Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL May/June 2020 Issue
One of the most popular items in any supermarket are rotisserie chickens, whole roasted chickens under a heating element, ready to be served as a family dinner entree or to be shredded as a pre-cooked ingredient in a variety of recipes.
Long before they get to the supermarket, however, those are live birds that need to be fed. That’s why Lincoln Premium Poultry included a high-capacity slipform concrete feed mill and adjacent grain elevator as part of its poultry processing complex at the south end of Fremont, NE.
The mill, rated eventually to process 15,000 tpw of chicken feed products, supplies that feed to chicken producers throughout eastern Nebraska and portions of western Iowa. All of those birds are processed in Fremont exclusively for Costco stores. (For more background on the Costco operation and how it came to Nebraska, see page 162.)
The mill produced its first loads of feed in August 2019. It currently is producing about 7,000 tpw as it slowly ramps up production as needed, says Mill Manager Brent Brinegar, who came to Fremont in August 2018 from a Cargill facility in Council Bluffs, IA, while the new mill was already under construction. “At the time, the concrete shell was already up, and the mill was awaiting the start of equipment installation,” he says.
Operator utilizes a CPM Beta Raven automation system to monitor and control feed milling operations. Interior photos courtesy of Lincoln Premium Poultry.
Before construction began earlier in 2018, Costco took bids and selected Younglove Construction LLC, Sioux City, IA (712-277-3906), as general contractor and millwright on both the elevator and mill.
In addition to Younglove, KC Engineering, Sioux City (712-252-2100), performed engineering work on the project.
Grain Elevator
Younglove constructed a 408,000- bushel grain elevator consisting of four 102,000-bushel slipform concrete tanks standing 35 feet in diameter and 135 feet tall. The tanks have steel cone bottom hoppers, eliminating the need to enter the tanks for cleanout.
Receiving is done through a pair of 15,000-bph Warrior legs, with a third leg serving the feed mill structure dedicated to soft stocks. The legs are equipped with 18x8 Maxi-Lift Tiger-Tuff buckets mounted on 20-inch belts. These deposit grain into the elevator tanks or onto a 15,000-bph Warrior overhead drag conveyor running to the feed mill through a series of IDFI two-way diverter valves.
Trucks delivering corn or other ingredients to Lincoln Premium Poultry are routed through the property by a CompuWeigh SmartTruck scale management system. (See a case study article on this system on page 113 of the March/April 2020 issue.)
Mill Operations
The feed mill is housed in a 175-foot slipform concrete structure on a 75-x-100-foot footprint. All mill operations are under the control of a CPM Beta Raven automation system.
The mill structure includes 21 ingredient square bins holding approximately 2,500 tons total. It also includes four mash feed bins holding a total of 397 tons feeding the pelleting systems, plus 22 finished feed bins holding 3,364 tons, all of which are tied to the weigh lorry truck loading operation.
Corn as a feed ingredient is ground on a pair of 350-hp Roskamp Champion hammermills rated at 56-130 tph or a 100-hp Roskamp Champion roller mill rated at 40 tph. Corn is ground for all broiler diets, while coarse rolled corn is utilized for breeder diets.
Feed ingredients are mixed in a Scott 10-ton dual-shaft mixer. In addition to the main ingredient bins, minor ingredients are added through a six-tote system plus a 20-bin CPM Beta Raven microingredient system. Liquids added at the mixer include fats, choline, lysine, methionine, and zinmet. The mixer is rated at 180 tph. The average mix time of three minutes still is being tweaked.
Mash feed intended for pelleting goes to a pair of CPM 70-tph pellet mills. Steam is supplied through overhead steam conditioners by a pair of 400-hp Cleaver Brooks boilers. Post-pellet fat and liquid enzyme application is handled by a pair of APEC liquid application systems.
Pellets are cooled in a pair of Bliss counterflow pellet coolers at a maximum 75 tph. Each pellet line is equipped with a CPM pellet crumbler to achieve proper particle sizing for all starter feeds.
Each of the two loading bays is equipped with a weigh lorry system for fast and accurate truck loading. It takes about eight minutes to load up to 28 tons onto a semi-truck.
