Out and About By Andrew Mounsey about time you got started with that now.” That was it. No discussion.
A Visit to
No detail. No costings. He just completely left it with the engineer to
Corby Rock Mill
begin construction of a new mill based on what they had just seen, knowing he was a man to be trusted with such a task. Memories of George, fond as they are, were still very raw as I sat in the board room with my hosts Damien Duffy, manager of the mill, and especially with George’s grandson Mark Quinn, who has taken over the reins. “He was a great man,” says Mark. “Very humble, but there was such an array of people at his funeral who were totally
Monaghan, Ireland
indebted to him. People whose ventures he had helped in many ways
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including sharing his knowledge. He had a quiet way of offering advice which earned him a lot of respect.” Staff, both current and going back
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25 years and more formed a guard of honour from his house on the day of the funeral. “For the family, it was one of the most humbling of
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sights, looking out and seeing such history,” says Mark. From the day 70
he passed, the mill seemed strangely peaceful; even the lorries driving Mf+>MWU 7£F
My visit to Corby Rock mill in Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, close
up the avenue towards the mill moved slowly as a mark of respect. “It
by the border on the road from Armagh, could not have come at a
was so simple, but it meant a lot,” as George had meant a lot of things
more poignant time. Just two weeks prior to my arrival, the company’s
to a lot of people.
founder, George Quinn, had passed away at the age of 91. George had founded the mill in 1975 and had been intimately involved in all aspects of its subsequent success in a very hands-on manner nearly every day since. He was a man who almost never took a holiday, thinking that if you wanted some time off, you probably weren’t enjoying your work as much as you should be. He was a humble
Left: George Quinn, founder of Corby Rock Mill, and above (l to r)
man who led by example and
Damien Duffy and Mark Quinn
whose strength was an ability to build a team around him who
To Mark he was, “more than a grandfather. He was my best friend.
could share the workload while ensuring his exacting standards were
A phenomenal teacher, he would show me things not just for the here
met. A great example of how he operated comes from the very early
and now, but for the future. He was a forward thinker, always a couple of
days. George had started rearing pullets and subsequently moved into
steps ahead, always pioneering and pushing forward. Good memories
layer production. Corby Rock Eggs grew to become Ireland’s largest
of a great man,” says Mark, then smiling, “but he’ll be giving out about
egg producer but in the mid-1970s, George was not happy with the
being spoken of like this!” Damien agrees: “He’s probably looking down
performance the birds were achieving on their bought-in feed. He
saying, ‘Don’t you have any work to do?’!”
decided that the best way forward was to produce his own, and before
From the outset, George’s focus was on quality. He insisted on the
long he and an engineering colleague were undertaking the task of
best quality equipment to produce the feed and was especially insistent
assessing the best available technologies to do just that. Together,
on using a roller mill to produce mash with a nicely consistent, open
they visited a mill in the North and spent little more than 20 minutes in
structure and a minimum of dust. His passion was hens and eggs;
site. George obviously liked what he had seen. No words on the subject
whatever means of producing feed led to its best presentation for the
were exchanged between the two until they were well into the journey
birds was always going to be top of the list and by the early 1980s, he
home, at which point he turned to his colleague and quietly said, “It’s
was convinced that a rolling mill was the preferred option for producing
Left: Corby Rock Mill development of new techniques in feed production to ensure it would not be a vector introducing disease into flocks in future. The system was developed in close consultation with An Bord Bia, and in 1991 the company became one of the first to introduce a heat treatment system for this purpose with a Milltech kettle and Extrutech horizontal coolers. The protocols pioneered at Corby Rock mill soon became the industry benchmark, with the Department of Agriculture making it mandatory that all Irish feed produced for layers be heat-treated. “George was never a boastful man,” comments Damien Duffy. “But he was certainly proud of the fact that what he called this ‘wee small mill in Monaghan’ was the first in the country to introduce such a system.” mash. In this, as in much else, he was very far advanced from the crowd and today people are looking again at the advantages of roller as opposed to hammer mills for mash production. Not only do they seem to produce a better quality product, they also use less energy with less wear. While the technology is not without its problems (a stone in the mix, for example, can knock the rollers off), the operators are very familiar with them and know exactly what to do, which means they can respond quickly if any issues do arise. A roller is still used today on the layers feed line although it has recently been upgraded. And it had to be a CPM; to George, this was a no-brainer. Their previous experience had shown them that the machine was very effective, reliable and robust, so when it came to be replaced last year, they opted for another of the same brand. Such was his grandfather’s obsession with ensuring everything was well with his birds, recalls Mark, he would often just stand in amongst them for 20 minutes or more doing nothing but listening and looking; he could tell if something was wrong with the feed, water or environment
As the business grew, it was impossible for George to be hands on all the time with every aspect of it; it became increasingly important that he had a good team with the right people in the right places. The environment in which the business was operating evolved and the time came when a decision was made to divest the packing arm of the company. It had become increasingly difficult to deal with the major supermarkets and the discounters as a diversified operation, and difficult also to have the people in place with the skills and knowledge necessary to do so. So the packing operation was sold first, and shortly afterwards the bulk of the laying operation was also divested. The reasoning behind this decision was simply that the risk of keeping large numbers of birds on the same site as the feed production plant was too great. Had an outbreak of disease, occurred the mill itself could well have been with the exclusion zone. So today, besides a single house on a remote site in which layers are kept for trialling diets and demonstration purposes, the business is concentrated on the two arms of pullet rearing and feed production.
