![]() The bulk of the cubes are sold in one ton totes, but the company is now expanding into making smaller bags for producers with smaller herds. The tubs weigh 200 pounds, and the density of the tub limits the intake of the supplement to roughly 2-pounds of product per day, which allows the cattle to meet their daily requirements. In addition to the cubes, the plant is now experimenting with tubs that have the DDGs compressed in them, so farmers can put out the tubs and not have to feed cubes every day. The plant now runs a research and development line as well, where they are developing new methods for compressing other feedstuffs such as sorghum. This is one of the largest ethanol facilities in the country. The grain is brought in from ethanol plants within a 100-mile radius, with the majority coming in from Pioneer Trail Energy Corporation, located in Wood River, Neb. There are five lines running at once, and production is increased on nearly a daily basis. The plant now runs 24 hours per day, 350 days per year with three shifts of workers. At their peak, the business will be looking at producing 10,000 pounds of cubes per hour. Rayeman Elements is now bringing in a truckload of DDGs per day, and shipping out a truckload of cubes a day. With a new building and 42 new employees, the business was able to amp up production. “We were able to hire a lot of great people who already knew each other and worked well together,” said Western. The building is 20,000 square feet, and we use all of it,” said Western.Īround the same time the building was leased and the business moved, the Monroe shock absorber plant in Cozad was scaling back, and the new business provided employment for people who may not have had a job elsewhere. It was also the only building we found that was big enough for what we thought we would need. It is the center of the range cube market. They settled on a building in Lexington, Neb., which was built to bring in businesses such as Rayeman Elements to help stimulate the local economy. Mike saw the DDGs as more like sawdust, and treated it as such,” said Western.Īfter the initial batch, Thomas and Western knew they had to find a bigger facility to produce their product. “A lot of people treated the DDGs like food products, and were putting them in food processors. ![]() Thomas was able to solve the problem because he looked at it differently than everyone else. Mike Ward, Vice President of the Agri-Group for Furst McNess. We can take Nebraska grains and make them usable for Nebraska beef producers. We have developed a product here that takes a corn by-product, and make it a very viable product for the beef industry. Many companies have tried to incorporate distiller’s grains into their cubes, but they haven’t been able to get a very high concentration without the cubes falling apart. “Beef producers have been unhappy for years trying to supplement protein for cattle on forage. However, the challenge of using it has left beef producers frustrated. Using distillers grains as a protein supplement is not a new idea. With these cubes, you get the optimum nutrition with this grain in a very compact, efficient form, and it actually stays together.” She continued, “People have been feeding cubes to their cattle for 20 years, but it wasn’t the most efficient way. “We made that original truckload, and then the farmers tested it out and they loved it,” said Western. The cubes were then developed for Furst McNess, a feed company started in 1908 that is now headquartered out of Illinois. We were able to control the density of the cube, which keeps it together,” she said. When Thomas looked at the problem, he realized he could keep the cubes together using a different piece of machinery and a different process. Either way it was done, the farmer had to buy and feed twice as much in order to get the nutrition to the cow.” ![]() The other way was using 100 percent distillers grains, but they would fall apart by the time they got to the farmer. The first was using fillers and binders, which kept the cube together, but it decreased the nutritional value. She continued, “What we learned was that there were two ways to make these cubes. He figured out a way to control the density of the cube, which kept it from falling apart,” said Samantha Western, President of Rayeman Elements. “Mike knew he could make these cubes without binders and fillers using different machines than the traditional cube makers. Prior to making the range cubes, Thomas spent 18 years in the extrusion industry using wood and plastics. Mike Thomas, the Director of Technology for Rayeman Elements, is the man behind the design. ![]()
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