“All startups come with challenges, and the full construction team has been right beside Lincoln Premium Poultry to work through those and lead the team
ABOVE: Two 75-tph CPM Roskamp Champion pellet mills with steam conditioners. BELOW: Two Bliss counterflow pellet coolers operate at up to 75 tph.
Trucks delivering corn or other ingredients to Lincoln Premium Poultry are routed through the property by a CompuWeigh SmartTruck scale management system. (See a case study article on this system on page 113 of the March/April 2020 issue.)
Mill Operations
The feed mill is housed in a 175-foot slipform concrete structure on a 75-x-100-foot footprint. All mill operations are under the control of a CPM Beta Raven automation system.
The mill structure includes 21 ingredient square bins holding approximately 2,500 tons total. It also includes four mash feed bins holding a total of 397 tons feeding the pelleting systems, plus 22 finished feed bins holding 3,364 tons, all of which are tied to the weigh lorry truck loading operation.
Corn as a feed ingredient is ground on a pair of 350-hp Roskamp Champion hammermills rated at 56-130 tph or a 100-hp Roskamp Champion roller mill rated at 40 tph. Corn is ground for all broiler diets, while coarse rolled corn is utilized for breeder diets.
Feed ingredients are mixed in a Scott 10-ton dual-shaft mixer. In addition to the main ingredient bins, minor ingredients are added through a six-tote system plus a 20-bin CPM Beta Raven microingredient system. Liquids added at the mixer include fats, choline, lysine, methionine, and zinmet. The mixer is rated at 180 tph. The average mix time of three minutes still is being tweaked.
Mash feed intended for pelleting goes to a pair of CPM 70-tph pellet mills. Steam is supplied through overhead steam conditioners by a pair of 400-hp Cleaver Brooks boilers. Post-pellet fat and liquid enzyme application is handled by a pair of APEC liquid application systems.
Pellets are cooled in a pair of Bliss counterflow pellet coolers at a maximum 75 tph. Each pellet line is equipped with a CPM pellet crumbler to achieve proper particle sizing for all starter feeds.
Each of the two loading bays is equipped with a weigh lorry system for fast and accurate truck loading. It takes about eight minutes to load up to 28 tons onto a semi-truck.
“All startups come with challenges, and the full construction team has been right beside Lincoln Premium Poultry to work through those and lead the team to success,” says Brinegar. “Most importantly, we have done that safely and are positioned to succeed going forward.”
Ed Zdrojewski, editor
Company Profile
Lincoln Premium Poultry
Fremont, NE • 402-704-2200
Founded: 2016
Feed milling capacity: 15,000 tpw at one location
Grain storage: 408,000 bushels
Number of mill employees: 30
Feed products: Full line of chicken feeds
Key personnel:
• Brent Brinegar, feed mill manager
• Bill Kreifels, maintenance manager
• Chelsea Kardell, commodity mgr.
Supplier List
Air compressor • Atlas Copco
Automation system • CPM Beta Raven
Bearing sensors • 4B Components Ltd.
Bin level monitors • BinMaster Level Controls
Boiler • Cleaver Brooks
Bucket elevators • Warrior Mfg. LLC
Contractor/millwright • Younglove Construction, L.L.C.
Conveyors • Warrior Mfg. LLC
Distributor • Hayes & Stolz Ind. Mfg. Co. Inc.
Dust collection system • Aircon Corp.
Elevator buckets • Maxi-Lift, Inc.
Engineering • KC Engineering PC
Hammermills • CPM Roskamp Champion
Liquid tanks • Assman Corp.
Manlift • Schumacher Elevator Co.
Microingredient system • CPM Beta Raven
Mixer • Scott Equipment Co.
Motion sensors • 4B Components Ltd.
Pellet coolers • Bliss Industries, LLC
Pellet crumbler • CPM Roskamp Champion
Pellet mills • CPM Roskamp Champion
Roller mill • CPM Roskamp Champion
Scales • Rice Lake Weighing Systems
Screeners • CPM Roskamp Champion
Screw feeders • WAM, Inc.
Truck scale automation. • CompuWeigh Corp.
