Facility Feature
Crystal Valley Cooperative Expands Feed Capacity

Vernon Center, MN — The farmer-owned cooperative that is now Crystal Valley Cooperative has been operating a swine feed mill at Vernon Center, MN (507-549-3722) since it was acquired from CHS in 1989. That mill was destroyed in a fire in 2005, and Crystal Valley built and opened a new 400-tpd mill the following year.

Fifteen years after the replacement mill opened, the cooperative in January 2021 completed a $5 million upgrade at Vernon Center that allowed it to go from a single shift to two 10-hour shifts per day and nearly double milling capacity to approximately 1,000 tpd.

The upgrade is the first of a two-part feed milling expansion at Crystal Valley. The cooperative on March 31 broke ground on a brand new mill adjacent to its 2.5-million-bushel elevator at Trimont, MN, slated for completion in August 2022.

“We did a study of the feed market in our region,” says Bob Raue, vice president-feed, who came to Crystal Valley eight years ago from Juergen’s Produce and Feed Co., a feed mill in Carroll, IA. “The study showed that we needed to expand production to meet the demand of hog producers in the area.”

The Vernon Center location already had space to expand, so in May 2020, the coop embarked on the upgrade involving a new automation system, additional ingredient storage, new roller mills for grinding corn, and a second truck loading bay with a weigh lorry system.

Crystal Valley hired the engineering firm VAA, LLC, Plymouth, MN (763-559-9100), to prepare bid specifications for the project. These were sent to five contractors, and the contract was awarded to McCormick Construction Co., Greenfield, MN (877-554-4774).

Other than a few delays attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project went smoothly, Raue reports.

Upgrade Particulars Include Easy Automation

Among the changes at the Vernon Center plant:

• Mill operations were placed under the control of an upgraded system from Easy Automation. The company also supplied a new 30-bin microingredient system and a new dust collection system.

• Four IFS ingredient storage bins were added, increasing total storage capacity from an average of 600 tons to 1,060 tons.

• A second truck loading bay was added with a weigh lorry system supplied by Abel Mfg. Operations Manager Jim Harriman, who has been with Crystal Valley since 2013, says the additional truck bay and ingredient storage made it possible to run two 10-hour shifts per day, five days a week.

• A new triple-stack of RMS Roller-Grinder roller mills can grind corn at 36 tph.

• At the office building next door, the cooperative installed two new Rice Lake 90-foot truck scales, one inbound and one outbound.

Part Two Will Add 500,000-tpy Mill

Meanwhile at Trimont, McCormick Construction also is the general contractor on that project.

The 500,000-tpy mill will include 250-tph ingredient receiving, triple-stack roller mills, 9-ton twin-shaft with dual ribbon Scott mixer, 2,018 tons of ingredient storage, and two truck loading bays with weigh lorry systems.

To watch construction of the new mill through a webcam mounted atop the elevator, go to webcams.crystalvalley.coop/tm-board-iframe.html, or scan the QR code.

Ed Zdrojewski, editor

From the July/August 2021 Grain Journal

Crystal Valley Cooperative

• Mankato, MN • 507-726-6455
• Founded: 1927
• Feed milling capacity: 525,000 tpy at four locations
• Feed products: Full line of swine feeds
• Annual revenues: $88 million
• Number of feed members: 250
• Number of feed employees: 50

Key personnel at Vernon Center:

• Bob Raue, vice president-feed
• Kris Raatz, feed mill manager
• Jim Harriman, feed operations manager
• Chris Whitehead, grain merchandiser

Supplier List

• Automation system......... Easy Automation Inc.
• Contractor......... McCormick Construction Co.
• Distributor......... Hayes & Stolz Ind. Mfg. Co. Inc.
• Dust collection system......... Schenck Process
• Electrical contractor......... Elite Electrical Innovations
• Engineering......... VAA, LLC
• Micro-ingredient system......... Easy Automation Inc.
• Mechanical contractor......... Feder Mechanical
• Mixer (existing)......... Scott Equipment Co.
• Roller mills......... RMS Roller-Grinder, Inc.
• Screeners......... CPM
• Square bins......... IFS
• Support tower.........Warrior Mfg., LLC
• Truck scales......... Rice Lake Weighing Systems
• Weigh lorry......... Abel Mfg. Co., Inc.