simply by observing them in this way. He was also convinced that maize had a ‘hidden secret’ which meant its inclusion in the rations brought a benefit to his birds beyond anything which could be explained through straightforward nutritional analysis. Maize has always featured in the ration for layers feed produced at Corby Rock mill. George’s first venture into poultry was in rearing pullets. Always a perfectionist, he was also an innovator and willing to experiment. He trialled many different strains before settling on the two which he found most capable of producing pullets ready to lay at the point of sale, strains which are still sold by the company today. He expanded into egg production and into egg packing before opening the feed mill, and was also closely involved with hatcheries, and so could fairly be
“Pullet rearing will always be a cornerstone of the company,” avows
thought of as a complete integrator. At its peak, the business had over a
Mark. “It is where it all started and will continue to grow.” The business
quarter of a million laying birds and operated the largest packing centre
produces 600,000 pullets a year, partly for its own layer operation but
in Ireland. Running such an operation was not without its challenges.
mainly for customers, both those which also buy feed from the company
Following the now infamous pronouncement of Edwina Currie on
and those which do not. The target is to produce a million pullets per
salmonella in eggs, which had an equally profound effect in Ireland as
year in the near future.
it had in the UK, the entire flock on one of the sites also suffered an
On the feed side, too, there have been developments aplenty.
outbreak of Newcastle Disease and all the birds had to be destroyed
Starting, as it did back in 1975, as an operation to supply consistent,
to prevent its spread. Never a quitter and, once again ahead of the
quality feed for the company’s own birds, it immediately began to grow
curve, George recognised the fact that disease, and public perception,
as neighbours and local farmers saw the results and came around
could continue to challenge the company in future, and he implemented
looking to get some of the products for themselves. It has been growing
steps to counter the threat they posed. The company spearheaded the
ever since.
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between cattle and poultry feed eliminated. And so construction of the ruminant mill began in 1995, integrating the old labour intensive blending operation with a process centred around a new Forberg paddle mixer. By 1998, a complete ruminant pelleting line was in place in the new building, with a CPM 7932-9 press and a Kahl expander, which was shortly afterwards replaced with a BOA compactor. The grinder was a Tietjen GDL12. While Mark has inherited his grandfather’s love of poultry, his real passion is for the process equipment; how to get the best feed most efficiently produced from the chosen raw materials. He has followed the tradition laid down in the early days of specifying the best equipment for the job. “We always look for top quality kit that will do the job and Above: Members of the Corby Rock team
last,” he says. “It may be a little more expensive, but if it is robust it will be a better long term investment.” CPM equipment features heavily in
George was so used to looking after hens, knew the whole process,
both mills, but other manufacturers’ equipment is also used. “We are
knew what his birds wanted and loved that aspect of seeing his livestock
looking for good machinery which ticks all the boxes for the mill of the
excel. This complete involvement in looking after the flock to the best
future: hygiene, safety and efficiency. We find something that works
of his ability drove a lot of decisions from the feed end; he was always
and stick with it.”
very conscious of what was changed in the ingredients or the processing
As time moved on, an opportunity arose after a fire at another
in order to maintain consistency for the hens. He had no schooling in
mill led to a sudden increase in demand for ruminant feed. Resources
this regard. He just learned it by doing. As he told his grandson Mark,
were put in, a sales team developed and ruminant production took off.
he made plenty of mistakes, but he learnt from them and applied these
Hence, a second pelleting line was added in 2002 with a CPM 7726
lessons. And he never made the same mistake twice.
and HFC (Hydro Friction Conditioner), giving redundancy options and
It seems to have been this attention to detail which led to the
the ability to produce different pellet sizes without everything having
results the feed was producing and attracted the attention of local egg
to come to a complete halt. Two years later a state-of-the-art bagging
farmers, who became the company’s first feed customers. By the early
line from BL Bagline was introduced, relieving a long history of manual
1980s, with Corby Rock Mill firmly established among the leading Irish
bagging. Fully automated and capable of bagging 35 tonnes per hour,
manufacturers of poultry feed, the decision was made to expand into
the line was safer and a vast improvement; in its first year of operation
ruminant feed production on a separate line within the same mill. A
over a million bags were filled.
