Executive Summary
Israel’s dairy industry holds a distinction unmatched anywhere on earth: the highest average milk yield per cow in the world. At 12,125 kilograms per cow per year in 2024, Israeli Holsteins outperform counterparts in Denmark (10,777 kg), Estonia (11,350 kg), and the United States by a significant margin, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. Behind this extraordinary productivity lies a sophisticated feed manufacturing infrastructure where pellet quality is non-negotiable.
This case study examines how an Israeli compound feed manufacturer, operating a mill in the Jezreel Valley region southeast of Haifa that supplies dairy TMR pellets to over 40 kibbutz and moshav dairy operations, achieved consistent pellet durability, reduced fines, and improved production throughput after installing a Hongyang HYPM-420 ring die pellet mill. The mill produces approximately 8,000 tonnes of dairy compound feed pellets per month, serving herds that collectively produce over 100 million liters of milk annually.
Background: The Israeli Dairy Feed Challenge
Israel’s dairy sector operates under constraints that make feed quality a paramount concern. The country’s 620 dairy farms, as of end-2024, manage approximately 138,000 dairy cows, with the average farm producing 2.5 million liters annually. Unlike large-scale dairy operations in the United States or New Zealand, Israeli farms are relatively modest in size but extraordinarily intensive in management. Feed conversion efficiency, heat stress mitigation, and total mixed ration (TMR) precision are central to their world-leading performance. The total value of milk production in Israel was estimated at approximately 3.9 billion shekels in 2024, accounting for roughly 9.6% of agricultural output.
Several factors converge to make pellet quality especially critical in the Israeli context.
Imported feed grain dependency. Israel imports the vast majority of its feed grains, primarily corn, soybean meal, and wheat, making raw material costs sensitive to global price fluctuations and supply chain disruptions. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and regional shipping disruptions through the Red Sea have amplified this vulnerability. Every percentage point of feed efficiency gained through superior pellet quality translates directly into reduced import dependency and improved margins for dairy producers.
Heat stress pressure. Summer temperatures in Israel’s coastal plain and inland valleys routinely exceed 35°C, imposing significant heat stress on dairy cattle. Research from Israel’s Volcani Center Agricultural Research Organization has demonstrated that heat-stressed cows reduce dry matter intake by 10 to 20 percent, with corresponding declines in milk yield. The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture has noted that global warming requires ongoing investment in cooling systems and management practices to maintain milk production. Pelleted feeds, with their higher bulk density and reduced dust, encourage more consistent intake even under thermal stress, but only if pellet integrity holds up under storage and transport conditions that can reach 40°C in unshaded feed bunkers.
TMR uniformity requirements. Israeli dairy nutritionists formulate precise TMR rations that balance energy, protein, fiber, and micronutrients with exceptional exactness, a necessity when targeting milk yields above 50 liters per cow per day during peak lactation. Pellet hardness and durability directly affect how pellets behave in TMR mixers. Soft pellets disintegrate into fines that segregate in the mixer and are selectively avoided by cows, creating nutritional imbalances. Hard, durable pellets maintain their integrity through mixing and delivery, ensuring every mouthful contains the formulated nutrient profile.
Industry consolidation trend. From 2015 to 2024, average production per Israeli dairy farm increased by 26 percent, from 1.713 million liters to 2.516 million liters, while the number of farms decreased from 634 to 620. This consolidation means each feed mill now serves fewer but larger customers, for whom pellet quality issues have proportionally greater financial impact.
The Manufacturer: A Regional Feed Mill Upgrading for Growth
The feed mill at the center of this case study, located in the Jezreel Valley southeast of Haifa, has served the local dairy community since 1998. Originally a modest operation producing 2,000 tonnes per month of mash and pelleted feed, the mill expanded incrementally as Israel’s dairy consolidation concentrated production in fewer but more productive farms.
