Manufacturing animal feed

Todays animal feed mill is a complicated industrial plant, utilising modern technology,
computers and highly skilled workers. The basic processes common to all feed mills can be
described as follows.
(Words you may be unfamiliar with are in italics)
Intake
All products are delivered by road and fast
unloading of vehicles is necessary to avoid
congestion. All raw materials are checked
by a quality controller.
Weighing
Ingredients are automatically weighed out
of storage, according to the recipe
(formulation) held in the computer
controlling the process.
Mixing
In modern mills ingredients are mixed
after grinding in a large mixer holding
several tonnes of material. Small quantities
of ingredients are often added at this stage
vitamins, molasses and perhaps medicines
as and when necessary.
Pelleting
The conditioned food, in the form of a meal,
is squeezed through a die which contains
many small holes. This makes a short,
cylindrical product, which is chopped to the
required length by knives.
Storage
The finished product is stored in bulk bins
prior to loading or bagging.
Bulk outloading
Bulk quantities of feed are loaded into bulk
tanker lorries. In most mills, the vehicles
stand on a weighbridge while being loaded.

Raw material storage

Delivered materials are stored in raw
material holding bins. Low volume items
minerals and vitamins etc are stored in
smaller bulk containers; some are stored
separately in bags and handled manually.
Grinding
Ingredients are mixed together either before
or after grinding. All ingredients are ground
to a consistent, grist size, which can be
varied according to product type.
Conditioning
This is a form of cooking which improves
the digestibility of the feed and prepares it
for the next stage of the process. Many
different types of conditioning equipment
are used kettles, expanders or preconditioners.
Cooling
Steam is often added at the conditioning
stage and this, together with the friction
caused by pelleting, generates high
temperatures. Cooling is necessary prior to
storage to remove the added moisture and
heat.
Bagging
Bulk product is packed into paper sacks and
stacked in pallets
Weighbridge
The weighbridge must conform to Weights
& Measures requirements if being used to
produce a delivery note and invoice. The
computer will also produce a statutory label
which will accompany each load.

Delivery
Lorries are divided into compartments and
may visit several farms to deliver feed by
blowing into bulk bins. Bagged feed is
delivered on a flat lorry, the pallets being
loaded by forklift.

Some of the background nutritional information contained in this publication is provided courtesy of
BOCM PAULS Good Feed Guide. Adapted by FACE. 2014. www.face-online.org.uk/poultry

Further information about the stages of preparing animal feed and the job
roles involved.

Computers
The mills process control system is both its heart and brain. The system allows a high degree
of automation and accuracy, ensuring that food production is controlled to the highest
standards.
Mills making different types of feed for all classes of livestock can sometimes produce up to
sixty different diets per shift, a task which would be impossible without a computer.
Quality control
Quality of the product is important in a number of ways:

Nutritional quality conformance to specification and ability to meet the farmers

need
Physical quality hard durable pellets withstand handling and transport and avoid
dust
Microbiological quality freedom from pathogens e.g. Salmonella, which could enter
the food chain via animal feed

If the ingredients entering the mill are of poor quality, then nothing can be done to produce
good quality feed. Contracts specify quality standards.
Stock control
Stock control and planning is an important factor in the running of a feed business, requiring
close co-operation between production staff and those responsible for nutrition, buying, and
provisioning the mill.
Modern computer systems have made it possible to co-ordinate all of these activities.
Diet specification
The mills research department carries out trials assessing the dietary requirements of animals
under various conditions. Additional research is undertaken at universities, trialled on farms
and developed finally into commercial diets.
Each product specification is different and a typical specification may have 100 potential raw
materials and over 60 separate nutritional parameters. These would include energy content,
major minerals, palatability and other physical and nutritional specifications.

History of animal feed formulation techniques

Prior to the Second World War, diets were made on a standard basis e.g. 12hundredwight of
barley plus 5 of soya and 3 of fish meal which provided an excellent quality ration for
livestock.

Some of the background nutritional information contained in this publication is provided courtesy of
BOCM PAULS Good Feed Guide. Adapted by FACE. 2014. www.face-online.org.uk/poultry

Following the war, the range of raw materials and the prices of these commodities was
constantly changing and in some circumstances certain raw materials were in short supply.
This meant that the farmer and the feed manufacturer had to look around the world for new
sources of raw materials.
After the war there were advances in computer technology. The technique of linear
programming had evolved because of the necessity to minimise cost and wastage of moving
troops and supplies around the world. In the 1950s linear programming was applied to
agriculture. Today modern computers can do all the calculations in a fraction of the time that
the original machines took.
The buyer
The buyer is in constant contact with the markets both within the UK and Europe. It is the
information that is used by the nutritionists to evaluate future requirements for raw materials,
based on availability, costs and sales projections.
The buyer thus obtains a weekly shopping list of all the raw materials required. The buyer
arranges for the raw materials to be brought into the mill in a planned and controlled manner.
The nutritionist
Nutritionists are responsible for the total quality of the rations produced by their mills. The
nutritionists will spend considerable time using computer systems, investigating, exploring,
checking and formulating diets.
An increasingly important requirement is to ensure conformance to government legislation.
The nutritionist will also administer and be responsible for the incorporation of any
controlled drugs into the feed. This is done via veterinary prescription and every batch of
food thus produced is recorded and rigorously checked.
Finally, the nutritionist will talk to customers and staff within the company to ensure that the
foods produced are meeting all the requirements of the livestock.

Some of the background nutritional information contained in this publication is provided courtesy of
BOCM PAULS Good Feed Guide. Adapted by FACE. 2014. www.face-online.org.uk/poultry

Raw materials in poultry foods

It is important to remember that in most husbandry situations, the feed provided is the only
source of nutrition that the birds will receive. They usually do not have access to grazing or
mineral supplements.
Therefore, in designing rations for poultry, all known nutrients must be provided at the right
level and in balance to achieve optimum performance.
Protein supply
Poultry need proteins for their growth and metabolism. Essential amino acids that the birds
are unable to synthesise themselves, must be included in their diets. To achieve the correct
balance of these protein building blocks, raw materials with known amino acid levels are
used in poultry foods. These are supplemented where necessary with synthetic amino acids
to ensure the correct balance is obtained.
Energy supply
In conjunction with the amino acids, it is necessary to provide energy. In poultry rations the
main source of energy is obtained from carbohydrates, usually obtained from UK grown
cereals.
In modern poultry feeding, the addition of high quality fat to diets allows a higher energy
content to be achieved cost effectively. Poultry are able to adjust their feed intake so that
energy consumption moves in line with energy requirement.
Diet design
The feeding and design of poultry diets requires exceedingly careful nutrition and
formulation, to ensure that all the nutrients are in balance, and that they are supplied in
sufficient quantity to ensure the wellbeing and health of the birds.
It is necessary to provide a range of diets for each poultry species, so that specific nutritional
requirements can be provided. The correct diet must be matched to the environment in which
the birds are kept.

Some of the background nutritional information contained in this publication is provided courtesy of
BOCM PAULS Good Feed Guide. Adapted by FACE. 2014. www.face-online.org.uk/poultry