CPM Century pellet press was installed in 1982 and, once again, output
Then, in 2005, the decision was made to diversify into broiler feed
grew and grew. In 1987, striving to improve quality, double pelleting
production to service a potential export market. Things here did not go as
was introduced, with a new CPM 7726 retro-fitted below the existing
planned. “We didn’t have the same immediate success as we had been
press. Then blends production was added, with the construction in
used to,” admits Mark. “The process wasn’t quite right, the expected
1993 of a new blending shed housing a tractor-powered Red Rock
export opportunity did not materialise, and for a while this line was a
mixer wagon.
thorn in our foot. However, we learned over time and improved it, and a
Such had been the success of the diversification into ruminant
chance came in 2010 when another mill in the south of the country had
feed production that further expansion was required. A good deal of
a problem, we were there with the ability to step into the breach. Now,
thought and consideration was put into how this should be achieved,
this line too is running close to capacity.” It consists of a PTN BC900
and ultimately it was decided that the best way forward was to split
press and a PTN Hygieniser, along with Geelen cooling. And it didn’t
the ruminant and poultry lines into dedicated buildings. In this way,
take long to see the benefits of the latest heat treatment technology in
quality could be safeguarded and the risk of cross-contamination
relation to hygienic operation and efficiency, to the extent that an order was placed for another PTN Hygieniser for the existing layers line. Meanwhile, the production of layers feeds continues to grow and the company has made a massive expansion into breeder feeds. The poultry plant now produces in excess of 140,000 tonnes and the ruminant plant more than 60,000 tonnes. Mark puts the success down to a policy of consistently keeping in touch with new developments in relation to feed products and milling technology, with research and development a cornerstone of the business model. “We have a good process with control, experience from our operators and quality control team. A ‘no compromise, do it once, do it right’ mentality,” he says. “That entire package gives us an edge.” “Now,” he goes on, “we’ve got to keep ahead.” Which is where the
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current expansion plans fit in, with a €5 million investment program over four years. “We’re asking ourselves the question, ‘What will the mill of the future look like? What will be required in 10 years’ time?’ We have started with our offices and getting the staff infrastructure in place and the process of expanding both in poultry and in ruminant production. The investment will leave us on a much better footing to get a bigger share of our markets and to break into new markets where we are not currently present.” The investment in the mill will create spare capacity, giving redundancy to ensure continuity of supply to customers as well as creating scope for expansion. It will also maintain the drive on continually improving product quality wherever possible, still meeting environmental, nutritional and health and safety requirement but on a greater scale than before. Since its foundation, the feed business at Corby Rock has never stopped expanding and the constant focus on automating and modernising will remain. George used to say, “When you stop progressing, you start going backwards.” As Mark puts it, “He was happy, but never happy in the sense of, ‘that’ll do me’. He was always looking for the next improvement.” Things have come a long way since the mill first started producing feed in 1975. “We now produce in 24 hours what we used to do in a week,” observes Damien. “The market will require the highest standards; we have to be ready.” The latest investment is in a CPM Hot
Above: The CPM Hygienic Conditioner 18 HC 8.5, ready for shipping
Start Conditioner and Hygieniser purchased through CFE, which now
to Corby Rock Mill
has the agency for all CPM equipment in the UK and Ireland. “It’s going to be a busy few years,” concludes Mark. “Plans are in
window (the house overlooks the mill) but he wanted to be involved.”
place and from raw materials in to feed going out, throughout the whole
He has, however, left an incredible legacy. Having been given a
process, we are upgrading for the future. We aim to minimise disruption
flavour of where the company has come from, what it has achieved, and
so it’s going to take time. It’s going to be interesting – but exciting.”
where it is going, I am sure that George would have been very proud.
“I would have loved my grandfather to have seen this phase of
In particular, although he would not have boasted about it, I am certain
development come to pass. We had spoken about it for many years, but
he would have taken great pleasure in the way the next generation is
it was only when we saw the growth in production and especially when
taking his company forward.
the breeder feeds really took off that he knew there was more potential. He just wanted to be in and around it. He could see everything from his
And in answer to his question, “Have you no work to do?” for Mark and his team, for the foreseeable future, the answer will be “Yes.”
Reproduced from Feed Compounder July/August 2016