north of the Free State Province of South Africa, a far-reaching project was quietly completed at the end of 2024. This is a fully automatic cattle feed plant with a production capacity of 10 tons/hour.

The equipment is provided by us, RICHI MACHINERY, a Chinese feed equipment manufacturer. The entire project is a turnkey project, including process design, equipment manufacturing, installation and commissioning, operation training and after-sales service.

This cattle feed processing plant in South Africa project not only represents the trend of local animal husbandry technology upgrading, but also highlights the urgent need for efficient feed solutions in the process of agricultural modernization in developing countries.

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Project Background: From Pasture Dilemma to Industrial Breakthrough

The investor of this 10 ton/hour cattle feed production line is a local entrepreneur in South Africa who owns a medium-sized ranch and beef cattle breeding base. He is not an agricultural capital giant, nor does he come from a traditional feed processing factory. Instead, he is a typical industrialist in the agricultural transition period with a strong spirit of hard work and market sensitivity.

According to the customer’s first communication with us in mid-2023, he has long relied on third-party feed companies to supply cattle feed. Not only are prices volatile and transportation costs high, but the raw material formula is unstable, resulting in high breeding costs, long cattle growth cycles, large differences in slaughter weight, and serious erosion of overall profits. He hopes to control the feed production process, not only to provide stable and high-quality feed for his own ranch, but also to expand commercial sales channels locally, radiating surrounding ranches and cooperatives.

Based on such needs, the customer finally chose to build a 10t/h fully automatic cattle feed processing plant in South Africa, focusing on the mass production of high-protein, high-fiber ruminant formula pellets.

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Raw material composition: Relying on local resources to achieve low cost and high nutrition

Although some areas in South Africa are severely drought-stricken, its agricultural resources still have certain advantages, especially the wide availability of by-products such as corn, soybean meal, wheat bran, and cottonseed hulls, which provide a strong foundation for feed processing.

The customer proposed specific raw material composition suggestions during the consultation and design phase, and combined with our suggestions, the main raw materials used in this cattle feed processing plant in South Africa were finally determined as follows:

• Maize Grits: From the grain-growing areas of the Free State and Limpopo Province, it is the main source of carbohydrates;
• Soybean Meal: Domestic crushing plants in South Africa or imported from Argentina, providing high-quality protein;
• Wheat Bran: A by-product from flour mills, rich in soluble fiber;
• Cottonseed Hulls: Used as a fiber supplement to improve the reaction and chewing efficiency of ruminants;
• Alfalfa Powder: Imported from the grasslands of neighboring Namibia to increase crude protein;
• Premix and mineral additives: Locally purchased for nutritional balance.

These raw materials can be stably supplied throughout the year, and the transportation radius is controlled within 200 kilometers, which greatly reduces the logistics cost of raw materials and provides guarantee for continuous production.

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Customized process flow: Adapting to the production needs of high-fiber and high-capacity cattle feed pellets

In order to meet customers’ requirements for high-capacity and high-palatability cattle feed pellets, we designed the following technical process for this cattle feed processing plant in South Africa project:

1. Raw material reception and primary cleaning: including bulk unloading, cleaning screen and permanent magnetic cylinder to remove impurities and metal objects;
2. Crushing section: High-efficiency hammer mill is used for crushing medium-hard raw materials such as corn and soybean meal, and the particle size is controlled at 0.5-1mm;
3. Grading and mixing: The grading screen first separates the coarse particles, and then the double-shaft paddle mixing is carried out after accurate batching to ensure that the premix and trace elements are evenly distributed. cloth;
4. Tempering and granulation: The double-layer conditioner is combined with a steam heating system to fully mature the material in the conditioning chamber and improve the durability of the pellets;
5. Cooling system: A countercurrent cooling tower is used to reduce the pellet temperature to below room temperature to prevent agglomeration and mildew;
6. Screening system: Vibration screening out unqualified pellets for return and re-granulation;
7. Packing system: The automatic weighing baler is combined with a sewing machine to achieve automatic packaging of 25kg-50kg bagged feed;
8. Dust removal and centralized control system: The entire line is equipped with a bag dust collector and PLC centralized control to achieve clean, safe and efficient operation.

The entire cattle feed processing plant in South Africa has a designed processing capacity of 10 tons/hour and an annual production capacity of approximately 50,000 tons, which fully meets the dual needs of self-use and commercial sales.

