Executive Summary
Uganda produces more milk than most of its neighbours, yet much of its dairy herd is still fed loose maize bran and hand-mixed meal. This case sits in that gap between raw-material abundance and ration consistency. A dairy cooperative union in the south-western milk shed, with 6,200 farmer members and 24 collection centres, commissioned a 3.5 t/h feed plant whose pelleting section is built around a single Hongyang SZLH420 ring die pellet mill: 110 kW main motor, a 420 mm ring die with 120 mm working width, 287 rpm die speed and a two-stage stainless conditioner holding 90 to 120 seconds at 90 to 95 degrees Celsius.
Eighteen months of operation gave the union results it can defend from its own records: pellet durability of 92 to 95 percent, fines at the bagging scale below 2 percent against the 8 to 10 percent measured on the mash it used to sell, average daily milk yield in monitored zero-grazing herds up 5 to 8 percent, and no finished batch above Uganda’s 10 micrograms per kilogram aflatoxin limit.
Market Context
The Dairy Development Authority (DDA) put national milk output at 3.85 billion litres in 2023; MAAIF reported 5.4 billion litres for 2024 under a revised methodology. The south-western region accounts for about 32.5 percent of national output, and 729 milk collection centres plus 145 to 160 licensed processing plants were registered by 2023/24.
Feed is the weak link in that chain. Installed processing capacity is often quoted at around 2 million tonnes, but compounded output has historically sat near 75,000 to 80,000 tonnes a year. In zero-grazing systems feed absorbs 60 to 70 percent of the cost of a litre of milk.
Key Constraint: Quality
“A Makerere University-led survey found all 27 farm-level feed samples above national aflatoxin limits, between 19 and 188 micrograms per kilogram… maize bran, the cheap energy base, was the worst at an average of 103.3 micrograms.”
Raw materials are not the constraint. USDA FAS places Ugandan maize production at 5.0 million tonnes in 2024/25. Quality is the constraint. Uganda’s limit is 10, and the Animal Feeds Act assented in 2024 began formal regulation of producers.
Customer Profile
The customer is a primary-level cooperative union formed in 2011 west of Mbarara. Its 6,200 members collect 120,000 to 140,000 litres a day. For years the union sold loose material, leading to three critical problems:
- 1. Sorting: Cows left fines and minerals behind.
- 2. Waste: Dust losses visible at the farm gate.
- 3. Aflatoxins: Damp storage in rainy seasons led to heating and mould.
In 2023, the board approved a feed plant to produce 6 mm pelleted dairy meal at 16.5% crude protein.
Solution
The heart of the facility is the Hongyang SZLH420 pelleting section. Technical specifications include a 110 kW motor, 420 mm ring die, and a two-stage SUS304 conditioner. Two critical specification choices defined the success of this project:
1. Die Compression Ratio
The union replaced a 1:12 die with a 1:9 to 1:10 ratio. This lower resistance restored throughput for fibrous dairy rations and delivered the necessary durability for rough pickup transport without choking the machine.
2. Aflatoxin Control
Acknowledging that pelleting does not destroy aflatoxin, the union implemented strict upstream screening of bran and added a bentonite-based binder at 1%, rejecting any loads failing the 10 microgram limit.
Commissioning and Training
Hongyang engineers provided three weeks of intensive on-site supervision, focusing on three pillars:
Steam Quality
Resizing lines to ensure dry saturated steam for better conditioning.
Power Stability
Adding stabilizers to handle rural voltage swings on the 110 kW motor.
Die Run-in
Oily bran matrix routines and precise roller gap settings (0.1-0.3 mm).
Results
| Metric | Before / Standard | After (Pelleted) |
|---|---|---|
| Fines at Bagging | 8 – 10% (Mash) | < 2% |
| Daily Milk Yield | 4.96 – 6.6 L/day | + 5 to 8% Increase |
| Feed Waste (Refusals) | 6 – 8% | < 2% |
| Cost per Litre | Baseline | - 6 to 9% Decrease |
Demand outgrew the single shift within a year. The union added a second shift and is evaluating a second pellet mill for its 2026 expansion.
Why It Matters
Uganda’s feed problem is not a shortage of ingredients. It is a consistency problem.
A pelleting line does not solve that on its own. What solved it here was a die matched to a fibrous, molasses-bearing dairy ration, a steam system good enough to condition without soaking, upstream screening that treats aflatoxin as a purchasing decision, and a maintenance routine simple enough for a twelve-person team to keep. Being on site for three weeks, documenting the die log and stocking parts locally is what turns a machine into a plant that still runs in its second year.
References
- Dairy Development Authority (Uganda), production, collection and processing statistics, 2023.
- Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (Uganda), Statistical Abstract 2024.
- USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Uganda corn production, 2024/25 and ten-year averages.
- Waiswa, D. and Gunlu, A. (2022), dairy enterprise economics in south-western Uganda, Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development.
- Makerere University-led survey of aflatoxin in Ugandan animal feeds, 2020.
- Ogwang (2025), aflatoxin prevalence in compound feeds, Kampala.
- Uganda National Bureau of Standards, aflatoxin limit for animal feeds, 10 micrograms per kilogram.
- Animal Feeds Act, Uganda, 2024.
- Hongyang Feed Machinery, SZLH420 specifications and case documentation, ringdies.com.
Post time: Nov-09-2026
