The new feed facility is being established to meet an “underserved” feed market in the region, said Mark Cullen, chief animal nutrition officer with Landus.
“There are a lot of large swine feed mills in the area, but there’s a need for the beef feed production capacity,” he told FeedNavigator. “We think this is an opportunity and an underserved market.”
The new facility is being established in a former soy flake plant that the farmer-owned cooperative had acquired in a previous merger and is expected to serve producers in the region, he said.
“We recognized the need for high quality beef feed in our area so we decided to remove the equipment and replace it with beef feed manufacturing equipment,” he added.
The process to open a new feed production facility focused on feed products for beef and dairy producers started about six months ago, he said.
“By the end of the calendar year we plan to be a full beef feed center and staffed so customers can get feed and have a good experience,” he added.
The cooperative had closed its previous beef and swine feed mill in June, 2017, based on the age of the facility, said Cullen. However, an arrangement was put in place at that time to have a neighboring feed mill take on some of the cooperative’s ruminant feed production.
The new facility will be dedicated to feed production for beef and dairy cows, which is somewhat lacking in the area, he said. “We’ll have a complete beef and dairy feed manufacturing facility – texturized feeds, grain mixes, and pelleted feeds,” he said.
The mill is expected to open this summer when the first phase of the project is completed.
“The first phase to be able to manufacture grain mixes and some texturized feeds, and it should be completed by early this summer,” he said. “The second part and the pelleting equipment [should be done], probably early fall.”
Milling technology
The location for the renovated, 226,000 square foot facility has been closed since 2010, the cooperative said. It is set to provide nutritional products initially for bulk feed pick-up and delivery.
The feed mill also is located adjacent to other Landus operations including its grain, agronomy and SoyChlor sites.
Renovations to the former soy facility are expected to cost about $250,000 as some equipment will be moved to the plant from the cooperative’s former feed mill, said Cullen. Additionally, some of the equipment in the facility, including for storage and load out, can be repurposed.
Additional ingredient storage, a new mixer and roller mill along with screening equipment and liquid handling equipment are set to be installed in the upcoming feed mill, he said. “The second phase we’ll move in pelleting equipment and we’ll update the current bagging system.”
The facility is expecting to source some feed ingredients from the region and have the ability to bring in more specialty ingredients, he said.
“This will be a definite ruminant specific mill and [provide] different ingredient options that probably weren’t available before,” he said. “That’s why we’re particularly excited about the growth opportunities – we can customize rations to farm needs.”