The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 04, 1997
Filed:
Jul. 11, 1996
Kent J Lanter, Waterloo, IL (US);
David C Weakley, Eureka, MO (US);
Purina Mills, Inc., St. Louis, MO (US);
Abstract
Hard, stable, extruded animal feed nuggets are prepared for ruminants, the nuggets comprising between about 90 to 99 wt % of at least one protein-containing ingredient and between about 1.0 to 6.0 wt % of added fat. Preferably, the animal feed nugget is also comprised of between about 0.02 and 5.0 wt % of sulfur. The animal feed nugget of this invention is prepared by a method comprising the steps of: A. plasticizing a blend of at least one protein-containing ingredient, added fat, sulfur, if present, and water in an extruder, B. extruding the plasticized blend to form an animal feed nugget, and C. drying the extruded nugget to a water content of less than about 12 wt %, based on the total weight of the nugget. Animal feed nuggets prepared by this method function as a rumen escape composition in that they permit the release of beneficial nutrients in the abomasum or subsequent digestive tract. Thus, when this nugget is fed as part of a lower crude protein diet, the ruminants can actually achieve the same level of milk and milk component yield as those ruminants fed a normal crude protein diet.