College of Agriculture and Bioresources

About

The Canadian Feed Research Centre (CFRC) is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Government of Saskatchewan, the University of Saskatchewan (USask), Western Economic Diversification, with substantial in-kind participation from industry and private donations.

Our Mission

  • Provide research, development and commercialization of new and better high-value animal feeds from low-value crops, co-products from bioprocessing and biofuels industries, and novel feed additives.
  • Cater to clientele from academia, government, commodity groups and private industry in order to provide value to the Saskatchewan and Canadian agricultural industries.

Funding

The CFRC has funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to support feed and bioprocessing innovation services for Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A maximum of $10,000 per year is available for each SME for services including:
  • feed ingredient evaluation and new feed product development
  • animal performance and challenge trials
  • feed registration advisement, feed processing improvement and biomass utilization
  • feed additive stability and homogeneity testing during feed processing
  • toll manufacturing
  • in-house analytical lab which provides wet chemical testing
Please see the document for more info.

Facilities and Equipment

Services

Chicks, Pigs and Fish

Advisory Service

  • Animal feed development and evaluation
  • Feed processing
  • Product development
  • Market feasibility analysis
  • CFIA feed registration
  • FDA/USDA/AAFCO regulatory advisement
  • Research network coordination
  • Project management
  • Research proposal development

Feed Processing Service (Commercial/Research Level)

  • Manufactory of diets to customer specifications in animal feeding and nutrition research studies (typical batch quantities produced may range from 50 kg to 20 tonnes and can be provided in bulk or in bags)
  • Examination of equipment, processing methods, processing conditions and feed ingredients on nutritional value and processing efficiency for both academic and industrial clients
  • Toll processing and facility rental for proprietary research
  • Scaling up of research findings to the industrial scale for effective and efficient transfer of technology to industry
  • Training and workshops

Shipping address for feed processing services

Canadian Feed Research Centre - Feed Mill
Attention: Dr. Rex Newkirk
University of Saskatchewan
Agriculture Building, Shipping and Receiving
Room 1E26.1
51 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8

306-966-4279

 

Analytical Lab Analysis (Standard/Customized)

CFRC employs a full-time laboratory technician and offers a variety of nutritional and anti-nutritional analyses on a fee for service basis. Please complete the FII Sample Submission Form and have it accompany your feed sample when shipping.

Shipping address for analytical lab analysis

Canadian Feed Research Centre - Analytical Lab
Attention: Chuyuan Zhang
University of Saskatchewan
Agriculture Building, Shipping and Receiving
Room 1E26.1
51 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8

306-966-6807

Research and Education

CFRC Research and Teaching

The CFRC provides unique feed processing research capabilities covering the full scale spectrum from the research laboratory to pilot scale to industrial scale.

The pilot scale feed processing line has a maximum capacity of two tonnes feed per hour and includes the following components: roller mill, hammer mill, 50 kg mixer, flaker with a steam chamber, pellet mill including a feeder and triple pass conditioner, twin-screw extruder including a feeder and a conditioner, counterflow cooler, crumbler, triple deck screener, dryer, and lab and industrial scale vacuum coaters.  The pilot line also includes bulk ingredient receiving, storage and load-out, and will be completely automated with capability for extensive data and sample collection.

The industrial line has a fully automated 20 tonne per hour multi-species feed capacity and includes two 250 HP hammer mills, a three tonne Ribbon mixer and a three tonne surge hopper, a 300 HP pellet mill with conditioner and screener, liquid coating application system, bulk receiving, storage and load-out systems and complete process control.

Currently, Feed Processing Concepts and Realities (ANSC 840.3) and Feed Processing Technology (ANSC 316.3)  are offered as a graduate/undergraduate courses in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science.

 

Benefits

  • Access to nutritional expertise and research facilities within USask
  • A broad array of analytical services provided by in-house lab services
  • Globally unique feed mill allows specific feed manufacturing processes using three scales of operations

Webinars

News

Contacts

Chuyuan Zhang 
Interim Industry Liaison
Canadian Feed Research Centre
Department of Animal and Poultry Science
University of Saskatchewan
chuyuan.zhang@usask.ca 
306-966-6807

Rex Newkirk, Ph.D., P.Ag.
Associate Professor
Ministry of Agriculture Endowed Research Chair Feed Processing Technology
Department of Animal and Poultry Science
University of Saskatchewan
rex.newkirk@usask.ca
306-966-4279 

 

CFRC Feed Mill address on Google Map