Ever wonder what goes into making Stable Mix? Well here are the ten steps to transform the raw ingredients into the premium horse feed your horses love.
Step 1: The various ingredients such as mixed hay, alfalfa hay, rice bran, soybean meal and almond hulls are weighed, inspected and unloaded in specified areas at Elk Grove Milling, Inc.
Step 2: Each product has a specific formula which is converted to a mix card. The foreman instructs his crew to mix the ingredients, except the hay, together based on the specific mix card, going in by volume and weight.
Step 3: The mix is then put into a hopper which is volumetrically controlled. The mix is metered at 45% into the product stream where it is blended with the required types of hay as they go through the grinder.
Step 4: From the grinder, the complete mix including hays, is airlifted to the top of the mill where it drops into the meal bin, it sits here until fed into the conditioner.
Step 5: In the conditioner steam is introduced to the product while it continues to be mixed.
Step 6: The product is then dropped into the front of the pellet mill. The product is dropped into the center of the die, which consist of one die and two roller shells. The rollers are stationary as the die revolves, forcing the feed through the die and creating small, soft, pellets.
Step 7: The pellets then drop out of the die and are placed onto the hot pellet super flow which takes them to the hot pellet elevator. They are then lifted up and dropped into the top of the cooler. The cooler cools the pellets from the bottom using ambient air. This removes some of the moisture and hardens the pellets.
Step 8: The cool, hard, pellets are then moved into a cleaner where broken pellets and fines are removed and sent back through the pelleting process.
Step 9: The final product is then moved to storage tanks for bagging, barreling or sent to tanks for bulk loads.
Step 10: Customers and orders come in and our crew packages the different products for purchase, shipment and delivery. The pellets are then ready to be fed to happy, healthy horses! YUM!
Visit our list of retailers to find a place to pick up Stable Mix for your horses today!