Chaff cutter
Encyclopedia
Chaff cutter — a mechanical device for cutting straw
Straw
Straw is an agricultural by-product, the dry stalks of cereal plants, after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has many uses, including fuel, livestock bedding and fodder, thatching and...

 or hay
Hay
Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...

 into small pieces — before being mixed together with other forage
Forage
Forage is plant material eaten by grazing livestock.Historically the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially...

 and fed to horses and cattle. This aids the animal's digestion
Digestion
Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food into smaller components that are more easily absorbed into a blood stream, for instance. Digestion is a form of catabolism: a breakdown of large food molecules to smaller ones....

 and prevents animals from rejecting any part of their food.

Chaff and hay played a vital role in most agricultural production as it was used for feeding horses. Horses were extensively used in farming operations until they were replaced by tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...

s in the 1940s.

Chaff cutters have evolved from the basic machines into commercial standard machines that can be driven at various speeds and can achieved various lengths of cuts of chaff with respect to animal preference type. New chaff cutter machines include portable tractor driven chaff cutter - where chaff cutter can be in the field and load trolleys (if required).
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