By 2022, the mill was producing approximately 6,500 tonnes per month using two aging ring die pellet mills from a European manufacturer. The equipment, while serviceable, was approaching the end of its economic life. Key performance issues included a Pellet Durability Index (PDI) averaging 92 to 93 percent for dairy concentrates, below the 96 percent plus target specified by nutritionists for TMR applications; excessive die and roller wear requiring die changes every 1,200 to 1,500 tonnes; rising energy consumption of 18 to 20 kWh per tonne for pelleting alone; and fines return rates of 4 to 5 percent, representing both product loss and reprocessing cost.
The mill’s management recognized that incremental maintenance and partial upgrades would not close the gap. A full replacement of one pelleting line was budgeted for 2023, with a competitive evaluation process involving suppliers from Europe, China, and Turkey.
The Solution: Hongyang HYPM Ring Die Pellet Mill
After a six-month evaluation that included site visits to reference installations in Egypt’s broiler sector and Ethiopia’s dairy feed industry, plant trials with sample dies, and detailed technical discussions with Hongyang’s engineering team, the mill selected a Hongyang HYPM-420 ring die pellet mill for installation on its primary dairy feed line.
The HYPM-420, part of Hongyang’s mid-range ring die series, features a 420mm internal die diameter with an effective working width of 120mm, driven by a 110 kW main motor. Several technical features influenced the selection.
Hongyang’s ring dies are produced on CNC gun-drilling and vacuum heat treatment equipment, with hole diameter tolerances maintained within plus or minus 0.05mm and compression ratios customizable from 1:4 to 1:12. For the Israeli dairy application, an 8mm die hole diameter with a 1:7 compression ratio was specified, optimized for the mill’s formulation of 35 percent barley, 25 percent corn, 18 percent soybean meal, and 22 percent wheat bran and mineral premix.
The HYPM’s independent eccentric roller adjustment mechanism allows operators to maintain optimal clearance throughout the die’s service life without removing the roller assembly, especially valuable where frequent formulation changes between dairy concentrate, dry cow, and heifer rations require rapid roller clearance optimization.
The HYPM-420 was matched with a double-layer conditioner providing 90 seconds of retention time, equipped with a modulating steam valve maintaining mash temperature within plus or minus 1°C of the 78 to 82°C target for dairy feed, sufficient for starch gelatinization and pathogen control without heat damage to protein quality.
Hongyang supplied high-chromium alloy roller shells (HRC 58-62) for high-inclusion cereal grain formulations, providing the abrasion resistance and toughness needed for the mill’s 20-hour-per-day, six-day-per-week operating schedule.
Implementation and Results
Installation was completed over a planned 10-day shutdown in March 2023. The HYPM-420 was integrated into the existing line upstream of a counterflow cooler and downstream of the mill’s batching and mixing system. Hongyang dispatched a senior commissioning engineer who supervised mechanical installation, electrical integration, and conducted operator training over five days.
Production resumed on the new line at 70 percent of rated capacity for the first week, ramping to full throughput by day eight. After 14 months of continuous operation through April 2024, approximately 8,400 operating hours, the mill reported the following performance metrics compared to the line it replaced.
Throughput for 8mm dairy concentrate pellets increased from 4.2 tonnes per hour to 5.8 tonnes per hour, a 38 percent improvement. Pellet Durability Index, measured by the tumble box method, rose from 92 to 93 percent to a consistent 96.5 to 97.5 percent. Fines return rate dropped from 4 to 5 percent to 1.2 to 1.8 percent, a 65 percent reduction. Specific energy consumption decreased from 18 to 20 kWh per tonne to 14.2 to 15.5 kWh per tonne, a 22 percent saving. Die service life for the 8mm dairy formulation extended from 1,200 to 1,500 tonnes to over 3,800 tonnes, more than 2.5 times longer. Roller shell life extended from 600 to 800 tonnes to over 2,200 tonnes, more than triple the previous service interval. Unplanned downtime fell from 8 to 12 hours monthly to 2 to 3 hours.
The most consequential improvement for the mill’s dairy farmer customers was the jump in PDI from 92 to 93 percent to 96.5 to 97.5 percent. In practical terms, this meant pellets arriving at farm TMR mixers with minimal disintegration, reducing the fines that otherwise accumulated at the bottom of feed troughs and were rejected by cattle. The mill’s quality manager noted that customer complaints related to pellet quality, which had averaged three to four per month with the previous equipment, dropped to zero in the six months following the HYPM installation.
