28 Tips to Start Animal Mills Processing Business

Animal Mills Processing Business Animal feed production. Sometimes when I look at the scope of things with regards to business opportunities.

I’m often moved to thank God for the country.

Livestock feed production is an agribusiness sector that has a lot of opportunities.

From chicken feed production to fish feed production.

The opportunities and diversity potential of any livestock feed production business remains vast.

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Animal Mills Processing Business

So many business guidelines has been provided on this platform free of charge as a way of encouraging everyone to see the ones they could individually do and keep poverty at bay

Good enough, thousands of Nigerian entrepreneurs are not sleeping over it as many startups are springing up almost on daily basis.

With complete knowledge provided on BusinessHAB.com to go into any type of business of choice.

Animal Mills Processing Business

Undauntedly and in our continual efforts in having various lucrative business ideas provided for you.

We are here again drawing your attentions to another cool business that could be done from home.

While quietly but continually smiling to the banks and living the life of your choice.

I know by now, that it’s no longer a new thing hearing that both big and small scale livestock farmers in Nigeria are making it so big.

That some of them are presently said to be competing with oil dealers in terms of money and in an enviable lifestyles.

Another big but new thing happening now is that, animal feed production has suddenly become child of necessity.

As the result of having so many thriving livestock farms in Nigeria with huge amount of money exchanging hands on regular basis.

Animal Mills Processing Business

Yes, in case you don’t know or haven’t paid enough attentions towards that angle.

Animal feed production is the next big thing in the country.

People are bagging money right from their homes producing bags of livestock feed day in day out!

Are you interested in this business?

Hold your breathe as we take you through the basics on how to start this money making business right from any place of your choice and in any scale that you can afford.

Animal Mills Processing Business

Livestock farmers both big and small scale.

All  have one thing in mind and that is providing their teeming customers with healthy and fat animals.

Which in turn yields the needed profits to them and you are in millions.

If you can key into this position by giving them what would help them to achieve that objective.

Animal Mills Processing Business

For instance, if a single catfish could weigh up to a kilogram and half instead of having 2 or 3 to achieve that, the farmer stands to make much gain as you can see and that solely depends on good feed made with right ingredients.

Livestock farming in Nigeria is attracting much investors which gives rise to feed production boom.

And one top secret to feed production business is that.

It enjoys low competition because people are concentrating more in farming because of what they are making from that alone.

So we are of the opinion that this sector is worthy to be looked into and more so.

As it could be started on a very low scale with limited fund and be grown from there.

See Also: How to Start Snail Farming Business 

Animal Mills Processing Business

Even if you don’t have money to start it right away.

You can leverage from those that have the equipment.

And grow your customer base and make enough money to procure your own equipment for full time production in shortest time possible.

What you need to start is. Getting the right formula, which is the ingredients to put and the ratio to be used.

This is what usually give producers an edge over others.

So, as a new entrant with lean purse, do some research and come up with a unique formula and look for feed producers with the needed equipment to rent from to produce your own brand.

Embark on aggressive marketing by giving sample feeding to farmers, do that over and over and within a short time, you are sure to have your own machine for maximum productions.

Animal Mills Processing Business

1. Conduct Your Research and Feasibility Study

Your first port of call on your quest towards starting your own poultry feed mill is to conduct a research and feasibility studies. You would need to know if the location you intend starting the business is ideal and if you stand the chance of making returns on your investment from that same location.

As a matter of fact, your research and feasibility studies will enable you get a clearer picture of the cost implication of starting your own poultry feed mill, and how to source for market.
It is simple, humans don’t consume poultry feed but bird does – so you must plan your business based on the available market.

Animal Mills Processing Business

2. Acquire Education and Training

Starting your own poultry feed mill requires that you acquire some level of training and education on poultry nutrition et al.

So ensure that you search for colleges offering any related course so that you can enroll.

It will also be a plus to you if you choose to understudy someone who is already running his or her own poultry feed mill.

