Anyone who manufactures, imports or sells animal feed in South Africa must register with the Registrar under Act 36 of 1947. Registration takes up to four months, needs a laboratory analysis of your product, and lasts three years. Everything else in this guide depends on getting that right first.
South Africa has a large and steady livestock sector, and feed is the biggest single input cost most farmers carry. That makes feed manufacturing a real business rather than a speculative one, because demand does not disappear when the economy slows. Animals eat either way.
It is also one of the more heavily regulated things you can manufacture, and this is where most new entrants come unstuck. You cannot legally sell a bag of feed to a farmer until the product is registered. Plan the business around that fact rather than discovering it after you have bought a mill.
The registration you cannot skip
Animal feed and pet food in South Africa fall under the Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act, 1947 (Act 36 of 1947). If you manufacture, import or sell farm feed, you must be registered with the Registrar of Act 36, which sits within the national agriculture department in Pretoria.
The process runs roughly like this. You send a sample of the feed to an accredited laboratory and have it analysed. You complete the application form and have it signed in front of a Commissioner of Oaths. You submit that form with a covering letter, the laboratory certificate of analysis, your proposed product label and proof of payment.
Two details matter for your planning. Processing takes up to four months, so it belongs at the start of your timeline and not the end. And a product registration is valid for three years, after which it must be renewed. Each distinct product you sell needs its own registration, so a range of six feeds is six applications, not one.
Fees change annually and are published in the department’s tariff schedule, so confirm the current amount before you budget. The Animal Feed Manufacturers Association is the industry body and a useful source of technical guidance once you are trading.
Who actually buys feed, and what they buy
Decide early which animal you are feeding, because it changes the plant, the formulation and the customer entirely.
Poultry is the largest feed market in the country and the most price-sensitive, which means volume and tight margins. Cattle splits into dairy, where nutrition is measured closely and buyers are technical, and beef feedlots, which buy in bulk on contract. Pigs sit somewhere between. Small stock, meaning sheep and goats, is a smaller but less contested market. Game feed and equine feed are niches with better margins and lower volumes.
For a new operator without heavy capital, small stock, game or a regional poultry niche is usually a more realistic entry than trying to compete with the national mills on broiler feed.
Formulation is the actual product
The feed itself is not a commodity, it is a formulation, and that formulation is what you register and what you are legally accountable for.
Work with a qualified animal nutritionist rather than copying a recipe. The label you register states the nutrient content, and your product has to match it when an inspector pulls a sample. Overstating protein on a label is not a marketing decision, it is a compliance failure.
Raw materials are typically maize or another grain base, a protein source such as soybean or sunflower oilcake, then vitamins, minerals and additives. Input prices move with the commodity market and the exchange rate, which is the single biggest threat to your margin.
Site, plant and the equipment you need
You need a site your municipality will zone for manufacturing, with road access a delivery truck can use and space for raw material storage, production and finished stock.
A basic plant runs a hammer mill for grinding, a mixer, a pellet mill if you are selling pellets rather than mash, and bagging equipment. Buy for the volume you can actually sell in year one with room to add capacity, because an oversized mill standing idle is the fastest way to burn working capital.
Storage deserves more thought than it usually gets. Grain held badly grows mould, and mould in feed is both a legal problem and a reputational one.
Quality control is what keeps you trading
Mycotoxins, particularly aflatoxin from poorly stored maize, are the risk that closes feed businesses. They are invisible, they harm the animals that eat them, and they trace straight back to you.
Test incoming raw materials rather than trusting a supplier certificate, test finished batches, and keep retention samples of everything you sell with the batch number and date. When a farmer phones to say his birds are off feed, a retained sample is the difference between a contained conversation and a recall you cannot defend.
Keep your records. Batch numbers, supplier lots, analysis results and delivery notes are what an inspector asks for, and what your insurer will want if a claim ever lands.
Pricing, margin and getting paid
Feed is sold on a rand per ton basis and buyers compare prices closely, so you will not win on price against a national mill. You win on consistency, on being close enough to deliver quickly, and on service the big mills do not offer to a small farmer.
Watch your working capital. You buy grain in bulk and get paid on terms, which means cash goes out well before it comes back. Agree payment terms in writing and enforce them from the first invoice, because a feed business with a full order book and unpaid invoices still fails.
Getting your feed to farmers
Sell direct to farms in your area, through agricultural co-operatives, and through rural farm supply stores. Co-operatives give volume but squeeze margin. Direct farm sales give margin but cost you time and delivery.
Delivery is part of the product in this business. A farmer who runs out of feed has an immediate problem, and reliability wins accounts that price alone will not. If you are running your own vehicles, the practicalities are covered in our guide on operating a transport business in South Africa.
Funding the plant
Milling equipment, a site and the raw material float make this a capital-hungry start compared with a service business. Development finance and agricultural lenders understand this sector, and equipment finance is often easier to raise than working capital because the machine itself is security.
Our overview of funding options for manufacturing businesses and the guide to government funding for SMEs are the places to start. Interest rate movements hit agribusiness harder than most sectors, which our piece on why stable interest rates matter for South African agribusinesses sets out.
Lenders will want a proper plan. Our business plan template for small businesses covers the structure, and you will need the company registered first, which our guide to registering a small business in South Africa explains.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a licence to make animal feed in South Africa?
Yes. Manufacturing, importing or selling farm feed requires registration under Act 36 of 1947 with the Registrar in Pretoria. Each product is registered separately and registration lasts three years.
How long does feed registration take?
Up to four months from submission, which is why it should be one of the first things you start rather than something you handle once the plant is built.
What do I need to submit?
A completed application form signed before a Commissioner of Oaths, a covering letter, a certificate of analysis from an accredited laboratory, your proposed product label and proof of payment.
Can I start small from a farm shed?
You can start at modest scale, but the same registration rules apply whatever your size, and your premises still need to be suitable and correctly zoned. There is no small producer exemption that lets you sell unregistered feed.
Which livestock feed market is easiest to enter?
Small stock, game and equine feeds generally have less price pressure than poultry, which is the largest market but also the most competitive on price.
Further reading
Originally published in December 2023. Updated September 2026 with current registration requirements. Fees are set annually in the department tariff schedule, so confirm current amounts with the Registrar before you budget.
