Development and Implementation of a Chopper Machine to Improve the Quality of Chopped Grass for Sheep Feed in the Muhammadiyah Agribusiness Centre

Abstract

The Muhammadiyah Agribusiness Centre has a target of adding 100 sheep each year. The sheep cultivated here are owned by the congregation or residents entrusted with the principle of profit sharing. This centralized land has exceptional land for providing animal feed. This land is planted with various types of grass as the primary food for sheep. And so far, workers still chop manually without the help of machines. It can be done with the help of a grass-cutting machine to increase the capacity of chopping grass for animal feed. This research method involves design, manufacturing process, functional test, capacity of chopping, percentage of grass cutting length, performance test, fuel consumption test, noise test, and profit calculation of sheep farming. The result is that the fuel consumption of the chopping machine is 1.33 hours per liter with a constant engine speed of 3000 rpm. The best grass-chopping results are at 3000 rpm engine speed, and the best grass-chopping is odot grass with the best percentage of the grass-cutting length of 46%. However, at 3000 rpm, it produces the highest noise, 102.1 dB. And the net profit of sheep fattening is 513,750 rupiahs per sheep per month.