Much more than acquiring classroom knowledge, you will get real – time experience and that will boost your chances of doing pretty great with the business.

Animal Mills Processing Business

3. Draft Your Business Plan

Another very important step that you need to follow on your quest towards launching your own poultry feed mill is to draft your business plan.

The truth is that if you don’t have a good and workable business plan in place before starting any business, you are likely going to struggle to grow the business.

Some school of thought believes that any entrepreneur who takes the pain to draft a business plan before starting their businesses has over 50 percent edge to succeed in the business.

So ensure that you draft your own livestock feed mill business plan before launching.

4. Register Your Business and Obtain the Required License

If you have made up your mind to start your own poultry feed mill, then you must go all the way to register your business with the government of your country and then obtain the relevant license required to operate a poultry mill.
It is fact that the regulatory body in charge of animal and poultry feed won’t issue a license to any business that is not legal to go into the production of poultry feed.

You can contact your attorney to help you sort out your business registration; it is easier and faster when they handle it for you as against you doing it yourself.

Animal Mills Processing Business

5. Secure a Good Location for Your Poultry Feed Mill

You would need a good location in an area zone for such business.

So ensure that you liaise with your real estate agent or your local authority to be sure that you chose the right location to start your own poultry feed mill.

You would need a spacious facility that will accommodate your machines and equipment and also a place for the storage of both raw materials and finished products.

6. Acquire the Needed Equipments and Machines

Once you are able to secure a good and spacious location that fits into your plan (poultry feed mill) Then you should go ahead to acquire and install the needed equipment and machines for your poultry feed mills.

One of the things that will give you an edge in the market place is your packaging and branding.

So ensure that you pay attention to your packaging…the composition of your poultry feed must be clearly stated in every pack and it must be well labeled.

7. Package and Market Your Poultry Feed

You would have to develop a unique marketing strategy as a newbie in the poultry feed business if indeed you want to make good returns on your investment.

The probability of competing with other poultry feed producers cannot be ruled out especially if you are operating your business in an area notable for hosting loads of poultry farmers.

As part of what you need to do to win your own share of the existing market in your area you would have to come up with a nice packaging concept for your poultry feed.

You can set the pace for others to follow. There you have it; the 7 steps to follow to be able to start your own poultry feed mill.

Requirements For Animal feed Production Business

1. Chicken Feed Production (Poultry): 

Poultry feed is one of the most sort after animal feed products, because of the volume of poultry animals raised in many parts of the world yearly.

Poultry or chicken feed are food usually consumed by chickens, ducks, geese, and other domestic birds.

They could consist of one or more varieties of whole, cracked, or rolled grains.

These feed can also be served through troughs, hoppers, tube feeders, scratch grains or scattered on the ground.

Some common categories of poultry or chicken feed in Nigeria, Africa, and everywhere else around the world are:

  • Layer Mesh
  • Broiler Mesh
  • Chick/Starter Mesh
  • Grower Mesh

If you must start a livestock feed production business, manufacturing poultry feed is a must!

2). Fish Food Production: 

Fish food or pellets are used to balance the nutrition needed by domesticated fishes. They are usually in pelletised or granule forms, and are composed of high quality nutrients like vegetable proteins, cereal grains, vitamins and minerals, to enable the fishes feed efficiently and grow to their full potential.

High quality fish food are always in high demand. You can take advantage of the market’s preference for this and manufacture slightly low priced, but good quality feeds to gain a quick market acceptance.

 

Some other livestock feed business opportunities to explore include:

  • Pig Feed Production
  • Goat Feed Production
  • Cattle Feed Production
  • Dog Food Production
  • Cat Food Production

See Also: 41 Analytical Fact on Livestock Farming Business in Nigeria

 

Setting Up Your Livestock Feed Production Business

8). Create Your Feed Formula: 

After choosing the type of livestock feed you want to produce, the next step is to create a feed formula for them. Each livestock feed would be different from the other, as chicken feed would be different from fish feed. You’d then need to study the nutritional requirements of each animal, so you can determine how best to create a feed that can lead to high yields.

