Summer 2011 Feed Update

• Published On:8/5/2011
• Author:Will Blowers
• Categories:Feed, Admin

Janesville

The remodel project in Janesville is nearing completion, and I would like to thank all of our patrons for their understanding and patience during this project. During the past couple of months the staff at Janesville has had to endure some long days due to the production interruptions and has done a great job in keeping their customers supplied with the quality feed you expect from Crystal Valley.  

In addition to my gratitude for their work during the mill remodel, I would also like to congratulate the Janesville mill on their recent Land O’Lakes Dedication to Quality Award for licensed feed manufacturers. The Janesville mill, along with our other two mills at LaSalle and Vernon Center, are dedicated to producing high-quality feed and providing top-notch service to you every day.

Markets

The recent Hogs and Pigs report showed numbers slightly above industry estimates but also showed that there is no major herd expansion expected for 2011. The June 1 total number of pigs in the US totaled 65 million head. That was only .5% higher than last year, which illustrates that there has not been any major expansion in the industry. This report has given the market a chance to stabilize a bit and given hog producers a few opportunities to lock in positive margins. The USDA has also helped livestock producers out with a rather surprising Acreage and Stocks report for the June 30th. With the bearish numbers that have come out of the report, producers may be able to price inputs at levels we have not seen for a while.

New Federal Requirement

New federal food safety requirements are quickly coming to the feed industry. We have always been responsible for ensuring that your feed is labeled and manufactured with the correct nutritional values and does not contain unsafe additives or contaminants. Additionally, we have also been responsible for ensuring that any drug additives are approved by the FDA for use in animal feeds. To meet those requirements we have in the past carefully adhered to the FDA’s Feed Manufacturing Standard. However, recently Congress has passed new requirements, called the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). These new requirements will require your Crystal Valley feed mills to go above and beyond our current established best practices. In much abbreviated terms, now virtually every aspect of how we make and deliver your feed has to be carefully documented and certified. To meet these new requirements, Crystal Valley is in the preliminary stages of creating a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) program. HACCP programs are based off seven principles. Principle one is to conduct a hazard analysis. Principle two is identifying critical control points. The third step is to establish critical limits for each critical control point. The fourth principle is to establish critical control point monitoring requirements. The fifth would be to establish corrective action plans. Principle six is to establish procedures for ensuring the HACCP system is working as intended. The seventh and final step would be to establish proper new record keeping procedures. I think you can see by the comprehensive list of seven principles that this will be quite an undertaking. We are currently interviewing outside companies to help us look at our facilities and develop the correct program for each mill. In a perfect world, it would be great if Crystal Valley could establish one program for all three mills. But, we all know that we are far from a perfect world. The fact that all three mills handle products and make feed differently requires that we do three separate HACCP programs. We plan to complete and implement our new HACCP programs before the new FSMA requirements go in effect.

Thank you for your continued business, and have a safe and pleasant summer!