Customer Impact: What the Dairy Farmers Experienced
The mill’s customer base includes farms ranging from 150 to 800 milking cows, with a weighted average herd size of approximately 320 cows. Several feed exclusively pelleted concentrate as part of a TMR that includes corn silage, wheat silage, alfalfa hay, and byproducts from the local food industry.
Three dairy farm managers interviewed for this case study reported consistent observations after the mill’s pelleting line upgrade.
A 500-cow operation in the Upper Galilee had previously observed visible fines accumulation in feed bunks after TMR delivery, particularly during summer months when pellets were more prone to heat-induced softening. Post-upgrade, the farm manager reported essentially zero visible pellet degradation in the feed alley, with daily bunk readings showing more uniform consumption across the herd.
The nutritionist serving a 380-cow kibbutz dairy near Afula tracked milk fat and protein percentages before and after the pellet quality improvement. While multiple factors influence milk composition, the nutritionist observed that month-to-month variability in milk fat percentage narrowed from a standard deviation of 0.22 percentage points pre-upgrade to 0.12 percentage points post-upgrade, attributed in part to more consistent nutrient delivery from pellets maintaining integrity through the TMR mixing and feeding process.
A 280-cow moshav dairy calculated that the reduction in feed wastage, previously quantified at approximately 1.5 to 2 percent of pelleted concentrate lost as uneaten fines, combined with improved herd-level feed efficiency, translated to an estimated ILS 0.03 to 0.04 reduction in feed cost per liter of milk produced. On an operation producing 2.8 million liters annually, this represented savings of approximately ILS 84,000 to 112,000, equivalent to roughly 21,000 to 28,000 euros per year.
Hongyang’s Role: Beyond Equipment Supply
The Israeli project illustrates several aspects of Hongyang Feed Machinery’s approach.
Hongyang’s technical team analyzed the mill’s full range of dairy formulations, including seasonal variations in raw material availability such as summer barley versus winter wheat and fluctuating corn-soybean price ratios, and engineered a die with variable relief depths across hole rows to optimize throughput across formulation variants.
The five-day on-site commissioning and training program covered standard operating procedures, die and roller maintenance best practices, troubleshooting common pelleting issues including choke, soft pellets, and excessive fines, and record-keeping protocols that enable data-driven maintenance scheduling. The mill’s lead operator, who had 18 years of pelleting experience, described the training as the most systematic technical transfer he had received from any equipment supplier.
When the mill experienced a throughput dip at the 10-month mark, ultimately traced to a worn steam strainer reducing conditioning efficiency, Hongyang’s technical team diagnosed the issue remotely within four hours of receiving operating data logs, preventing an unnecessary die change and saving approximately 3,500 euros in parts and downtime.
Conclusion
The Israeli dairy industry’s world-leading milk yields are not an accident of genetics alone. They reflect a system in which every input, including genetics, nutrition, management, climate control, and feed manufacturing, is optimized to support extraordinary biological performance. Pellet quality, though often invisible to the consumer, is a critical link in this chain.
The experience of this Jezreel Valley feed mill demonstrates that the right pelleting equipment, engineered for the specific demands of dairy feed production and supported by committed technical partnership, delivers measurable improvements in pellet durability, production efficiency, and on-farm outcomes for the dairy producer.
Hongyang Feed Machinery’s HYPM ring die pellet mill, by meeting the exacting standards required to feed the world’s most productive dairy cows, has proven its place in one of global agriculture’s most demanding feed manufacturing environments.
About Hongyang Feed Machinery: Liyang Hongyang Feed Machinery Co., Ltd. specializes in the design, manufacture, and supply of ring die pellet mills, hammer mills, mixers, coolers, crumblers, and complete feed production lines. With over two decades of industry experience, Hongyang serves feed manufacturers across more than 50 countries in poultry, livestock, aquafeed, and pet food sectors.
Post time: Jun-13-2026
