Cargill’s Arizona Feed MillMODERN SLIPFORM CONCRETE MILL RISES IN PLACE OF OLD-STYLE OUTDOOR PLANT

Cargill Animal NutritionWayzata, MN • 952-984-1894

Milling capacity: 19.2 milliontpy at 172 locationsProducts: Full line of animalnutrition productsNumber of employees: 9,000

Key personnel at Casa Grande:• Bryan Wiebe, plant manager• Brian Troop, production supr.• Jason Martinez, warehouse/ packaging manager

Supplier ListAspirator ....... Kice Industries Inc.Bag closers .... Thiele TechnologiesBagging scales .. Thiele TechnologiesBearing sensors .. Electro-SensorsBin level monitors .. Electro-Sensors

Inc., Monitor Technologies LLCBin vents ......... Donaldson ToritBlenders ............... Hayes & Stolz

Ind. Mfg. Co. Inc.Bucket elevators .... Hayes & StolzCleaners ............. LAW-MAROT-

MILPRO Inc.Contractor ... Vigen ConstructionConveyors ................ Schlagel Inc.Distributors ........... Hayes & StolzDust filters ... Kice Industries Inc.Electrical .............. Creek ElectricElevator buckets ... Maxi-Lift Inc.Engineering ............... VAA, LLCFlaking mill ............ Ferrell-RossFlow meters ............. Buhler Inc.Gates/diverters ..... Hayes & StolzHammermill ...Carter Day/JacobsonHoppers .......................... MicadaLiquid level monitors ... BinMaster

Level ControlsMagnets .............. Eriez MagneticsManlift . Schumacher Elevator Co.Millwide control system . Repete Corp.Mixers ................... Hayes & StolzMotion sensors .... Electro-SensorsPellet cooler ...... LAW-MAROT-

MILPRO Inc.Pellet crumblers ......... Buhler Inc.Pellet mill ............... Sprout BauerRoller mill .............. Ferrell-RossScales ......................... Meier SalesScreeners .................. Buhler Inc.Screw conveyors .. Mitchell Equip.Sewing conveyors ............. Amark

Packaging SystemsSewing equipment ....... American

Newlong Inc.Truck scales . Mettler Toledo Inc.

Cargill Animal Nutrition’s 200,000-tpy slipform concrete feed mill on the outskirts of CasaGrande, AZ. Photos by Ed Zdrojewski.

The old Eagle Milling feed mill on the CasaGrande site was entirely open air, made pos-sible by a warm desert climate. Photo courtesyof Cargill Animal Nutrition.

� � � � �

When Cargill Inc. pur-chased the former EagleMilling operation in2006, it inherited an old-style feed mill at CasaGrande, AZ (520-836-2131), that could existonly in the desert South-west. The entire milling opera-tion – storage, equipment, controls – wasoutdoors, in the open air.

“That isn’t as bad as it sounds,” says PlantManager Bryan Wiebe, who moved to CasaGrande from an Agribrands Purina facility inCanada shortly after the acquisition. “We onlyget rain three or four days out of the year.”

Reprinted from Sept/Oct 2010 issue of GRAIN JOURNAL

Nevertheless, it’s Cargill AnimalNutrition’s policy to operate state-of-the-art feed mills whenever possible,so it was time for a replacement.

The division took bids from con-tractors on Cargill’s preferred vendorlist and awarded the $20 million con-tract to Vigen Construction Inc., EastGrand Forks, MN (218-773-1159).

Groundbreaking on the new200,000-tpy slipform concrete milltook place in September 2008. After80 weeks of construction, the new millbegan production in April 2010. Cargillcontinued to operate the old millthroughout construction, but sinceApril, the old mill has been torn down.

Diversified OperationsEagle Milling had supplied a full range

of animal feeds to customers through-out Arizona, so while beef and dairy feedsmade up the bulk of production, the millserved a variety of small markets, as well,including bagged bird seed mixes.

Since 2006, Cargill has continuedto serve all of Eagle Milling’s markets,so the new mill operates a pelleted feedline, a textured feed line, three feedbagging lines, and a pressed block op-eration. “We do everything here exceptextruding pet food,” Wiebe says.

The slipform concrete mill stands ona 72-foot-x-95-foot footprint and is 202feet tall. In addition to a new 8,000-square-foot warehouse for bagged fin-

ished feeds, the slip contains 91 storagebins, including 63 grain and ingredientbins holding approximately 4,000 tons,12 packing bins holding 250 tons, and16 bulk feed loadout bins holding 550tons. Another 48,000 square feet of ex-isting warehouse space remains in use.

Cargill sources as much corn locallyas it can, grown under center pivot ir-rigation, but must rail in at least a thirdof the mill’s supply on a Union Pacificbranch line. The mill is set up to re-ceive corn at 100 tpy. Incoming grains

are cleaned on a pair of Law Marotcleaners prior to storage or grinding.

Because of the variety of feeds producedat Casa Grande, the mill uses an 18-tphCarter Day/Jacobson hammermill, a 24-tph Ferrell Ross double-stand rollermill, and a Ferrell- Ross flaking sys-tem and steam chest for reducing wholegrains, depending on the end use.

Feed ProductionAll milling operations are under

the control of a Repete automationsystem.

The mill includes three separateHayes & Stolz mixers, a 4-ton double-ribbon mixer for textured feeds, a 3-tonsingle-ribbon mixer for mash feeds–most of which continues to pelleting,and a 1-1/2-ton mixer dedicated tomedicated feeds. Most batches are setup for 3-minute runs. Microingre-dients are hand-added.

The pelleting line includes a 30-tphMatador Sprout pellet mill, Law Marotcounterflow pellet cooler and two Buhlercrumblers, one for coarse and mediumtextures and one for fine crumbles.

The facility’s three bagging linesutilizes Thiele scales and closers andcan handle bags from 50 to 2,500 lbs.

Loadout bins are segregated for mash,pelleted, and textured feeds. Operators loadtrucks from one bay equipped with an 80-foot METTLER TOLEDO truck scale.

Ed Zdrojewski, editor

A series of eight Buhler flow controllers route product through the complex flow requiredfor the large variety of animal feeds produced at Casa Grande.

One of two LAW-MAROT-MILPRO cleaners devoted to incoming grain.