Pellet machine

Anybody ever owned a pellet machine? They make small ones now.....even under 1,000$. For wood pellets, alfalfa etc.

Thanks. I have been playing around with feeding grain elevator dust to my cattle. They like it and eat it. Runs 7 to 10 % protein and is free. Its hard to handle.....store.......keep from blowing away and what not.

Can u use it to feed heatwave calves?

I might. I may need a dealer in California. 33# pressed block. Apple flavored"leave your competition in the dust". show block........for goats and cattle. Would fit the postal systems cheap shipping box.

I saw one machine made in Illinois........Buskirk engineering.......blufton.

Is there a magazine for pelleters? Or a textbook from a grain milling college that is available?

I'm not sure about small pellet machines, but it seems to me that if you found one, it may be more problems than it is worth. A neighbour of mine, fed elevator dust for years and he just dumped it in a sheltered area surrounded by round bales. He hauled the dust in his bucket on the tractor and dumped it in troughs he made. He purchased a few hundred low quality calves each fall ( the cheaper ones) and fed them only elevator dust and slough hay he was able to bale free from his neighbours land. It was amazing how much weight these calves gained and he made very good money doing this, in fact, I would not doubt that he made much more than the feeders who fed normal feed to normal good cattle.

The stuff got me through a couple drouth years 15 years ago. I just dumped the stuff about quarter mile  from the water source. I modified a grain cart and have fed 4 loads so far with it. Gravity fed out the bottom and I probe out about 500 # at a time. Cattle have access to grass an actually some cane also. Its free. If they charged for it I guess its opens up liabilty problems for them. Have lined up another elevator also. Pelleting wouldn't probably worth it except ypu could store it better.....like store it for winter. Thanks JIT. Not a deal for show cattle but wheat straw at 100$ a ton this deal is interesting to mess with.

I was told that feedlots won't touch the dust. Its hard to sell a customer on it......feeding dust.......to their cattle. Its not dirt dust......its miniscule broken grain fragments. If everybody fed grain dust the world will be a better place. The sea level s would rise. We would have better schools. Unemployment would be reduced. It should be in someones campaign platform.

I ran across a couple things. Grain dust has a relative feed value of 83% compared to say corn?  Also ran across adeal that said once in a while you might run across dust with insecticide carry over......bug treatment.

if you need a pellet machine I have one that is about 8 months old.  showed it to a few people.  not very fast though.  my son wants to sell it.  energy free. motorless.  runs on water and add feed.  I have attached a picture of it for your interest.

(thumbsup)

so, let me get this straight.  you put in a variety of feedstuffs, and it comes out pellets?

Why can't you store the dust in the winter?  Wind?

I think this is a pretty neat idea, hope it works for you.  Pelleting can be a bear in the winter with poultry feed I know because you can't get it dry enough.

Some of pelleting stuff is viewed as green technology. People run leaves through a pelleter and then burn these through a corn stove.......and claim they are saving the earth. If you figure resources it took to make electricty,make the electric motor and everything looks like more of wash. On the goat deal.....if you aren't feeding mechanical harvested feed and don.t use steel panels to keep the goaster in I guess he would be energy free. 8 dollar corn is 280 dollars a ton. If that put dust at 232 dollar aton value. Lining up two elevators would equal 23 thousand dollars a year product vs. fuel and equipment to handle it.