Development and performance of a livestock feed mixer

Abstract

In Nigeria, agricultural livestock production is lagging in efficiency thus resulting in low production output. Livestock feed need to be mixed very well, in other to achieve the best quality out of the livestock. There is gradual advancement from the past mixing method done manually to mechanization of livestock feed production process. In this study, a horizontal livestock feed mixer with a capacity of 100kg was designed and a model of it was fabricated. The aim is to provide a base for commercial production of feed mixers in Nigeria using locally available materials with low cost of procurement. The machine was designed based on its power requirements, tension of belt, load on shaft pulley and belt tension, shaft diameter and weight of mixing drum. The materials are selected based on their flexibility, chemical compatibility, availability simplicity and low maintenance cost. The performance evaluation of the machine was carried out to determine the mixing efficiency using different feed capacity at different time intervals and percentage recovery rate on the feed rate. The mixing time and degree of mixing was observed to increase with increase in feed weight. The horizontal feed mixer developed is highly efficient, cost effective and solves problems associated with manual mixing during livestock feed production.