Running any kind of operational farm can certainly be a challenge. Large-scale farms have to worry about endless inputs, while small-scale family farms often have trouble just keeping above water. One thing that can drastically increase profits, and decrease waste, is trying to produce as much animal feed as possible on-site. This typically requires an initial investment in specialized equipment such as Roller Mills in Oregon, but this initial investment will pay off in increased self-sufficiency for small-scale farms.
Roller mills have a long and illustrious history as an efficient means of grinding grain for animal feed, and even for food intended for human consumption. Although in recent times hammer mills have replaced roller mills as a first choice for grinding flour and creating other extremely fine grain products, roller mills maintain the advantage for producing animal feed.
Many animals, including horses, pigs, cows, and others prefer their feed to be less finely ground than the flours produced by hammer mills. Roller mills, particularly the single-pass variety, can create cereal flakes that are perfect for consumption by large farm animals. It is much less expensive to produce this cereal out of crops grown right on the property than to buy the feed from the store.
The flaked cereals created by roller mills in Oregon are better for enhancing animal rations as well. They have a larger surface area than finely milled grains, thus allowing them to better incorporate liquid ingredients. This means fats, oils, and molasses can all be fully absorbed to create a more nutritious mash for the animals.
Of course, roller mills are capable of achieving a relatively fine grind when necessary. Purchase a multiple-pass mill rather than a single pass to create smaller granules for younger stock animals. Young pigs and calves have under-developed digestive tracts, making it more difficult for them to digest the flakes produced by a single-pass mill.
Browse our website for more information or to check out available models. Many small farms find that operating both a roller mill for producing animal feed and a hammer mill for grinding flour is the best solution. Both of these specialized pieces of equipment and more are available online.