efficiencies in transportation and agriculture, as goods produced had to be transported to the next village or to the city. Many of these factors contributed to the second industrial


revolution. The world was in turmoil; wars were raging, and governments were rationing food to the population while prioritising technology to ensure they won the war. Food, machinery and resources had to be sent to the front lines to support the troops. Once again, industrial revolution led indirectly to improved animal


feed. War horses provided better performance on the battlefield for the British because they were better fed and equipment and resources were moved by well-nourished horses and donkeys. The war drove many other animal feed improvements including the pelleting process invented to transport horse feed more efficiently to other continents. By the end of this period, the first animal feed standards and nutritional specifications were detailed in a German scientific paper (translated “The principles of Agriculture”, A,D, Thaer, 1844). National railways were built, and people could travel much


further. Trains had the capacity to transport people as well as goods and cereals, and long-distance trading and business travel became more common as a result. Steam power sparked further technical enhancements, such as the production of metals for scaling up mechanical handling equipment. Reliable factory equipment became available along with better milling facilities. During the second industrial revolution, animal feed production


was driven forwards by the industries surrounding it. Feed standards were established to improve animal yield and compare nutritional performance. Basic batch mixing, based on volumetric quantities, was used on farms and in factories. This was prompted by basic factory processes starting as well as mass production assembly line methodologies being developed. Grain mills started moving to ports as steamboats could transport


grain internationally to countries served by railway networks, allowing more ingredients and finished products to be transported further afield. The first pellet presses were invented in the early part of the 20th Century and saw the first production of truly compressed and


In this foreshadowing of the third industrial revolution, the first


microchip was invented. Punch cards were replaced with microchip control panels and later with computers, electronics and solid-state sensors. This revolution revitalised animal feed mill processes – processes which included stock control, formulation control, batch recording and quality control – and reinforced their importance. The pelleting process also became automated to increase throughput and availability and animal nutrition formulations were redesigned to improve yield by expected amounts, rather than through trial and error. Improvements continued at pace to create ‘least cost’ formulation


programs, which enabled a nutritional specification to be maintained for a specific diet while optimising raw materials for availability and purchase cost. During this period, FEFAC was created to improve feed standards


in Europe for auditing, and the IFIF was formed to improve global feed standards. Improving the quality control processes proved to be too little too late, however, because in 1996 the BSE crisis had arrived and clearly highlighted the need for food chain traceability and control of raw materials. Using the animal feed industry in the UK as an example, the feed


mills became bigger in size and larger in number, then contracted again. During this period, BOCM designed and constructed six new feed mills in the UK, all to the same design – the ‘Country Mill’ – but today only the ForFarmers mill in Penrith survives. The period from the 1960s to the 1980s saw the reduction of


concentrated feed pellets. These early pellet presses were, however, very limited in their performance due largely to the lack of meal/mash conditioning, but that was already being developed.


many of the larger port mills and imperial feed mills, in part due to a decline in UK livestock numbers and their inability to produce a wide selection of diets. By the late 1990s, the UK was unable to export beef due to the effects of BSE and a loss of trust in its food chain.


FEED COMPOUNDER JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 PAGE 35


The next major breakthrough of this era was the generation and


transmission of electrical energy which resulted in the first electric motor being invented. This generated another major improvement in manufacturing and animal feed production. Batch mixing, compound feed ‘cakes’ for horses, roller mills for feed production and ‘feeding for performance’ were now in general use. The first recipe control for processes using punch cards was being used in some feed mills.


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