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In the first of our series of strategic alliances, we travel across the Irish sea to the small community of Goresbridge in County Kilkenny.

Since 1908, when William Connelly had the bright idea of painting the mill of the roof red to stand out from the competition, Connolly’s Red Mills have been producing initially for the local farming community, but by 1954 the third generation of the Connolly family, Liam Connolly, led Connolly’s Red Mills into a new era of product technology and innovation. That’s where we came in: Christy Turner supplied the original ‘Turner Rolls’ and prior to that, as early as the 1930’s we supplied a set of cold drop forged rolls.

In 1963, local racehorse trainer Paddy Mullins came to the Connollys for advice on a horse that wouldn’t eat up. They didn’t make horse feed, but Liam decided to work on it. 50 years and hundreds of Group and Grade One winners in over 80 countries later, Redmills are a world leader in specialist equine nutrition as well as pet and agri feeds.

Joe Connolly, CEO of Redmills, 5^th Generation, brings us up to date:

“Reliability is key for us. We operate 3 sets of Turner 550 Flaking Mills, 2 sets with steam chests. 1 set on a microniser. These flaking mills are in use 24 hours a day, 6 days a week and they have given us 100% reliability. The belts never fail and the bearings give us no trouble at all. Apart from general servicing our Turner mills just keep on milling. The variable speed roller also ensures that we can produce grain flakes to our exacting measurements. The importance of fuel to a race horse cannot be overstated. We produce that fuel for over 80 countries plus our home market and the UK: We sell the product cooked on these plants as far away as China and Japan, Middle East and Europe. Christy Turner flaking mills and their reliability are key to this”

Talking to Joe about his family’s exceptional history with Christy Turner, I learn that the two organisations share many intrinsic values: absolutely nothing is outsourced, just as Christy Turner manufacture every part of their hammer mills, flaking mills, pulverizers and roller mills at their own UK foundry, Connollys are entirely self-sufficient from grain to export process. Nothing is left to chance or another manufacturer, everything relies on a ‘tried, tested and trusted’ ethos.

Nothing less than what you would expect from 2 companies that are ingrained with rich history and a partnership of some 80 years strong.

Read more about our Flaking mills and steam conditioners here.

Read more about Connolly’s Redmills feed here.