History

Arthur ran the Ballyconnell Mills for over a decade during challenging times. After the Second World War, food supply was scarce and the population began to rise. During this time, Arthur recognised the trend changing towards complete specialisation and decided to cease production of oatmeal and concentrate on maize products.

The mills were modernised to facilitate specialisation. State of the art maize flaking, grinding and compound mixing plants were installed, as well as an ESB motor in case of power failure. A large quantity of new machinery was installed, including up to date maize flaking, grinding and compound mixing plants. Separate units were provided for each machine, as well as ESB motors to assist the turbine in case of power failure. The old four storey stone building, which despite its age, was uncommonly bright inside, was divided into three main sections. All raw materials were brought from the nearby railway station by lorry and deposited in the ground-floor store. From there, the grain elevator took them to the warehouse where they were stored in four tonne bins.

The century old Ballyconnell Mill continued to cater for the needs of the surrounding counties, Cavan, Leitrim, Longford and Monaghan. Arthur second enterprise was the purchase of David Malone Mills at Lower Sean McDermott Street in Dublin, serving a wide region stretching from Co. Galway to Co. Wexford. Housed in an old church believed to have been built for one of the Dukes of Gloucester, the Dublin mills were purchased by Arthur in 1956, on the retirement of David Malone to Killiney. The historic building was used for feed manufacturing for many years, but there remained to be a clause in the deeds forbidding the manufacture of candles, tinwork, tanning or any other activity which might, by sound or scent inconvenience the residents of the neighbourhood, namely the nuns in the Magdelene Laundry next door. These premises were later known as A.W. Ennis (Dublin) Ltd. This expansion allowed the company to focus on poultry feed, which coincided with the onset intensification of agriculture, particularly of the pig and poultry sectors.

A stone mill in Mountmellick, Co. Laois was the base for A.W. Ennis (Mountmellick) Ltd. This was the site for pig feed milling.

Of course, A.W. Ennis Ltd was not immune to occasional mis-haps. During the 1960s, a quick minded individual (and appropiately placed given the distinct lack of cameras compared to today…) caught on camera an unfortunate incident involving a lorry loaded with barley and a very muddy verge. With barley selling for anything up to £70 a tonne (a lot of money back then), the driver and several helpers were determined to bag the precious cargo following the accident.

A specialist dairy coarse feed plant was built in Ballyconnell, which was the first of its kind in Ireland. The coarse feed range, known as Krunch, is still popular today.

A fire at the original Ballyconnell mill broke out during the night. Oak beams and floors in the massive four storey building burnt for three days before finally extinguishing. This brought to a close milling within this stone building, which had stood the test of time for over 150 years.

A micro-addition plant was installed in the Virginia mill, which was capable of adding over 20 vitamin and mineral products, as well as prescribed medications into various finished feeds.

In the UK and Ireland, the general industry standards, known as ISO 9000, were in use for quality management and assurance, However, A.W. Ennis made a commercial decision to implement a novel industry quality standard, known as HACCP (hazard analysis critical control point). This system is now the norm in feed milling as well as many other industries. A.W. Ennis may well have been the first European mill to use HACCP as an industry standard.

The Virginia mill began to expand more into the ruminant sector, and installed ruminant sieving bins, out-loading bins and liquid spraying, as well as the addition of an extra 200 tonnes of storage capacity.

Macro ingredient plant was installed at the Virginia mill to add items such as salt, sodium carbonate and mono-cal phosphate in 1998

With production levels exceeding 2000 tonnes per week, a new office block was built on the Virginia site, to facilitate the increased work load on office staff and record keeping.

The untimely death of General Manager Sydney Higgins shocked and saddened all who knew him. As an integral part of A.W. Ennis for many years, Sydney was a member of the family. “Sydney Higgins: A friend to all”

After several salmonella scares within the European poultry industry, along with E.U. feed regulation changes, the Irish government decided to heat-treat all its poultry feed to destroy salmonella before it reached the farms. A heat treated mash plant, the largest of its kind in Ireland and funded by E.U. grants, was built at the Virginia mill, to facilitate the manufacture of heat-treated, salmonella free poultry diets. Partial funding for the project was granted by Intra-Egg Ireland.

Partial funding from Enterprise Ireland enabled the Virginia mill to expand with the addition of an American CPM 7900 Press line for the manufacture of pellets, a 4 tonne Dutch Ottvanger mixer and a 2.6 KVA transformer to facilitate the extra electrical demand going through the mill

After five years, the move is almost complete. Today, nearly all of the plant and equipment has been moved to Virginia, and the current mill is now producing over 200,000 tonnes of animal feed per year.

A.W. Ennis has recently been granted full planning permission for an additional state of the art milling plant at the Virginia site dedicated to the manufacture of biosecure poultry feed. Our project team have worked tirelessly to ensure the safe and efficient build of the mill and to finally see the structure taking shape is fantastic!

The bio mill is now fully commissioned and manufacturing top quality bio secure poultry feed.

The Mill today