GOSHEN, Ind. – Goshen-based Miller’s Grain Roasting – founded in 1987 – provides a mobile roasting service to the farm, feed mills or any location, the company’s owner said.

“Grain roasting is the process of taking raw grains and making (them) into a digestible product,” Steven Zimmerman explained. “Grains can be fed with our auger into the roaster from grain bins, hopper bins, semis, hopper bottom trailers and wagons. The grain then goes through a high heat rotating stainless steel oven. It is suspended in air from the rotating drum.

“The purging effect destroys toxins and molds. It makes the grain more highly digestible for the animal and safer to feed. The grain is then moved by our unload auger to wagons or bins.”

Roasting soybeans increases the bypass protein of the soybean, making it a full fat highly digestible feed source, he noted. Roasting neutralizes the two toxic enzymes in soybeans. Dairymen see increased butterfat and improved herd health, Zimmerman said.

Roasting corn gelatinizes it and gives it a caramelized flavor that livestock really enjoy, he pointed out. It provides the benefits of an earlier harvest and higher digestibility.

Zimmerman said all cereal grains can be roasted as needed for a variety of uses.

“Over the past few years, we have been having an increase in farmers that are needing non-GMO and organic grain roasted,” he said. “Most recently, there is much interest among farmers about roasting Plenish soybeans. Plenish soybeans (are) a high oleic soybean, making it very attractive to utilize it in livestock grower feed rations.”

The company was started by Alvin Miller, who Zimmerman said was introduced to the roasting business when he met the manufacturer of the machine. There was a stationary roasting unit in the area but no mobile unit that could go directly to the farm. “By having a mobile roaster, the farm-raised grain stays on the farm for feeding,” Zimmerman said. “Alvin saw the convenience that it would be for the farmer. He purchased his first mobile roasting unit and was trained by them.”

Miller learned of the Fort Wayne Farm Show through the manufacturer of the roasting machine, Zimmerman said.

“They came to the show as a way of advertising to the farming community,” Zimmerman said. “The farm show is a great place to meet many varieties of people in all aspects of the ag world.

“The Fort Wayne Farm Show is valuable to our business as a source of visibility. It keeps us connected to current customers and helps introduce our services to new ones.”

In 2009, Zimmerman – Miller’s son-in-law – purchased the business from him. Zimmerman was raised on a dairy farm and operated Steve’s Hoof Trimming for 27 years, ending in 2006. He said he was excited to get back into the farming community with the purchase.

For more information on the company, visit www.millersgrainroasting.com.