Some basics that could make up your animal feed include corn, wheat, sorghum, forage, vitamins, additives, and minerals. Making animal feed from a good mixture of some of these will result in a highly nutritious product.

But it’s best you attend a series of seminars on how to make high quality animal feed, so you can get the best results.

9). Purchase And Mix The Feed Ingredients:

After drawing up a great formula, purchasing the pieces you’d need to make your high-valued feed is the next step.

Some ingredients to get include maize, oyster shells, soybean, wheat offal, minerals, common salt, corn, wheat, and several others.

When your suppliers bring in the ingredients, they’re to be weighed, tested, and analysed for different nutrients to ensure their quality and safety. This will help nutritionists to even formulate better livestock feed for specific species.

10). Get The Feed Equipment & Machinery:

Some very important livestock feed equipment and machinery you must acquire for a maximum output are:

  • Grinders
  • Blenders & Mixers
  • Pelleters
  • Steam boiler
  • Scales
  • Sifters
  • Bag sewers
  • Packaging

11). Package Your Livestock Feed:

After manufacturing your livestock feed, the next step is to package it right for the market. It is always best to follow the standards of the most successful product out there. By doing this, your packaging will ring a quality alarm anytime a person comes across your product in the market for the first time.

12). Market The Livestock Feed:

To sell your livestock feed, there are many ways you could go about it. Some of these are:

  • Building a periodic supply chain to stores
  • Owning a distribution outlet
  • Building an 0n-field sales team

And several others.

See Also: Top 50 Fresh Jobs for Agriculturist in Nigeria

Challenges Of Livestock Feed Production

The challenges of livestock feed production mostly ranges between these listed below:

1). Lack of experience.

2). High cost of production.

3). Low consumer purchasing power.

4). Lack of subsidy for local agricultural production.

5). Poorly managed supply chain.

6). Spoilage of raw materials.

7). Poor processing and storage materials.

13. Get your formula:

With the right knowledge of where you want to specialize in, spend some time to learn about the nutritional needs. For eg, the combination for chicken feeds is different from that of catfish, likewise those of other livestock.

This is where you need the assistance of an animal nutritionist to help you come up with the right formula.

14. Ingredients:

You need to purchase the following ingredients for production. Maize, Corn, Cassava grits for energy, Wheat offal as a source of protein, Noodle wastes for carbohydrate and Proteins, Soybean meal, Fish meals Palm kernel cake, Oyster shells, Bone meals, Minerals and common Salt.

15. Equipment:

These are the equipment you would need to start a full animal feed production on your own. Grinders, wet and dry, Mixers Wet/dry, Pellets, cooker, freezer, crumblier, Elevators, Conveyors, Sifter, Weighing scales, Steam boiler, Sealers and Bag sewers and Packaging bag. If you find this hard to come by, no problem, some effective custom made are readily available to choose from for your business and its size.

16.Packaging:

This is so important because the size of your feeds either hold or scare your customers away. Give them various sizes to choose from and make sure to stick with what you are known for.

17. Marketing:

This is an area that every aspiring feed producers fear most and they are right because they can only make money by having their products sold repeatedly.

The only solution to this, is to market, market and market! Have enough samples with you any time you are out there and always leave your means of contacts with your prospective customers.

18. Threats and Challenges

If you choose to start your own poultry feed mill business today, one of the major tests you are likely going to face is the presence of well – established poultry feed mills whose products can be found in livestock stores all across the United States of America. The only way to avoid this challenge is to create your own market.

Some other encounters that you are likely going to face is economic downturn; if the economy is in bad shape, businesses such as poultry feed mills and the likes usually struggle to maintain their old customers or even welcome new customers. Unfavorable government policies can also hamper the growth of your poultry feed mill. There is nothing you can do as regards this threats and challenges other than to stay positive that things will work well for you.

