Feed mill satisfying big demand

SealesWinslow Wanganui team leader Jason White and site operations manager Brent Keene hold some of the factory's first product.PHOTO/ BEVAN CONLEY 020913WCBRCGRAIN02

New Wanganui feed mill SealesWinslow ground into life last month - with its task mainly to feed the growing dairy industry.

Dairy farms are spreading down the coastline from Taranaki and up from Manawatu. The farms are becoming so intensive that most give their cows supplementary feeds at times. SealesWinslow chief executive Graeme Smith said production didn't falter during last season's drought for farmers who were giving supplementary feed.

"It's science. We have seen farming change from a lifestyle option to a science over the last few years," SealesWinslow operations manager Brent Keene said.

The Kelvin St, Aramoho, mill will make feed for beef cattle and sheep as well as for dairy cows. It will mainly take the form of pellets, but the mill can do meal mixes and kibbled maize as well.

One of its first contracts is to supply 1350 tonnes of feed for 4300 dairy cows being shipped from New Zealand to China at the end of the month.

SealesWinslow bought Wanganui's former Ingham Feeds plant in June last year. It was not operating at the time. Since then it has spent "multi millions" to modernise it, Mr Keene said.

An official opening is planned for later this year.

The mill began production in early August, with its first task to produce pellets to feed the cows en route to China. They have two weeks in quarantine before they leave, to get used to eating pellets.

They set off from Napier later this month, and a shed at Castlecliff is storing the pellets until they can be trucked to the port by Waverley Bulk Transport.

After that, starting on Monday, SealesWinslow's Wanganui plant takes over the job of supplying Taranaki clients with feed. They will be getting it from the company's Morrinsville plant until then.

Pellet ingredients include maize, wheat and barley grains, soy flour, salt and molasses. There's even some coconut flavouring, to create an appetising smell.

The Wanganui plant has six staff - a team leader, four workers and a full-time administrator. All are Wanganui people, and one had worked at the plant before. More staff may be needed in future. The feed mill is computerised, and extremely automated. It's the newest, biggest and fastest of SealesWinslow's three plants. Going full tilt it can produce 120 tonnes of feed in an 11-hour shift, and 600 to 700 tonnes a week. A usual order for a dairy farm is 10 to 12 tonnes.

Ingredients come in, are crushed, weighed and mixed, then steam cooked and finally extruded through holes in a cylinder to make the pellets.

The plant will supply farms as far away as Manawatu, the East Coast and Wairarapa.

The raw materials are sourced nearby if possible. Soy meal and cottonseed have to be imported, and come in through Tauranga or New PlymoutWh ports. The company tries not to import genetically-modified ingredients, but Mr Smith said sometimes 100 per cent certification was not possible.

The cheapest feed for dairy cattle was "palm kernel straights", Mr Keene said, and SealesWinslow did not deal with it. Its feeds were at the higher end in price, and also had higher food value.

The company has a team of nutritionists and specialised recipes for feed. It can make up batches for particular uses. There's potential for more of the grain it uses to be grown locally, in Marton in particular.