ARTIFICIAL DRYING OF FORAGE CROPS 23 



A dehydration plant should have as a minimum the following equip- 

 ment : 



1 drying drum with furnace, burners, and power unit. 



1 self-feeder with conveyor to drum and power unit. 



2 cyclones. 



1 hammer mill and power unit. 



1 sacking spout. 



Conveyors, piping, blowers, and motors to carry dried forage to the cyclones 



and sacker spout. 

 1 scale (for weighing 100-pound sacks of meal). 



3 trucks Or 2 trucks and 4 trailers. 



1 self-propelled field harvester or 1 tractor and field harvester with cutter 



attachment. 

 Unloading hoist or truck equipped with hydraulic lifts. 

 Shop repair tools and equipment (welders, drill press, etc.). 

 Sacking and storage building. 



To keep the plant in continuous operation, it is also advisable to 

 have spare parts, such as sickle parts, grinder hammers and screens, 

 and duplicate equipment for replacements of equipment subject to 

 excessive wear or frequent breakdowns. 



Other equipment often used as part of a dehydration plant includes 

 the following items : Dust collectors (in addition to cooling collectors) 

 to reduce dust around the plant and to retain a larger percentage of the 

 alfalfa, pellet equipment, cooling equipment, sifters, packers, crushers, 

 and self-unloading trailers. 



The power requirements vary considerably, depending upon the 

 amount of equipment used. The connected electrical load for each 

 drying-drum unit ranges from 130 to 350 horsepower, depending upon 

 the amount and size of equipment used. Grinders require the most 

 power and are usually powered with either 125- or 150-horsepower 

 motors. 



The arrangement of the plant equipment will determine to a large 

 extent the amount of space needed for convenient operation. The 

 average size plot of land used for the dehydration plants that were 

 surveyed was 2*4 acres. 



Some building and storage space is desirable and usually provided 

 at the dehydration plant to house grinding, sacking, pelleting, and 

 mixing equipment. However, many of the dehydration plants install 

 the drying drums and self feeders outdoors (figs. 12 and 13). 



Field harvesters that cut the standing crop or gather the forage from 

 windrows and convey it into wagons or trucks have replaced, almost 

 entirely, the use of loaders for loading long hay and stationary chop- 

 pers at the drying drums. Trucks with or without trailers are used 

 almost entirely for hauling chopped forage from the field to the drier. 

 Only when distances are short are tractors sometimes used to pull 

 trailers. 



TTliere there are plentiful supplies available, natural gas is used 

 almost entirely for fuel. It burns easily with no smoke and requires 

 little attention once the equipment is properly installed. 



The acreage needed to provide alfalfa for continuous operation of 

 each drum of a dehydration plant depends on the yield. The average 

 for all one-drum plants was 550, 600, 800, and 950 acres, respectively, 

 for the first, second, third, and fourth cuttings. The farthest hauling 

 distance of green forage averaged 11 miles for all the plants surveyed. 



The investment cost of the surveyed plants varied considerably. 



