Feed mill & production line projects

Master feed mill calculator — capacity, equipment package, silos and project class.

Size a complete feed mill, pelleting line or extrusion plant in one place: annual output, the major equipment package, raw-material storage, indicative power demand and the project class — then hand the whole specification to a supplier-neutral RFQ without retyping it.

Country / project preset (editable)

Country

Feed type

Capacity (t/h)

Process

Operating hours / day

Operating days / year

Automation level

Raw-material cover (days)

Bulk density (t/m³)

Electricity price / kWh (optional)

Daily production

400 t/day

Monthly production

10,000 t/month

Annual production

120,000 t/year

Utilisation

68% of 24/7

Raw-material storage

18,000 t

Silo volume

27,692 m³ · ~56 silos

Indicative installed power

875 kW

Annual electricity

4,200,000 kWh

Line class: High-capacity pelleting line, dual grinding

Project class: Mid-large industrial project

Raw-material handling: Bulk intake with truck/rail tipping, chain conveying, silo battery

Automation: PLC/SCADA plant control, traceability, remote diagnostics

Major equipment package

· Raw-material intake and pre-cleaning (magnet, sieve)
· Bucket elevators and chain conveying
· Raw-material storage — approx. 18,000 t
· Hammer mill grinding
· Batch mixer with liquid addition
· Automated micro-dosing station
· Steam conditioner and boiler
· Pellet mill with die set
· Counter-flow cooler
· Sieving and finished-product bins
· Bagging line / bulk loadout
· PLC/SCADA plant control, traceability, remote diagnostics control system
· Dust extraction and aspiration

Indicative energy split (kWh / t)

Grinding 11
Mixing 3
Conveying 3
Pelleting 16
Total 35

Next: ROI & payback

Your country, feed type, capacity, process, automation, storage and equipment list are carried into the RFQ automatically — nothing to retype. Project financing may be available subject to buyer, project, country, equipment origin and lender eligibility.

Assumptions

· Annual output = t/h × operating hours per day × operating days per year. No allowance for recipe changeover losses.
· Raw-material intake is assumed equal to finished tonnage (moisture and shrink ignored).
· Silo volume = storage tonnes ÷ bulk density. Default 0.65 t/m³ is a mixed-grain assumption — edit it for your recipe.
· Specific energy figures are indicative kWh/t ranges for grinding, mixing, conveying, shaping and drying; actual consumption depends on recipe, die/screw configuration and motor efficiency class.
· Installed power applies a 1.25 factor over absorbed power for motor sizing and simultaneity.
· Outputs are indicative project classes. Final pricing and process design require a technical specification and current supplier quotations.

Short answer · reviewed August 2026

How do you size a feed mill?

Size on annual feed demand, not on machine catalogues. Divide the tonnes you must produce each year by operating hours per day and operating days per year to get required t/h, then add 15–25% headroom for recipe changes, downtime and growth. Process choice follows the product: pelleting for poultry, swine and cattle compound feed; extrusion for floating aquafeed, shrimp feed and dry pet food. Storage is the second decision — cover days times daily raw-material consumption, divided by bulk density for volume.

Feed mill sizing reference

Feed mill sizing reference — values reviewed August 2026 by FeedMatch Group
Metric	Value	Unit	Basis
Required capacity	annual t ÷ (h/day × days/year)	t/h	Add 15–25% design headroom
Pelleting specific energy	10–20	kWh/t	Recipe and die dependent
Extrusion + drying energy	60–95	kWh/t	Floating aquafeed and pet food
Storage cover, domestic grain	7–15	days	Local raw-material availability
Storage cover, import dependent	30–60	days	Port lead time and vessel scheduling
Project lead time	12–20	months	Contract to commissioning, turnkey scope

Sources · Feed mill capacity sizing guide · Feed mill equipment list by capacity · Feed mill cost per tonne of capacity

Ranges are indicative buyer-side benchmarks compiled by FeedMatch Group from supplier offers and the sources above; verify against a current quotation before budgeting.

Continue the project path

What equipment is required for a 10 t/h feed mill?

A 10 t/h pelleting mill needs raw-material intake with pre-cleaning, bucket elevators and chain conveying, silo storage sized to your cover days, hammer-mill grinding, a batch mixer with liquid addition, automated micro-dosing, a steam conditioner with boiler, a pellet mill and die set, a counter-flow cooler, crumbling and grading where required, sieving, finished bins, bagging or bulk loadout, PLC control and dust aspiration. An extrusion line at the same capacity replaces conditioning and pelleting with a preconditioner, extruder, multi-pass dryer and vacuum coater.

How much does a feed mill cost?

There is no single figure. Cost is driven by capacity, product type, pelleting versus extrusion, automation depth, silo volume, utilities, country and freight, installation and civil works. This calculator returns an indicative project class from your inputs; final pricing requires a technical specification and current supplier quotations. FeedMatch does not publish fixed prices for projects of this size.

What is the difference between pelleting and extrusion?

Pelleting compresses conditioned mash through a die at moderate temperature and produces dense pellets for poultry, swine and cattle at roughly 10–20 kWh/t. Extrusion cooks under higher temperature, pressure and shear, enabling expansion, flotation control and high fat inclusion — required for aquafeed and pet food, but it adds drying and typically triples specific energy. Choose on product requirement, not on headline throughput.

What equipment is needed for floating fish feed?

Fine grinding to 60–80 mesh, batch mixing with liquid addition, a preconditioner, a single- or twin-screw extruder with die and knife set for the pellet size, a multi-pass dryer, a vacuum coater for oil and attractants, a counter-flow cooler, sieving and bagging. Flotation is controlled by extruder configuration, moisture and density, not by a separate machine.

How much silo capacity does a feed plant need?

Multiply daily raw-material consumption by the number of cover days you want, then divide by bulk density for volume. Grain-producing countries commonly hold 7–15 days; import-dependent plants often hold 30–60 days because port lead time and vessel scheduling set the risk. This calculator lets you edit both cover days and bulk density.

What information is required for a feed mill quotation?

Country and site location, feed type and pellet sizes, target tonnes per hour, operating hours per day and days per year, mash / pellet / crumble / extrusion process, automation level, raw-material list with expected moisture, required storage days, available power supply and steam source, plot plan and building height limits, bagging versus bulk loadout, and target start date. Without these a supplier can only send a price list, not a proposal.