A new pellet feed mill is under construction near Parkersburg, which will mean bigger production volumes for clients and perhaps a 40 percent increase in its employee roster, its manager says.
Sinclair Elevator Inc., is looking to double the production capacity of its current facility with the building of a new feed mill. Plant manager, Jim Lubbers said that he new plant will take its feed production capacity from its current 400,000 tonnes per year to 800,000 tonnes.
The new feed mill will be built next to its current feed mill on the same site, with the old feed mill being kept for backup for the new mill. “It will be a backup in case we have a breakdown or have any problems or we’re fortunate to get the new facility to capacity,” Lubbers said. “It will be nice to have it available if we needed it. I don’t foresee that happening, but the main purpose would be as a backup.”
“Hopefully, next October or November, we’ll be able to start manufacturing feed out of the facility, but we’ve got quite a ways to go yet,” Lubbers said.
Younglove Construction Co. tasked with the construction of the feed mill, used slip form construction to create 16-story tower before winter, with the main structure completed on Dec. 9th.
The new plant will be able to turn out about 500,000 tons of hog feed in the form of pellets, with the rest as a ground or mash-type product, Lubbers said.
“We’ve basically got a good start on things,” he said. “We do have the main structure just completed, but we’ve got many more buildings to put along the side of it, such as a warehouse and receiving building. We’ll have several more things to do and, of course, we have to put all the equipment in and wire it. It’s going to take 10-12 months more to get everything finished up and done.”
The new facility will have space to store feed ingredients, such as dried distiller grains procured from ethanol plants; soybean meal; bakery products; and wheat midds – a wheat byproduct, Lubbers said.
The new plant will produce a wider array of products and even customise to the needs of a particular client, Lubbers said.
“Let’s say, for instance, they can get a cereal grain product from Quaker Oats, if they can buy that product correctly, they may want us to put those in the rations for them,” Lubbers said. Now, we’re just so limited on space, we just don’t have as many bins as we’d like.”
That won’t be a problem with the additional plant, he said.
It was just time for growth, Lubbers said.
“We’ve just outgrown those facilities, plus the fact that the vast majority of hog producers prefer pellets for efficiency, vs. a meal feed,” he said. “We haven’t had the ability before, and now we will. And technology has changed a lot, as far as different ingredients, as far as having space to handle and store alternative ingredients.”
