I figure out how to make better pellets after I am almost completely finished with my order.

Saturday was a nice day. 

We have been having buckets of rain. 

Enough rain that the Amazon driver got stuck Friday night. I am not sure it was a great idea to pull into the neighbor's field to do a package exchange with the other Amazon delivery truck, but I helped him get out.

I have been almost unable to give away feed. I can't get in my shop due to super sacks that no one comes after. Quite suddenly, everyone is out. 

I sold three 800lb bags of oat/alfalfa mix Friday, and took orders for three more bags Saturday. Even sold six 50lb bags of Chicken feed. (I can't count the orders until they are gone. However, I am fairly sure they will move this afternoon.)

This is the best pellet setup I have ever put together. The Minneapolis-Moline G1355 is awesome on the New Holland 358 mixer-grinder. It runs quiet and the 540 PTO speed on this one is set at 1500 engine rpm. Very quiet as opposed to tractors I have used before.

The Minneapolis-Moline M670 Super works better than the White 2-60 on the Pellet Mill.  Lower rpm and quieter. Hydraulics are better as well.

Now if I could just boost my output speed!

The mix is 1/3 alfalfa and 2/3 oats. This makes a nice feed for horses, sheep and goats. It is not too "hot." The animals like it and maintain weight. Seems to work well for cows as well. Alfalfa is fourth cutting and should be high in nutrients and it is high in crude protein. Should be good for muscle development and milk production. The oats are providing energy and are high in digestible fiber. The protein is not real high, probably 12-14 percent but it provides a good balance to protein and energy. You don't end up with jumpy horses or overly fat cows. I can add a little corn for people who what extra fat for cow feed.

I am selling it too cheap at $440 per ton. Needs to be $100 more to make money. However, we have oats and alfalfa to move and I need money. My plan is to make up with my loss in profit with low volume...

Minneapols-Moline G1355 on the New Holland 358 mixer/grinder and M670 Super on the PelletMasters 9" pellet mill.

I had problems with the PTO as the White 2-60 and the M670 Super have different dimensions for the three-point arms. I tried running it without hooking up the three-point and after a day the tractor and pellet mill vibrated apart with catastrophic results. I think the Chinese should have put the slip clutch on the implement and not on the tractor end of the PTO shaft.

Pellet making with a cheap chinese Pellet mill is a hit and miss proposal. I appreciate the low cost and portability but the mill is kind of a piece of crap. I could not make a good pellet to save my life the last two weekends. Then, I tossed in a bale of barley straw. The production dropped by 1/3 but the pellets improved incredibly.

Pellets after the addition of barley straw. It was one 50lb bale in 1000lbs of mix. I used the 3/4" screen so it did chop up the straw. Most peices were 1/2" and crushed. But, it really decreased production. I stopped adding mollasses as the extra moisture plugged up the mill hopper.

It is hard to see but the pellets in the bin have gone from 1/4" in length of 1/2-3/4" and they are holding together better. Still have a nice green color to them. You never know how it will turn out. I have no way of adding heat or steam. I have been toying with the idea of adding radiant heaters to heat the material going into the pellet hopper.