Perfect in One Pass - Shell Corn to Animal Bedding

 Article provided by Rotochopper

 Growing from agricultural beginnings more than 25 years ago, Rotochopper, Inc. releases the profit potential in wood fiber, agricultural residue, green waste, construction and demolition waste, and asphalt shingles with innovative grinding, coloring, and bagging equipment. A wide range of companies turn to Rotochopper for practical solutions to their challenging biomass and recycling applications. The ever-changing agricultural market is also proving to be a perfect fit for the high-volume processing capabilities of Rotochopper horizontal grinders.

“Perfect in One Pass!” is Rotochopper’s commitment. They design, build, and support a complete line of horizontal grinders, wood chip processors, and mobile bagging systems from a state-of-the art manufacturing facility in St. Martin, Minnesota.
Rotochopper President and CEO Art de St. Aubin, says, “Although Rotochopper grinders are used in a wide range of industrial recycling situations across the globe, Rotochopper started in the agriculture business. Our grinders fit well with farmers’ needs, grinding anything that needs to be processed on a farm. We conduct much of our testing at several farms close to our manufacturing facility.”
Rotochopper grinders are adept at grinding materials with demanding particle size specifications like high moisture corn and exacting animal bedding requirements. Likewise, they are excellent at handling bales, offering farmers the perfect feedstuffs. Their network of outstanding service technicians at locations across the country keep the equipment up and running.

High Moisture Shell Corn Grinding
Grinding high volumes of shell corn can be a time-consuming job requiring more than one machine, producing results often short of the desired product. A single Rotochopper can replace a complex assortment of equipment, while at the same time offering a one-step process minimizing handling costs and loss from spillage.  
Although other grinding systems can process high moisture shell corn, few can match Rotochopper’s level of horsepower efficiency. Because shell corn is already smaller than the particle size most grinders achieve, corn kernels pass through many other grinders with barely a scratch. Rotochopper grinders offer the fine-grinding capacity to take shell corn down to 100% ¼ inch minus in a single pass, with no un-cracked kernels.
Rotochopper offers a range of sizes and horsepower (diesel or electric) matching producers’ volume requirements, work environment, and other critical factors. Available from 125 to 1050 horsepower, Rotochopper grinders process 900 to 5,000 bushels per hour. Whether grinding between the field and the bunker during the peak of harvest season or grinding daily as needed, Rotochopper has a grinder to meet any farmer’s needs.

Animal Bedding
In regions throughout the world, the wood fiber animal bedding market is growing, rivaling even colored mulch in profitability and growth potential. Rotochopper offers several solutions for producing fine texture animal bedding from pallets, sorted C & D, and other wood fiber sources, including horizontal grinders and multi-stage grinders, combining horizontal grinders with hammermills.
The challenges of the animal bedding market showcase the Rotochopper “Perfect In One Pass” advantage. Bedding quality directly impacts animal comfort and health. Accordingly, farmers maintain strict specifications for particle size and texture, requiring a fine texture fiber mixture free of jagged edges. Some applications require dust free bedding, achieved with dust extraction equipment. No other grinding systems offer the flexibility to accommodate demanding specifications like Rotochopper electric grinders and multi-stage systems. Rotochopper horizontal grinders produce uniform fine texture wood fiber, thanks to unique features that prevent over-sized pieces in the end product.
Once only an acceptable alternative to traditional bedding sources in short supply, ground wood fiber is now winning favor with farmers as a supplement or replacement for typical bedding sources due to its unique advantages. Animal bedding produced with a wood grinder does not compact and bind together as firmly as shavings or sawdust. The rounded and frayed texture of ground wood fiber holds air, limiting binding and maximizing absorbency.

Using and Re-using What We Have
From serving surrounding agricultural producers, Rotochopper branched out to providing environmentally sensitive, economically sensible solutions to customers’ challenging applications. It’s a sensible approach to grinding equipment — machines designed not simply to reduce the volume of waste and lower the landfill burden, but todeliverhigh quality finished products and generate profitable opportunities, diverting material from landfills altogether.
It’s a design philosophy emphasizing versatility and particle size control, allowing operators to produce a wide rangeofvalue added products with low operating costs. Rotochopper’s knowledge and equipment solutions help customers benefit the environment and local economies, producing sustainable results.
Since its founding, Rotochopper has helped customers divert millions of tons from landfills and create new markets for material formerly viewed as liabilities: colored mulch from pallet scrap, compost from yard waste, erosion control from agricultural residue, and boiler fuel from sorted C & D are just a few products produced with Rotochopper equipment.
Rotochopper’s grind-and-color technology converts tons of pallet scrap, tree care waste, and other low-grade wood fiber sources into highly profitable landscape mulch, creating profitable markets for customers who were paying to dispose of wood fiber or selling it at low margins. The ability to produce attractive mulch in a variety of colors also reduces demand for mulch from virgin cypress trees and other environmentally damaging landscape product sources.
Rotochopper’s “Perfect in One Pass” grinding technology helps customers find environmentally friendly, profitable uses for corn stover, asphalt shingle waste, and railroad ties, among an ever-growing list of raw materials. While helping customers implement sustainable practices, Rotochopper practices what it preaches: heating its own factory with wood waste and agricultural residue processed while testing grinding equipment.
The size of your operation and demand can help you decide the best approach to grinding. New is great, but since Rotochopper grinders retain their value better than anything on the market, Rotochopper also sells factory refurbished equipment. Each refurbished grinder is thoroughly inspected to determine the components that need replacement, repairs, or upgrades. After refurbishment, Rotochopper tests each grinder according to the same standards applied to new equipment. Another option is securing the help of a Rotochopper owner who contracts to perform grinding services for others. Learn more at www.rotochopper.com.