19. List of Legal Documents You Need to Run a Poultry Feed Mill Business

The essence of having the necessary documentation in place before launching a business in the United States of America cannot be overemphasized. It is a fact that you cannot successfully run any business in the United States without the proper documentations. If you do, it won’t be too long before the long hand of the law catches up with you.

These are some of the basic legal documents that you are expected to have in place if you want to legally run your own poultry feed mill business in the United States of America;

  • Certificate of Incorporation
  • Business License
  • Tax Payer’s ID/Tax Identification Number
  • Business Plan
  • Copy of license for the service support facility and/or a recent inspection report
  • Employee Handbook
  • Employment Agreement (offer letters)
  • Operating Agreement for LLCs
  • Insurance Policy
  • Online Terms of Use
  • Online Privacy Policy Document (basically for online payment portal)
  • Company Bylaws
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
  • Building License

20. Financing Your Poultry Feed Mill Business

Starting a poultry feed mill business can be cost effective particularly if you choose to start on a small scale. Securing a standard poultry feed mill is part of what will consume a large chunk of your startup capital, but if you choose to start the business on a large scale, you would need to go source for fund to finance the business because it is expensive to start a standard large – scale poultry feed mill business with over a dozen full-time employees under your payroll.

When it comes to financing a business, one of the first things you should consider is to write a good business plan. If you have a good and workable business plan document in place, you may not have to labor yourself before convincing your bank, investors and your friends to invest in your business.

Here are some of the options you can explore when sourcing for startup capital for your poultry feed mill business;

  • Raising money from personal savings and sale of personal stocks and properties
  • Raising money from investors and business partners
  • Selling shares to interested investors
  • Applying for loan from your bank
  • Pitching your business idea and applying for business grants and seed funding from donor organizations and angel investors
  • Source for soft loans from your family members and your friends

21. Choosing a Suitable Location for a Poultry Feed Mill Business

When it comes to choosing a location for your poultry feed mill, the rule of thumb is that you should be guided by zoning and of course the demand for such products and easy access to wholesale purchasing of a wide range of grains and nutrients and packaging materials from different manufacturing brands.

Depending on the scale that you are looking to start on, you may also consider starting from the comfort of your home. It cannot be overemphasized that the location you chose to open your poultry feed mill business is key to the success of the business, hence entrepreneurs are willing to rent or lease a facility in a visible location; a location where the demography consists of poultry farmers

Most importantly, before choosing a location for your poultry feed mill, ensure that you first conduct a thorough feasibility studies and market survey. The possibility of you coming across similar business that just closed shop in the location you want to open yours can’t be ruled out.

These are some of the key factors that you should consider before choosing a location for your poultry feed mill;

  • The demography of the location
  • The demand for poultry feeds in the location
  • The number of poultry farms in the location
  • Accessibility of the location
  • The number of livestock feed stores in the location
  • The local laws and regulations in the community
  • Traffic, parking and security

Animal Mills Processing Business

22. Starting a Poultry Feed Mill Business – Technical and Manpower Details

On the average, there are no special technology or equipment needed to run this type of business except for poultry feed equipment such as grinders, blenders and mixers, pelleters, steam boiler, scales, sifters, bag sewers, packaging and other safety gears that can be found in a poultry feed mill. So also, you will definitely need computers, internet facility, telephone, fax machine and office furniture amongst others and all these can be gotten as fairly used.

As regards leasing or outright purchase of a production facility, the choice is dependent on your financial standing, but the truth is that to be on the safe side, it is advisable to start off with a short term rent/lease while test running the business in the location. If things work out as planned, then you go on a long – term lease or outright purchase of the property but if not, then move on and source for other ideal location/facility for such business.

When it comes to hiring employees for a standard poultry feed mill business, you should make plans to hire a competent Chief Executive Officer (you can occupy this role), Admin and Human Resources Manager, Merchandize Manager, Mill/Production Manager, Machine Operators, Sales and Marketing Offices, Truck Drivers, Accounting Clerk and Cleaners. On the average, you will need a minimum of 5 to 10 key staff members to run a small scale but standard poultry feed mill business.

