Advantages of Pellet Feed Over Mash Feed in Broiler Farming -

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Advantages of Pellet Feed Over Mash Feed in Broiler Farming

Cost-Benefit Analysis

It is prudent for anyone planning to set up any project to properly analyze the costs which will incur and the benefits it will provide. We at LARK have taken up the effort to save time and one of the most frequent queries any person comes across while planning to set up and choose between whether he/she should opt for pellet feed plant or mash feed plant for broiler farming.

Before proceeding further, let us talk about a few major factors which need to be discussed for setting up a plant:

1. Farm Size: No. of birds on the farm

2. Project Investment: Land & building, Machines, Raw Material, Taxes & permissions, etc.

3. Market Research: Market trend, competition, customer feedback, etc.

Assumptions

For the sake of convenient calculations & a better understanding of the picture, let us assume:

1. There are 100,000(1 lakh) number of broiler birds on the farm for both pellet as well as mash feed.

2. Land & building, raw material & warehouse requirements are the same for both feed plants.

3. Feed requirement for 1 lakh birds is approx. 10MT per day (Considering an average feed intake of 100g per bird per day).

4. Working capital and raw material costs are not included.

Calculation
For Pellet Feed Plant

S.No.	Requirement	Value	Units
1	Pellet plant capacity	2	Ton per hour (TPH)
2	Cost of plant	50	Lakhs
3	Land requirement	6000	Sq. Ft.
4	Boiler/Transportation/Civil Works/Power Cost	60	Lakhs
5	Total cost without working capital and Raw material	110	Lakhs

So, the approximate cost for the complete project of 2 TPH pellet feed plant is 1.10 Crore, without taking into consideration the working capital and raw material inventory.

For Mash Feed Plant

S.No.	Requirement	Value	Units
1	Mash plant capacity	2	Ton per hour (TPH)
2	Cost of plant	6	Lakhs
3	Land requirement	6000	Sq. Ft.
4	Boiler/Transportation/Civil Works/Power Cost	30	Lakhs
5	Total cost without working capital and Raw material	36	Lakhs

So, the approximate cost for the complete project of 2 TPH mash feed plant is 36 lakh, without taking into consideration the working capital and raw material inventory.

The difference in the Plant Cost

The difference between setting up the cost of a pellet feed plant and a mash feed plant is Cost of pellet feed plant – Cost of mash feed plant 1, 10, 00,000 – 36, 00,000 = 74, 00,000 INR- Which for now can be considered as a saving – In case of mash project …..

If we consider an interest rate of 8% on this amount, the return can be 50,000 INR per month. … (1)

The difference in the Operational Cost

Also, as per our years of experience and regular client feedback, we have observed a difference of approximately 400 INR per ton in operating cost of pellet plant ( including boiler, labor, staff, power, etc.) and mash feed plant i.e. pellet feed plant costs 400 INR more than mash feed plant per metric ton.

Therefore, for a production of 10MT per day @ 25 working days per month, the difference in operating costs comes out to be:

400INR x 10MT per day x 25 days per month = 1, 00,000 INR per month … (2)

Total Extra Expense Per Month for Pellet Feed Plant

If we add up …(1) and …(2), we will see that by setting up a pellet feed plant of the same output capacity, we would be draining out approx. 1,50,000 INR per month from our pocket. … (3)

Before we arrive at any conclusion; let us see the benefits of pellet feed plant:

Benefits of Pellet Feed Plant

• It is widely known from various researches and practical experiments performed for broiler farming that there is a minimum 10% reduction in feed intake of birds with pellet feed as compared to mash feed i.e. Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) is higher in pellet feed.

• There is an improvement in the meat-bone ratio (approx. 3%).

• There is an improvement in the Live Bird Weight ratio.

• Reduction in mortality rate.

• Dominant birds can eat bigger particle grains in mash feed devoiding smaller & weaker birds of that feed and they have to eat powdered feed.

• No selective feeding.

Now let us do some calculation of feed intake as per our assumption of 1 lakh birds:

S.No.	Requirement	Value	Units
1	Number of birds	100000	Numbers
2	Feed Requirement per bird	100	g per day
3	Total Feed Requirement	10000	Kg per day
4	Considering Feed cost	25	INR per KG per day
5	Total Feed Cost	250000	INR per day
6	No. of working days per month	25	days
7	Total Feed Cost per month	6250000	INR per month
8	Cost of MASH feed per month	6250000	INR per month
9	Cost of PELLET feed per month ( with 10% reduction in feed intake)	5625000	INR per month
10	Feed cost savings per month (By using Pellet Feed)	625000	INR per month

So, the approximate cost saving per month by using pellet feed over mash feed is approximately 6, 25, 000 INR + other benefits like meat quality, meat-bone ratio, mortality & waste-meat ratio … (4)

Now, if check out the net savings from … (4) and … (3), we will observe that by setting up a pellet feed plant will save us a net amount of 6,25,000 – 1,50,000 = 4,75,000 INR per month.

Conclusion

If we do not want to invest a huge amount at an initial level, we can set up a mash plant (convertible to pellet plant) for grower & finisher birds, feeding them mash feed, and can outsource crumbs pellet feed for pre-starter and starter birds. Later on, we can covert that mash feed project into a pellet project.

Disclaimer: The above information is based on data collected from our existing customers & internet sources and is only for your reference. As expertise in feed mill engineering only, Lark Engineering will not be responsible for any type of loss occur due to the above-stated information.

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