Processing Procedures for The Andersons bed-o'cobs® Products

The corncobs that are precision milled for bed-o'cobs are sourced from seed corn growers processing facilities. The "corn on the cob" or so-called ear corn is shelled by the seed company after drying the corn and the cob as one unit with natural gas. The seed company then packages the corn kernels to sell to farmers and growers for spring planting. The dry corncob material is then transported to our mill in Delphi, Indiana to be further processed. Before grinding, sizing, and aspirating, the material is further dried through a constant velocity natural gas fired dryer which typically has an air temperature of 450 degrees. The finished material has a moisture content of less than 8%.

In the milling or grinding section of the mill, the cobs are fractionated into various components based on density and size of the material. Using equipment such as hammer and roller mills, the cob particles are ground into smaller sizes, and then by air aspiration the light density components are separated from the heavy dense portion of the corncob.

Using additional air and screening methods the lightweight material is separated into various fractions, which are suited for other specific markets. Similarly the "grit," or heavy dense material, is either collected or reduced further to the desired sizes such as 1/8 and 1/4. This procedure is accomplished by passing through large multi-deck sifters that separate and classify by particle size. The material from the sifters is checked for consistency and specification accuracy and then is transferred to bagging bins for packaging.

Our manufacturing facility and warehouse are inspected on a regular basis by a licensed pest control company. All finished products are stored in a secure warehouse that is separate from the manufacturing facility. Our mill and warehouse, as well as all of our distributors warehouses or trucks, do not store or deliver animals.