RICHI MACHINERY

Equipment configuration and operation characteristics

As a turnkey cattle feed processing plant in South Africa project, we provide a full set of solutions including main equipment, control system, pipelines, cables, and installation drawings. The main equipment includes:

• Double-shaft high-efficiency mixer (1.0m³)
• SFSP series high-efficiency crusher (110kW)
• Double-quenching and tempering ring die cattle feed pellet machine (420 type, 110kW)
• Countercurrent cooling tower (SKLN17x17)
• Screening vibrator (SFJZ series)
• Automatic packaging system (including weighing, bag sealing, and bag sewing)
• Central control system (PLC+touch screen)
• Pulse dust removal system

The equipment supply contract for the cattle feed processing plant in South Africa was signed in December 2023, and the installation and commissioning was completed in May 2024, and it achieved full and stable operation. The price of the whole set of equipment is about 380,000 US dollars, including installation and commissioning and personnel training costs, and the cost performance far exceeds customer expectations.

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Product expansion possibilities: multiple pellet products are compatible on one line

Although this cattle feed plant project is mainly used for cattle feed production, the production line has strong adaptability and product expansion capabilities. By adjusting the raw material ratio and mold parameters, the cattle feed processing plant in South Africa can also be used for:

• Sheep feed pellets
• Donkey and horse ruminant pellet feed
• Crude fiber pig feed (low limit)
• Grass meal/straw compressed feed
• Some herbal organic fertilizer pellets (pretreatment required)

Especially for the alpaca and mutton farming that are gradually emerging in South Africa, the expandability of this cattle feed processing plant in South Africa can bring customers a broader product sales channel.

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Market Prospects: Opportunities and Challenges of Developing the Feed Industry in South Africa

South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa with a mature agricultural market. It has a large beef consumption and strong export potential, and its demand for efficient, low-cost, and high-nutrition feed is growing year by year. In the Free State, Limpopo, Northern Cape and other regions, ranchers generally face problems such as unstable seasonal feed supply, rising costs, and uneven quality of pellet feed.

There are about 38 small and medium-sized ranches around the site of this project. If customers further develop their distribution network, they can sell 20,000 tons of feed products each year, with an annual turnover of more than 10 million rands. The South African government provides tax exemptions, equipment import tariff refunds, rural electricity subsidies and other support for local agricultural investment projects, creating favorable conditions for project expansion.

However, market expansion also needs to be wary of challenges such as rising logistics costs and unstable power supply. In this regard, we recommend that customers combine solar energy systems with local storage outlets to achieve a strategic transformation of “local solutions” for energy and products.

RICHI MACHINERY

Review of project consultation and implementation process

The customer initially submitted a detailed consultation request through our website in April 2023, clearly stating that he wanted to build a 10 tons/hour cattle feed processing plant in South Africa. After several video conferences, our technical team tailored the production line configuration plan for the customer based on the customer’s site, raw materials, budget and other conditions.

In December 2023, the two parties formally signed an equipment procurement contract. The equipment was shipped in February 2024, assembled and debugged on site in April, entered trial operation in May, and reached full production in June. The entire cycle took less than 14 months, demonstrating the efficient international engineering delivery capabilities.

The customer has successfully achieved self-sufficiency in the ranch during the initial operation stage, and supplied to 5 surrounding cooperatives. It is expected that branches will be established in other provinces in South Africa in the next two years to achieve branded operations.

RICHI MACHINERY

Innovative ideas based on national conditions: Build feed mills into regional agricultural resource integration platforms

In view of South Africa’s vast but fragmented agricultural pattern, we recommend that customers further expand this feed mill into a “regional agricultural resource integration platform”. Specific innovations include:

• Establish regional raw material procurement outlets: integrate corn and by-products produced by surrounding small farmers to form a stable raw material procurement mechanism;
• Build a digital customer service system: allow ranchers to order feed and obtain nutritional advice in real time through mobile APP;
• Promote the coordinated development of feed + animal husbandry: take feed as the core and feed back to the standardization of ranch breeding;
• Create an ecological demonstration point: introduce manure treatment and biogas power generation systems to achieve a green cycle of the entire chain.

Through these measures, the cattle feed processing plant in South Africa project will not only build itself into a profit center, but also become a model for the modernization and transformation of South Africa’s agriculture.

RICHI MACHINERY

Summary: One production line leverages the upgrade of an industrial chain

This 10t/h cattle feed processing plant in South Africa is a typical successful case that starts from user needs, integrates local resources, and is implemented with the help of international advanced equipment. It not only brings actual economic benefits to customers, but also injects new productivity into the surrounding animal husbandry.

From raw material selection, equipment customization, process design, to market expansion and ecological extension, every link of the project reflects the pragmatic attitude of “pragmatism + long-term vision”. This is the core thinking path for the implementation of future agricultural projects in Africa.