1 Division of Agricultural Engineering, IARl, New Delhi - 110012.
A commercially viable hydraulic machine, capable of compacting crop residue into feed blocks was tested. The bulk density of the roughage based feed blocks from this machine was found to be 4 to 5 times more than that of the original feed material. The commercial model produced 20 x 20 cm blocks with variable thickness. The capacity of the machine is 200–250 kg/hr for a feed having density of 100 kg/m3. The machine has been tested extensively for different crop straw and menu based feed mixtures for cattle. The feed block feeding to cattle enhanced the dry matter intake and yielded higher milk production as well as fat content.
