Rapid growth of the formula feed industry in the 1950s brought a wave of feed mill construction. The American Feed Manufacturers Association, feed manufacturers, suppliers and educators – the latter notably from Kansas State University – cooperated to support that growth.
As the industry grew, its demand for services grew. Feed regulation – a major reason for the formation of AFMA back in 1909 – remained critically important for the industry and the association through the decades.
“Probably the most demanding service AFMA was asked to perform during the 1960s was providing effective answers to feed control questions faced by feed mills of all kinds, types and sizes,” said AFMA staff member Glenn Berger in a 1975 report. “So important was this industry-government relationship, especially that involving the Food and Drug Administration, that in 1960 AFMA activated and staffed a new department of feed control and nutrition to concentrate on this specific segment of association service. Lee H. Boyd was selected as director of the new department.”
AFMA stayed active in developing and modifying the uniform feed bill and its companion regulations. As the association worked with regulatory officials and members to revise the Association of American Feed Control Officials model feed bill during the 1960s, a study group looked into federal and state regulations. The heightened importance of federal government activities led the association to open a new office in 1964 near Washington, D.C.
All the while, a new kind of feed was becoming a hot topic. Molasses, an ingredient in the feed industry’s history from the 1800s, became the foundation for liquid feeds. Virtually every national and regional feed company produced liquid feeds as a complement to dry formula feed lines, but they and their products met mixed success. And their efforts would be tied to the surprising success of a new AFMA program in the next decade.
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