SealesWinslow bought the Inghams feed mill and grain storage complex on Kelvin Street, Wanganui, and will redevelop the site and install modern milling equipment.
Newly appointed chief executive Graeme Smith says this will allow the company to better serve its dairy, sheep and beef farmer customers.
“It is pleasing to invest in animal nutrition in the heart of three high growth dairying regions covering Taranaki, Wanganui and Manawatu,” says Smith.
SealesWinslow was formed last year when Ballance Agri-Nutrients bought a 51% shareholding in Seales Ltd, Morrinsville, and Winslow Feeds and Nutrition, Ashburton.
Ballance Agri-Nutrients chief executive Larry Bilodeau says the step supports Ballance’s aim to create a nationwide business providing more ways for shareholders to achieve best business performance.
“We are offering a whole farm nutrient management approach from pasture through to supplements which will improve productivity and animal fertility, health and welfare while reducing agriculture’s environmental footprint,” says Bilodeau.
Improving animal nutrition is vital to driving productivity in pastoral farming, SealesWinslow says; on-farm feed efficiency is the key.
SealesWinslow says it buys key ingredients mostly from local suppliers, so “the development of the Wanganui complex will be great news for the region’s arable sector,” says Smith.
“We’ll be buying thousands of tonnes of grain from farmers in the area, which means more money is injected into the local economy.”
Former SealesWinslow managing director Ross Hyland has been appointed project manager for the feedmill upgrade.
SealesWinslow has factories at Morrinsville and Ashburton, and a distribution site at Tauranga.