23. The Business Services Process Involved in a Poultry Feed Mill Business

The business services process involved in poultry feed mill business start with coming up a winning formula and purchasing the raw materials you need to produce high – nutritious poultry feed. These are some of the ingredients you would need to produce a good poultry feed; maize, oyster shells, soybean, wheat offal, minerals, common salt, corn, wheat, and amongst others.

The ingredients are sorted out, mixed with the right proportion and then grinded with a grinding machine or mashed to achieve the desired texture that will make it easier for the birds to eat and digest. You would have to engage your animal nutritionist and quality control officers at every stage so as to manufacture healthy and nutritious feeds for different species of poultry birds.

Animal Mills Processing Business

When you are done with grinding or meshing the ingredient, the next step is to package/baggage your poultry feed and get them set for distribution. It is always best to follow the standards of most successful products out there. As a matter of fact, one of the things that will give you an edge in the market place is your packaging and branding, so ensure that you pay attention to your packaging.

The composition of your poultry feed must be clearly stated in every pack and it must be well labeled. By doing this, your packaging will become so attractive whenever a person comes across your product in the market for the first time.

Starting a Poultry Feed Mill Business – The Marketing Plan

24. Marketing ideas and Strategies

You would have to develop a unique marketing strategy as a newbie in the poultry feed business if indeed you want to make good returns on your investment. The probability of competing with other poultry feed producers cannot be ruled out especially if you are operating your business in an area notable for hosting loads of poultry farmers. As part of what you need to do to win your own share of the existing market in your area, you would have to come up with a nice packaging concept for your poultry feed; you can set the pace for others to follow.

People and organizations will patronize poultry feeds from you if they know that they are going to get the best and of course value for their money.

Your marketing strategy will center on quality, pricing and above all excellent customer service. You should ensure that whenever your customers visit your poultry feed mill, they should be rest assured that they will get quality products and excellent service. The truth is that if you are able to put the above stated in place, you won’t struggle to retain your old customers and at the same time win over new customers.

Animal Mills Processing Business

Businesses these days are aware of the power of the internet, which is why they will do all they can to maximize the internet to market their services or products. In other words, a larger percentage of your marketing effort will be directed to internet users; your website will become your number one marketing tool.

These are some of the marketing ideas and strategies that you can adopt for your poultry feed mill business;

  • Introduce your poultry feed mill by sending introductory letters alongside your brochure to livestock feed stores, poultry farms, and owners of free range chicken farms et al within and outside the neighborhood where your poultry feed mill is located
  • Advertise on the internet on blogs and forums, and also on social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn to get your message across
  • Create a basic website for your business so as to give your business an online presence
  • Directly market your products
  • Engage in roadshows in targeted communities from time to time to sell your products
  • Join local poultry feed mill associations for industry trends and tips
  • Provide discount days for your customers
  • Advertise your business in community based newspapers, local TV and radio stations
  • List your business on yellow pages ads (local directories)
  • Encourage the use of word of mouth marketing (referrals)

25. Strategies to Boost Your Poultry Feed Mill Brand Awareness and Create Your Corporate Identity

If you are in business and you are not conscious about boosting you brand awareness and communicating your corporate identity, then you should be ready to take on whatever the society portray your business to be.

If your intention of starting a poultry feed mill business is to grow the business beyond the city where you are going to be operating from to become a national and international brand by opening chains of distribution networks, then you must be ready to spend money on promotion and advertisement of your brand.

