World Grain - August 2018 - 56

FEED QUARTERLY: SUPERIOR AG GOES ALL IN ON FEED

Superior Ag acquires former
Cargill grain elevator
A Symach
palletizing
system prepares
bagged feed
for distribution.
Photo courtesy of
Superior Ag.

get into places like northern Indiana and Iowa and it's
mainly integrated, and for them it's more about volume, not margins. We're not interested in that type of
deal. That is not our focus."
A variety of livestock to feed means Superior Ag
must procure a long list of ingredients and micro-ingredients for the mill, including, but not limited to, corn,
soybean meal, wheat midds, gluten, soy hulls, bakery
oats and pulverized oats.
"We have lots of bins," said Day, noting that the
facility currently has 70,000 bushels of storage capacity with plans to expand that total. "We have 31
ingredient bins on the roof, 24 micro-ingredient bins
and we have room to put in another 12 bins."
Day said instead of using a "here is what we make,
take it or leave it" approach, Superior Ag works with
each individual livestock producer to customize the
feed product to meet their animal nutrition needs.
"It goes back to our vision of doing the right thing
and trying to work with them as a team," Day said. "We
work toward a common goal of keeping them in business and doing what's best for them. That's why we
have so many ingredients. We will customize to every
individual producer for their needs."
The Dale mill does not receive any grain via rail
since all its feed ingredients are produced nearby and
brought in by truck.
"Rail's not necessary for us because we have soybean processors and ethanol plants in the area as well
as plenty of soybean and corn production," Day said.
MEETING THE FSMA CHALLENGE
Serving as the point man in Superior Ag's effort to
comply with FSMA is Tim Bender, manager of the

While Superior Ag's animal nutrition business continues
to grow with the unveiling of its new feed mill in Dale,
Indiana, U.S., the cooperative also serves area farmers
with other segments of its business, including grain storage, which recently expanded with the acquisition of a
former Cargill grain elevator in Princeton, Indiana, U.S.
Cargill closed the facility in 2017.
With the addition of the Princeton facility, Superior
Ag operates six elevators with 6.6 million bushels of
storage capacity in southern Indiana.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"The purchase of this facility will open up much
needed storage, while still allowing for the flexibility of
delivering grain to the best market," Superior Ag said.

Livestock Nutrition Division. Bender handles a wide
range of responsibilities for the cooperative.
"Tim is not only our division manager but is also
our lead swine salesman," Day said. "His knowledge
and experience in the swine industry is second to none.
Veterinarians are known to call him at times."
With its FDA inspection looming, Superior Ag has
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employees, including a quality control manager, increasing the amount of documentation and recordkeeping, adding a new computer system, and replacing
almost all of its old processing equipment with new
equipment.
Also, all inbound ingredients and outbound feed is
sampled, Day said.
"Every load that goes out, we have a sample of it,"
Day said.
August 2018 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - August 2018

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