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Animal FeedsThe main manufacturing plants of animal feeds in
KwaZulu-Natal are situated in Pietermaritzburg, Umlaas
Road,
Dundee and Tongaat.
The stock feeds are usually formulated from maize or
sugarcane bagasse as the staple commodities with the
addition
of cake oil, fishmeal, bone meal, molasses, wheaten bran,
feed urea and a range of trace elements.
The main markets for the animal feeds are the poultry
producers (broilers and eggs),dairy
farms, horse breeders and cattle feedlots in the KZN
Midlands.
The animal feed is transported by road in bulk tankers to
farms all over the province. One of the problems with the
centralisation of the manufacturing facilities is that the
transport cost of the feed can be a prohibitive barrier to
animal-based agricultural production when deliveries are
routed over long distances. Competition between
manufacturers often results in delivery zones overlapping,
and discounting of the transport cost is used as a sales
tool to extend market areas.
Feed Factory
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Bagged feeds are also collected from the mills by
contractors and farmers, normally with their own large
road transport combinations. In addition, a significant
amount of feed is normally consigned by rail to
areas such as Northern Cape and Free State.
The distribution of the bulk feeds is by large rigid or
articulated dry bulk tankers with discharge augers,
capable of direct filling of the bulk tanks on the farms.
Some of the producers operate their own fleets while
others have opted to use road haulage companies.
The current production of stock feeds by the main
producing
mills is estimated to be approximately 500,000 tons per
annum.
Maize is normally railed to manufacturers from the
northern areas of KZN and from other provinces but,
depending on international and local
prices, up to 50% may be imported
through Durban in any one year.
In 2006, 203,439 tons of maize and 829,535 tons of
wheat were imported through the port of Durban.
Bulk Feed Tanker
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