Evidence of Soybean Divergence: What Does It Mean?
May 16, 2019
One of the grand narratives you may have noticed on the Insta-Pro blog relates to oilseeds, grains, and their final ingredient forms exhibiting more differentiation than is often…
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Move Towards Order with High-Shear Dry Extrusion
May 9, 2019
In today’s feed and food world, with differing ingredients due to ever-changing raw material conditions, and rapidly-evolving consumer trends, it may be regularly chaotic for you during development,…
The Single-Nutrient Pitfall: Don’t Fall In
May 2, 2019
Every living thing is driven to seek nourishment in order to survive and thrive. Many nutrients are essential – animals cannot survive for long without them. It’s important…
New Data on Corn Ethanol DDGS Tells Old Story – Some New Insight Included
April 25, 2019
I’ve discussed on the blog before the variable and low-quality nature of dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS), a plentiful and inexpensive by-product of the corn ethanol fuel…
Finance in Africa: Is Private Equity Right For You?
April 18, 2019
60 percent of family businesses in Kenya are now willing to bring in professionals to help manage the company, says PwC. In parallel, private equity funds in Africa…
Writing a Business Plan
April 11, 2019
Writing a business plan takes a lot of time and effort. The process is like the months of training that athletes need to endure before a major sports…
Nutrition & Equipment Provide Processing Solutions
April 4, 2019
When I started to work as a nutritionist for Insta-Pro®, somebody asked me what an animal nutritionist does in a company that manufacture extruders, presses and coolers? The…
The importance of time in designing a plant
March 28, 2019
When analyzing a plant project, time is a factor that does not get enough attention. I am very much a believer of the famous phrase “time is money,”…
Benefits of Higher Fat Diets: Part 1, Definitions
March 21, 2019
When animal diets are formulated, at times it’s assumed that a sort of “cookie cutter” approach is taken. This means that all of the ingredients and corresponding nutrient…
Preheating prior to extrusion
March 14, 2019
Recently, I was in Argentina at an extrusion conference and I was asked for my comments on preheating soybean prior to extrusion. Apparently, there are people buying preheaters…
Changing the future in 1,000 days
March 7, 2019
The first 1,000 days between conception and a child’s 2nd birthday are critical for shaping each child’s development. This is the period when the foundations of good health,…
Is a cooker or toaster needed before extrusion?
February 28, 2019
Recently, I had many clients and prospects ask about having a cooker just before extrusion. While this is entirely up to the client, it is our duty to…
New Product to Reduce Ammonia Emissions? We’ve Covered That Here Before…
February 21, 2019
I noticed recently that an FDA-approved animal drug was being launched to reduce ammonia emissions in beef cattle. The drug, which may be a feed additive, appears to…
Calculating boiler horsepower requirements
February 14, 2019
In some feedmills, steam is required for various cooking processes. Our high shear dry extrusion generally does not require steam, although some processes do such as fish and…
Principles of steam exhausting
February 7, 2019
A topic of importance for plant cleanliness is exhausting the steam released during the extrusion process. As material is processed within the extruder, the sudden drop to atmospheric…
Fear or Passion? What’s your motivation?
January 31, 2019
In this industry, we get to meet and interact with many different people. A common thread among them is a fierce drive and determination to do great things. …
A great team will make a plan come together
January 24, 2019
During my recent trip overseas, I got to witness first-hand how many people are truly involved in making a processing plant come together. Vendors and suppliers sometimes forget…
Don’t fight change, embrace it
January 17, 2019
A famous song once said, “the times they are a-changing”. Today, this couldn’t be more true. Technology seems to advance daily, and those who stay abreast and use…