Facility Feature
NEW Cooperative Invests in Huge New Feed Mill For Current, New Markets

Pomeroy, IA —If it weren’t located just steps to the north of NEW Cooperative’s 3.25-million-bushel grain elevator in Pomeroy, IA, the coop’s new feed mill would dominate the skyline of the west-central Iowa town, population 662.

The slipform concrete mill tower that stands 162 feet tall is NEW Cooperative’s fifth feed manufacturing plant and by far the largest to date. (A nearly identical plant for the cooperative is under construction at Rowan, IA, and is expected to begin production in the summer of 2018.)

Feed Division Manager Kent Nolting, who came to NEW Cooperative in 2013, cites three major reasons for the huge investment:

• It develops a new market for grain for coop members in the area. “Manufacturing feed locally is the most economical way to enhance the value of members’ crops,” Nolting says.
• Livestock producers in the Pomeroy area were underserved on locally produced feed, especially pelleted feeds.
• The huge size and scope of the project would provide for maximum efficiency to reduce the cost of production.

Mill can receive ingredients at 12,500 cubic feet per hour

NEW Cooperative hired Younglove Construction, L.L.C., Sioux City, IA (712-277-3906), as general contractor and millwright on the project. “They’ve done good work for us in the past and have the capability of handling a project of this size,” Nolting says. “Again this time, they did a fine job for us.”

While the cooperative is keeping the cost of the project confidential, Nolting notes that it includes paying for Mid America Energy, the local natural gas utility, to build a four-inch gas line running the 10 miles from the nearest connection at Manson, IA for the feed operation, which includes a pair of 250-hp Cleaver Brooks boilers.

“The investment NEW Cooperative made to bring utilities to the site was necessary to keep the cost of production as economical as possible in the long run,” he explains.

Construction on the mill began in September 2015. The mill has been manufacturing feed since February 2017.

The slipform concrete mill tower stands on a 42-foot-x-95-foot footprint, not including warehouse space, two loading bays and a receiving/grinder building that can receive ingredients at 12,500 cubic feet per hour. Ancillary buildings are of concrete tilt panel construction.

Tower houses 22 ingredient, 6 mash, and 20 loadout bins

The slipform tower contains 22 ingredient bins designed to hold a total of 1,900 tons, six mash bins holding 564 tons, and 20 loadout bins holding 2,288 tons. The adjacent grain elevator has all of the whole-grain storage needed, and a 7,000-bph overhead Essmueller drag conveyor carries that grain to the mill.

Whole-grain corn is sent to one of two Bliss Model 4440 hammermills for fine grinding for pellets or to a 12x52 triple-deck RMS roller mill for mash feed production.

All manufacturing operations are under the control of a CPM Beta Raven process control system that can be accessed from a main control room or from a room adjacent to the receiving pit.

The control system batches feed ingredients at 150 tph, including input from four one-ton tote holders, a 20-bin Beta Raven microingredient system, and tanks holding fats, lysine, and other liquids. This is fed into a 9-ton Scott dual-shaft, double-ribbon mixer at 150 tph using an approximate three-minute mixing time.

The mill operates two independent pelleting lines, with enough space to add a third line as needed. These include a pair of CPM Model 7932 400-hp pellet mills topped by CPM steam conditioners.

Pellets coming out of the mills are treated with APEC fat coaters and Bliss counterflow coolers prior to moving on to the loadout bins. Currently, the plant is making only grower hog feeds, so there are no crumblers for baby pig feeds.

The twin truck loadout bays use a pair of 9-ton moveable weigh lorries controlled by Beta Raven using laser positioning and RFID tag readers. NEW Cooperative operates a fleet of 10 trucks out of Pomeroy all consisting of Freightliner tractors and 27-ton Walinga trailers for efficient fleet management.

Company Profile, NEW Cooperative Inc.

• Fort Dodge, IA • 515-955-2040
• Founded: 1973
• Milling capacity: 25 million bushels at five locations
• Products: Complete line of poultry and swine feeds
• Number of members: 4,200
• Number of employees: 480
• Services: Feed, grain handling and merchandising, seed, agronomy, precision ag (MAPS)

Key personnel:

• Mark Walter, grain manager
• Kent Nolting, feed division manager
• Dan Dix, general manager
• Zach Stucklik, feed division operations manager
• Scott Doherty, regional manager
• Andy Ingold, Pomeroy plant manager
• Marlin Holtorf, Pomeroy grain and agronomy manager

Supplier List

• Air compressors • Atlas Copco
• Automation system • CPM Beta Raven
• Boilers • Cleaver Brooks
• Bucket elevators • The Essmueller Co.
• Contractor • Younglove Construction L.L.C.
• Conveyors (drag) • The Essmueller Co.
• Conveyors (screw) • Anderson Crane
• Distributors • Hayes & Stolz Ind. Mfg. Co. Inc.
• Dust control systems • AirCon Corp.
• Elevator buckets • Maxi-Lift Inc.
• Fat coater • APEC
• Feed cleaner • CPM
• Gates/valves • Holly Industries
• Hammermills • Bliss Industries LLC
• Manlift • Schumacher Elevator Co.
• Microingredient system • CPM Beta Raven
• Mixer • Scott Equipment Co.
• Pellet coolers • Bliss Industries LLC
• Pellet mills • CPM
• Roller mill • RMS Roller-Grinder Inc.
• Steam conditioners • CPM
• Truck scale • Rice Lake Weighing Systems

- Ed Zdrojewski, editor

Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL May/June 2017 Issue