Mineral supplements can be administered by three different methods to the ruminant’s diet. Free choice, where the animal consumes the minerals from buckets or lick blocks near grazing areas, premixed feed where the minerals are mixed into the feed, or the method of choice, top dressing. Top dressing ensures a controlled dose of the minerals by adding the supplement to the feed immediately before consumption. It is similar to humans salting their food before a meal. This ensures controlled dosing of the minerals and eliminates the problem of small mineral particles falling to the bottom of the feed, which often occurs in the premixed feed.Having trouble maintaining consistent particle size of its mineral formulas, an international animal mineral supplement manufacturer contacted Kemutec for a solution. They needed a method to separate oversize particles from the supplement while reducing fines (dust) from the product. This was especially important because the dust often causes a gumming issue for the ruminants and impedes the digestion process.
Kemutec provided a solution with a 4-deck GKM Ultimate Tumbler Screener. The GKM Ultimate Tumbler Screener provided controlled screening, multi-deck classification, and dedusting of the mineral supplement. It is particularly suitable for this application because the minerals are often lightweight, which are difficult to screen and the three-dimensional screen movement facilitates no dead corners and complete screening capability with maximum efficiency.The GKM Screening action separated the oversize particles on the top two decks, the ideal, marketable particles to the third deck and the fines (dust) to the bottom deck. By providing the four separations and eliminating the fines (dust), the gumming issue was also significantly reduced therefore providing an optimal mineral supplement for cows and other ruminants.Kemutec supplies GKM Flat Deck Screeners to North and South America ■
