The story of Charnwood Milling begins in the 1960’s when Mr Newton, the owner of a small farm, decided to diversify into farm animal feed production. A small compound feed plant was built, and the farm started supplying pelleted feeds to local farmers and wholesalers. About that time on a trip to North America, Mr Newton noticed a new manufacturing process being developed to cook grains and pulses with infra-red energy and then roll the softened grains to enhance starch gelatinisation.

This process is now called Micronization and the semi-digested starch grains proved useful when fed to young animals where starch digesting enzymes are poorly developed, and to horses, where starch overload can cause digestive problems. Mr Newton returned to the UK and built the first Micronizers, and then sold them throughout the world. 

The first two Micronizers were built here at Charnwood Milling and this enabled the feed operation to add a coarse mix plant. The micronized flaked cereals and pulses were formulated into a range of coarse mixes for pets, such as rabbits, livestock such as goats and sheep, and for horse feeds.

Charnwood Milling continued to supply local farms and wholesalers, however the structure of farms in the UK started to change in the 1980’s to become larger facilities, and the poultry and pig industry started to move to integrated units. Small feed companies were bought out and tonnage was amalgamated into large, high production feed mills. It became clear to Charnwood that it could not compete with these mills producing high volume, so started to concentrate on specialist manufacturing. 

We started to produce horse feeds and wild bird feeds, like racing pigeon, and pet foods (rabbit, guinea pig, chinchilla) plus a range of micronized cereals and flakes to be used by the pet food industry.

This specialization expanded to include a range of extruded floating feeds for marine ducks, flamingos, and ibis. These feeds are used by waterfowl collections throughout the UK and abroad. Charnwood Milling also introduced a range of pelleted Browser and Grazer diets, and we now feed the largest captive breeding collection of Black Rhino in the UK. 

In the 1990’s, Charnwood Milling expanded to include specialty horse feed production and packaging. A small package production area was developed to pack 1kg to 10kg heat-sealed pouches, tubs and bags, for end-to-end service for the manufacture, packaging, and labelling of pelleted supplements. Charnwood can also tote manufacture and pack for customers as per their individual requirements. 

In early 2000, Charnwood Milling started to develop a new product called Micronized Linseed. The Micronization cooking process stabilizes the oil within the cell and destroys the naturally occurring anti-nutrition enzyme linamarase which is present in many plants. The resulting linseed meal contains stabilized high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, making it a nutritious and valuable staple of working horse feeds, as well as being fed to horses to maintain condition and a shiny coat. When buying micronized linseed, it is ready to feed as no further cooking is required after micronizing.

Charnwood Milling has been accredited by the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) Universal Feed Assurance Scheme (UFAS) member, and British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) Naturally Occurring Prohibited Substances (NOPS) Scheme for many years thus offering full traceability on all our products and helping to reduce the risk of a positive dope test from naturally occurring prohibited substances. Our lower temperature presses help to ensure better survival for live yeast products, and we are able to make small runs of products (1 tonne). 

Charnwood Milling specializes in vegetarian, nutritional products for all species, packaged into various formats, from paper and plastic bags, to tubs and totes. We are happy to discuss formulating and manufacture of products, including those that are difficult to pellet. Contact us with an idea and we will help you make it.

Opening Hours:

Monday to Friday: 8:30am to 5:00pm

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