No matter the industry you belong to, the truth is that the market is dynamic and it requires consistent brand awareness and boosting cum promotion to continue to appeal to your target market. Here are the platforms you can leverage on to boost your brand awareness and create a corporate identity for your poultry feed mill;

  • Place adverts on both print (newspapers and pets and livestock farming magazines) and electronic media platforms
  • Sponsor relevant community based events
  • Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote your products
  • Install your billboards in strategic locations all around your city or state
  • Engage in roadshows from time to time in targeted neighborhoods to create awareness of your poultry feed mill
  • Distribute your fliers and handbills in target areas
  • Contact livestock feed stores and poultry farms in the neighborhood where your poultry feed mill is located informing them about your business and the products you retail
  • List your poultry feed mill in local directories/yellow pages
  • Advertise your poultry feed mill in your official website and employ strategies that will help you pull traffic to the site
  • Position your Flexi Banners at strategic positions in the location where your poultry feed mill is located.
  • Ensure that all your staff members wear your branded shirts and all your vehicles and trucks/vans are well branded with your company logo

Animal Mills Processing Business

26. Best legal entity 

When considering starting a poultry feed mill business, the legal entity you choose will go a long way to determine how big the business can grow; some poultry feed mill design their business for neighborhood market, some for city wide market, while others for national market.

You have the option of either selecting a general partnership, limited liability Company, or even a sole proprietorship for your poultry feed mill. Ordinarily, sole proprietorship should have been the ideal business structure for a small – scale poultry feed mill especially if you are just starting out with a moderate startup capital in a small neighborhood. But people prefer limited liability Company for obvious reasons

26. Insurance Policies

In the United States and in most countries of the world, you can’t operate a business without having some of the basic insurance policy covers that are required by the industry you want to operate from. So, it is important to create a budget for insurance and perhaps consult an insurance broker to guide you in choosing the best and most appropriate insurance policies for your poultry feed mill business.

Here are some of the basic insurance covers that you should consider purchasing if you want to start your own poultry feed mill business in the United States of America;

  • General insurance
  • Health insurance
  • Liability insurance
  • Workers compensation
  • Overhead expense disability insurance
  • Business owner’s policy group insurance
  • Payment protection insurance

Animal Mills Processing Business

27. Economic Analysis

If you are on the way to launching a profitable business, then you need to ensure that you get your economic and cost analysis right and try as much as possible to adopt best practices in the industry you choose to build a business in.

Poultry feed mill business is not a green business as you will come across several poultry feed mills or their products in livestock feed stores when you go shopping for poultry feeds. So, if you are plotting out your economic and cost analysis, you should carry out thorough market survey and costing of the required amount needed in renting or leasing a facility, building a standard poultry feed mill and the amount needed to get supplies of grains and nutrients and also the cost to successfully run the business.

28. Starting Your Poultry Feed Mill Business from Scratch vs Buying a Franchise

If you are looking at a maiden poultry feed mill, you would have to start from the very scratch because you can hardly get the franchise of a poultry feed mill to buy, if you do, it will be way too expensive.

Besides starting a poultry feed mill from the scratch is less stressful when compared to other similar businesses which usually requires detailed groundwork before launching the business.

Please note that most of the big and successful poultry feed mills around started from the scratch and they were able to build a solid business brand. It takes dedication, hard work and determination to achieve business success and of course you can build your own poultry feed mill brand to become a successful brand in the United States.

See Also: How To Start Goat Business In Nigeria

Get sales representatives and give them enough incentive to keep them motivated to be up and doing.

Warning: Do not put them on a fixed salary. Let their earning be based on commissions because they would be encouraged to work harder for more pay.

Have your own outlets if you can afford that. You can as well supply to livestock feed stores while you leave your contact address with them but do not hope to get a direct referrals from them as that would cut their customers from them, instead, have your contacts discretely inserted into the bag if an end user wishes, he can contact you from there.

Another good idea is to have few trusted farmers in your list and supply them more than enough of what they can use within some stipulated time and be directing customers there, that is another way of indirectly having some outlets for your products.

Conclusion

While there are several agribusinesses that have high potentials for profitability, livestock feed production is a great one to venture into, if executed at the right scale with a broad diversity in animal feeds produced and sold both locally and for exports.

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