Set against a backdrop of an expanding dairy herd and a 50% growth in dairy output since the lifting of quotas, family owned Quinns of Baltinglass has made a significant investment to offer a quality pellet for their dairy, beef, sheep and horse farmers.

The new pellet plant, which was officially opened by Andrew Doyle, Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture last Friday, will serve Quinns wholesale customers and retail farmers across Ireland. The new facility is located in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow.

What started as a local west Wicklow family business 80 years ago has grown gradually and steadily over the years. It now sells agri inputs including feed, fertiliser and agrichemicals throughout Leinster and many counties beyond.

The business employs 180 people and is headed up by Liam Quinn and his son William.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, William Quinn said this project had been several years in the making and marks a significant investment for the company. He added that this is the only feed pelleting plant in Co Wicklow, and indeed in the region of Carlow, Dublin and Kildare.

This investment will see Quinns, which has been manufacturing coarse rations on the same site in Baltinglass since 1996, chase a larger share of the expanding five million tonne feed market. Quinns currently produces 50,000t of coarse ration feed annually.

He explained how this investment will allow the company produce a high-quality pellet which he believes will enable the company increase volumes beyond the current level in the years ahead.

He added how this investment not only benefits the livestock farmer but also the tillage growers in the region. Quinns purchases and process over 180,000t of Irish quality grain annually, according to Quinn.

“We take great pride in buying Irish grain and including it in all our rations,” William Quinn said.

Quinns has a team of 13 agri technical advisers calling to farms every day. He said this is a key investment in supporting their customers. He added this investment will create local jobs, expand the customer base and most importantly achieve the goal of maximising efficient production and profit at farm level.

Focus on quality

Up to now, Quinns had retailed pellets from third-party mills. Valerie Hobson, nutritionist with Quinns, said the new pelleting plant provides them with “100% control of the quality of pellet we produce and sell”.

She said with this new facility “our goal is not to produce the most feed, nor the cheapest feed – but to produce the best-quality feed in the country”.

She added that as grain merchants they take great pride in including high levels of Irish grain and pulses in all their rations.

From the start of this project, Hobson said the company made a key decision to manufacture top-quality pellets. She said to achieve this, Quinns will use native grain together with quality protein sources, with soya bean meal being the main source of protein. They will also use distillers and gluten in certain formulations, along with beet pulp nuts and soya hulls.

She said that on this basis they will not be the cheapest pellet available but aim to be the best. She said because quality and traceability are key, the company has also installed a near infrared (NIR) machine to instantly test feeds for protein, moisture, fibre, oil and ash.

All incoming raw materials will be sampled, along with regular testing during manufacture. Hobson said this will ensure a consistent high-quality product at all times. The feed mill is UFAS, ISO, Bord Bia and Department of Agriculture and Food-approved.

As well as the new pelleted feed range, Quinns also launched a new range of coarse rations under the brand names Super and Supreme.

The company now offers a forage analysis service, along with a comprehensive feed formulation service which can tailor formulate minerals and diets to suit different systems and on-farm scenarios.