SDSU Feed Mill Hires New Manager

Trent McKee, a 2016 South Dakota State University animal science alum, was recently hired as the new manager of the SDSU Feed Mill.

Throughout McKee's coursework at SDSU, he learned the basics of animal management and husbandry for the horses, swine, sheep, beef and dairy cattle housed at the SDSU livestock units. The information he learned through his classes taught him that animals' diets change as they age and can vary depending on the animal's production goals.

"Trent will provide both the leadership and labor that is necessary to maintain and operate the mill in a manner that enables the facilities to carry out the land grant mission," said Joseph Cassady, South Dakota Corn Endowed Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.

McKee's experience following his graduation from SDSU has consisted of working in various single-product manufacturing facilities, which provided him with the knowledge on how to better operate and maintain equipment used in feed mills.

"I hope I can combine all of my experiences to make the most efficient use of the equipment here," said McKee.

At the mill, McKee's role is to procure all the ingredients to create the specific diets that are used by the different livestock units, as well as special diets that are used in research trials.

McKee says that his work varies – some days he makes and delivers diets, while other days he may perform preventative maintenance on equipment to preserve its productive longevity. He also oversees the inventory to ensure there is always an adequate amount of feed on hand.

"The goal of the feed mill is to make sure it effectively supports the livestock teaching and research facilities here at South Dakota State University," said Cassady. "It enables the facilities to better carry out our research mission."

To meet these goals, the farm department on campus communicates with the nutrition units to determine their needs for the upcoming year and works to grow and harvest all the feed that the units will need.

"It is important to have our feed mill on campus because nutrition research is a focus among our livestock facilities," said Cassady. “Nutrition research projects often require very specialized diets in small batches which meet the needs of our research done at SDSU."

McKee is excited about some of the recent changes to the mill such as the addition of three new grain legs, four new distributors, a new 10,000-bushel capacity grain bin and a new cyclone setup for the pellet mill to replace the existing equipment. These improvements will increase the life expectancy of the current building and allow the mill to keep serving the units for years to come.