Carrs Billington opens new blend site in Staffordshire
Rapidly increasing blend sales have led Carrs Billington to construct a purpose built blends facility at Micklow in Staffordshire. The new site, which opened in February, is just two miles from Carrs Billington’s Stone compound feed mill, making it much easier to supply customers requesting compound and blended feeds on the same delivery vehicle.
The plant is a high-tech system with 15 raw materials contained in bins, linked to a Forberg type mixer, capable of producing high quality coarse mixtures as well as TMR meals. Products will be available in bulk and tote bags. Farmers wishing to self-collect are very welcome; normal hours for self-collection are between 6 a.m and 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. Fully computerised, the only human intervention is the addition of feed supplements such as yeasts and minerals by weighing and hand tipping.
Finished product can be conveyed either direct from the mixer into the vehicle or one of seven bays enabling collection at a later time. The plant is extremely clean because all raw materials are contained; minimising dust, the risk of contamination and complying with the latest legislation and health and safety protocols.
Paul Steeples, managing director Carrs Billington (Operations) said: “The great majority of our blends are tailor-made and this ability of the Technical Team and Field Sales Force to precisely balance the nutritional needs of individual farms, their forages and livestock, means that nearly 30 per cent of our manufactured products are now blends. Our customers can have complete confidence that our products offer the nutritional balance and safety to maximise returns.”
The Whitgreave discussion group recently visited the Micklow site. Members were “very impressed” and considered it to be “very clean”, “precise and sophisticated”. They considered service, value for money and the ability to produce tailor-made products very important when considering which products to buy for use on their own farms.
Carrs Billington currently produces over 400 000t of compounds out of the Carlisle, Lancaster and Stone mills and around 150 000t of blends from seven sites throughout the North, Midlands and Wales.
