Design, performance evaluation, and economic feasibility of a river tamarind (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit) shredder for use as cattle feed

Abstract

Manual labor for chopping Leucaena to prepare animal feed, particularly for beef cattle, remains a time-consuming and inefficient process. Moreover, it can affect the consistency of Leucaena size, which impacts the digestion efficiency of beef cattle. Therefore, this research aims to design and build a Leucaena shredding machine for beef cattle feed, evaluate its performance, and study the payback period of the shredder. The study designed a Leucaena shredder equipped with a 2-horsepower motor and three shredding blades. The machine was tested to assess its performance by measuring the time taken to shred 2 kilograms of Leucaena and comparing the results with manual shredding. The results showed that the developed Leucaena shredder reduced working time by 94% compared to manual labor, with the machine taking an average of 61 seconds to shred 2 kilograms of Leucaena, while manual labor took an average of 952 seconds. Additionally, the Leucaena shredded by the machine was finer and more uniform than that shredded by hand, which positively affects the digestion process in beef cattle. Economic analysis revealed that the Leucaena shredder could achieve a payback period within 42 days when used for feeding seven beef cattle, and the payback period shortens with an increased number of cattle. Therefore, this Leucaena shredder is an efficient tool for improving farmers' convenience, reducing animal feed production costs, and being effectively utilized in medium to large-sized livestock farms.