Bulk Seed Purchases

[GregH]

Aviculturists are primary producers, turning raw ingredients into a finished products. For Estrillid finches arguably the most important input is seed so I decided to go to the source and see just how it's done by visiting MaxiSeed, just out of Murrami, near Leeton in Southern NSW. Maxiseed is a small family run business owned and operated by Max Douglas and his family. As an adjunct to his seed-drying and cleaning service, Maxiseed moves about 6-7 tones of seed a week which sounds a lot but he considers himself to be a small player. As well as his own mix, Max will buy in seed and blend custom mixes for larger orders.

The Douglas's farm is well known to Riverina based aviculturists because of the care Max takes to produce a quality product that is freshly harvested, cleaned and stored to ensure that it maintains viability (good for sprouting) is is uncontaminated by weed seeds, seed dust, insects and his facility is fully rodent proofed so there's no worry about rodents or sparrow faeces. Max and his son Tim told me that even at the hight of last season's mouse plague nothing got in. They take great care to ensure that pests don't enter their storage facility by throughly inspecting bulk commodities and equipment.

Max grows about 100ha of Canary Seed and about 50Ha of the small grey-stripe sunflower relished by small parrots on his property, Farm 1067, Murrami Road. In addition to his own seed he imports freshly harvested Panicum, red & white millets (Settaria italica) and Canola from elsewhere in NSW and Queensland. Seed is stored in 1/2 tonne plastic bins in the the storage shed so even if the odd mouse walks in the door during the day it can not climb into the bins.

I asked Max about green-seed like the Lowes provide in Queensland but he doesn't have a cool-room and freezer facilities so didn't think it was worth his while. Looking around the districts ripening rice crops and disused food processing facilities there may a business opportunity for a local business to start up but it won't be Max. Working with canary seed has it's own hazards too that I wasn't aware of so it may not be a great plant to use as a green seed source anyway. Max told me that unlike the Phalaris aquatica, that is often seen around swampy areas in southern Australia, the commercial canary seed plant is covered in rough silicacious hairs that become an irritating dust at harvest, before it goes through the seed cleaning process.

Max keeps a few birds of his own, mainly native parrots in a large aviary between his residence and the seed storage shed. He's actually considering getting rid of the parrots and swapping over to finches. They will like the freedom of his aviary but he will have to build a feeding station/trap to be able to manage them.

To make it worthwhile for Max's business his minimum shipments are half tonne palates of 20 kg bags of seed or mixes. This works out to be about $23 a bag for his budgie mix and about $18 for his finch mix but the final cost would depend on where the palate is being freighted to or if you order a custom mix. As such you have to be a large consumer or reseller to make this exercise worthwhile. Max sells directly to a number of clubs directly who then redistribute the seed to members so it's worth investigating. If you visiting the Leeton area call ahead you may be able to meet up and purchase smaller quantities if he has an overrun. Max's home number is (02) 6955 2275.

As with all purchases it's "buyer beware" but from my viewing the Douglas's operation appears to be very well run and providing a good product and good service to the avicultural community. Max's enterprise is vertically integrated from paddock to plate on his own farm so he is more than aware of his client's needs. In case you're wondering I'm not related to him or receive and benefit from promoting his product but if I were to ever live back in Leeton again I know where I would be getting my seed.

[gomer]

I bought a little over a ton from him a few months back. I am happy with the product and service. It is good to see and hear more about this bussiness that I had not seen or heard before. Thanks Greg for your report on what I thought was a caring bussiness now I have heard first hand.