Mobile feed milling is a process where lorries with feed mixers are used to collect and process feed directly on farm.
Kathryn Thompson :: Tuesday 6th September 2022 :: Latest Blog Posts
How does mobile feed milling work? And why would I use it for my farm?
Mobile feed milling is a process where lorries with feed mixers are used to collect and process feed directly on farm. Our mobile feed milling service covers the whole of the south coast of England and beyond. Our lorries are able to both mix and mill feed as required. So how does the process work, and what are some of the benefits?
Arranging your first mobile feed milling visit
We take bookings for mobile feed milling via phone or email, on 01258 830100 or enquiries@bwfeeds.com. Once we receive a new enquiry, we email out new account forms along with a quick survey to ensure we can provide you with the best possible service and advice for your farm.
Much of the information we need is very standard, such as the farm address and contact details. But we also ask for information regarding access to the farm so we can send an appropriate lorry and avoid any potential hazards. This includes considering hazards such as overhead cables, and access concerns such as narrow bridges or one-way systems. All of this information helps us to plan our routes to you and on to other clients if needed so we can keep on schedule as best as possible.
We also ask you for details on the type of farm you are running. This includes your number and type of stock, whether you are registered organic and so on. This will help us to recommend appropriate products and give us an indication of your feed requirements. For organic customers, we are also the only mill mix operator to be certified by Organic Farmers & Growers to process in accordance with organic standards.
The form will also ask if you have any feed resources grown on farm, such as oats, pears or barley, that you would like to use. Most of our customers will produce some of their own feed resources, and this is often their main motivation in using mobile feed milling as it allows them to use the feed already grown on farm, saving them money while reducing their carbon footprint and increasing traceability.
On the customer survey, we will also ask you about how your feed resources are stored so we are appropriately prepared to collect on-site feedstuffs and also unload the milled and/or mixed final feeds.
Do you offer discounts for certain farm groups?
Yes, we do! If you are a member of any of the following farm groups, then you will receive a 5% discount and invoicing will be provided directly through the farm group.
If you are not a member of these groups but another one we are not yet working with, please feel free to contact your representative at the group and ask them to speak to us about our farm group discount options.
Mobile feed mixing or mobile feed milling?
Most of our clients are looking for mobile feed mixing where we mill any raw food resources on farm and then mix them with other feedstuffs required to produce a pre-mixed ready-to-feed ration. However, we do also offer mobile feed milling where we simply mill the on-site resources and then leave the client to do any mixing themselves.
Types of customers that want straight milling or rolling might include a dairy farm, where they may have 50T of wheat that they just want us to roll so they can then mix themselves into a TMR with their own mixer wagon. For this, we can simply provide a mobile milling service which operates at around 20-25T p/hour in ideal conditions.
By contrast, another dairy farm might decide they want milling and mixing, in which case they might want us to roll the cereals and add in other raw materials with it. This is classed as mixing and would provide a prepared ration for them to feed to the livestock. In ideal conditions, our lorries can mix 10T p/hour, as mixing is a batch process it takes slightly longer.
Do you provide ration advice?
Yes, we do!
If required, a ration can be formulated to maximise use of raw materials available on farm whilst recommending additional raw materials as required. Our Technical Manager, Kathryn, is a qualified Animal Nutritionist and member of the AIC Feed Adviser Register. As such, she can provide expert advice on feed ration formulation. We can also call on an independent pig and poultry specialist as required. Our feed ration advice service is provided completely free of charge.
We normally email over a proposed ration with costings for you to review, and as part of this, we provide a full breakdown of the costs, which can be amended as required to suit your needs. We are 100% transparent with our formulations and pricing. Once the ration formulation is confirmed, we organise for product delivery. We can also provide a list of what raw materials we have available that could be added to your mix and what the benefits may be. For example, we normally have available proteins, sugar beet, molasses, oil and minerals and additives.
As part of the ration advice process, we need to understand what type of animals you have, their stage of production and what target ration you wish to achieve if known. A conversation about ration advice may go something like, "I have barley and wheat on farm and I want to make a Beef Finisher ration. What else do I need to add and what is the cost".
How do you deliver the additional feedstuffs for the mobile feed mixing?
We will send bulk products such as sugar beet ahead of the milling lorry in 1T tote bags. This normally arrives at your farm a few days before your mobile mixing appointment so that it is ready for use as soon as the lorry arrives.
For smaller products and liquids such as molasses, oil and minerals, we will normally carry these on the milling lorry itself.
How often would you come to mobile feed mill or mix?
This will depend entirely on your needs and storage capacity. If you have a large enough tonnage requirement to need a lorry for a full day's work, then we can normally schedule you in as soon as a lorry is free.
If the tonnage required doesn't need a full day's work, we do try to tie you in with other clients in a similar area so we can reduce our carbon footprint from lorry miles covered and also ensure we provide an efficient service for our clients. As part of this, we can set up regular visits of weekly, fortnightly or monthly and so on.
To give you a clear idea of our timescales and regularity of visits, we ask for details of your tonnage requirements and storage capacity when completing the new customer forms.
To find out more or book your first mobile feed milling session, contact us here.