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From 2 Tons to Something Bigger: Our Togo Premix Story

2026-10-09 20:38

Sometimes a long-term partnership does not start with a container.

It starts with 2 tons.

Our customer in Togo, WAT CATTLE FOOD, first contacted us looking for cattle premix. At the beginning, the conversation was quite normal: products, prices, packing, shipping.

Then the questions became much more interesting.

“What formula should I use with the raw materials available in Togo?”

“What daily weight gain can I realistically expect?”

“How much concentrate and forage should I feed?”

“Can you separate muscle growth from fat deposition?”

“For dairy cows, how much milk can actually be collected after the calf drinks?”

At that point, I knew this was not going to be a simple “send quotation, wait for payment” project.

And honestly, that is the kind of project I enjoy most.

The first problem: our premix had to fit Togo, not the other way around

The customer had access to ingredients such as palm kernel cake, rice bran, corn and corn by-products, wheat bran, cassava, bean residues, hay, straw and Maralfalfa.

His original cattle formula was based on a 1% premix.

Our BF14S, however, is designed for 4% inclusion.

So we could not simply replace his old premix with ours and say, “Done.”

Feed formulation unfortunately does not work like changing a phone charger.

The whole formula had to be rebalanced.

Our technical team therefore started from his actual raw materials and feeding conditions, rather than copying a standard Chinese corn-soybean formula.

One beef cattle formula was not enough

The customer wanted two different programs:

- 150–250 kg cattle: mainly for growth and muscle development;

- 250–400 kg cattle: growth followed by finishing and fat deposition.

For each stage, he wanted protein, energy, fiber, calcium, phosphorus and sodium, but also daily concentrate intake, forage intake, expected ADG, FCR, fattening period and feed cost per kilogram of gain.

One question was particularly challenging:

How much muscle and how much fat does the animal gain every day?

It sounds simple. It is not.

Without specialized measurements, it would be irresponsible to give an exact daily number.

So instead of inventing a beautiful figure, we suggested measurable indicators: average daily gain, FCR, body condition, chest girth, back-fat thickness and carcass yield.

A number that can be measured is much more useful than a number that simply looks good in a presentation.

Dairy cattle brought another set of questions

For the dairy side, the customer selected CP15, our 5% dairy cow premix.

He raises Goudali cattle and asked for more than a basic concentrate formula.

He wanted to know daily concentrate, forage dry matter, fresh forage quantity, water intake, protein and mineral requirements, expected total milk production, milk consumed by the calf, and finally:

How much milk can actually be recovered and sold?

That last number matters.

A cow may produce milk, but the farmer earns from the milk he can actually collect.

So our dairy program also had to look at the farm from a commercial point of view, not only a nutrition table.

The customer also wanted proof, not promises

Besides formulas, he requested French labels, technical sheets, batch information, factory inspection documents, COA options, traceability, Certificate of Origin and a practical trial protocol.

That is another lesson from this project:

A distributor does not only need a good product. He needs a product he can explain, test, trace and sell with confidence.

So we agreed to start small.

The first order is:

1 MT BF14S for beef cattle + 1 MT CP15 for dairy cows.

Two tons.

Not a huge order.

But behind these two tons are weeks of discussion about raw materials, formulas, cattle weight, milk, logistics, labels, testing and documentation.

The customer has already made payment, and production has started.

Why this project matters to me

Our goal is not simply to sell these first two tons.

WAT CATTLE FOOD wants to build a serious local product range in Togo, test the formulas under real farm conditions, and gradually develop the market in Togo and neighboring countries.

If the trial performs well, the next step will be larger orders, more products and deeper cooperation.

That is the partnership we want to build.

Not:

“Here is our product. Please adapt your farm to it.”

But:

“Tell us what you have, what you need, and what problem you are trying to solve. Then we work on it together.”

Two tons may be small in a warehouse.

But sometimes, 2 tons can carry a lot of trust.

And hopefully, this is only the beginning.

Shelly Qi

International Business Manager

New Hope Liuhe Co., Ltd.