There was a niche for a while of roasting feed.  I don't know how that turned out, but may be cheaper than a pellet mill.

Our "pellet mill" man was good at getting the pellets we wanted but we were noticing the bag weight variation I mentioned about.  I was the quality control man so I was watching Larry pretty close to see what all went into the process.  The ration/production sheet called for a certain about of water per ton; it was computerized, but what does a computer know about running a pellet mill.  Once in a while Larry would add another 5 gallons of water so I asked him about it and he said, yes, he added water if it helped make a better pellet.  Once we got his input and thoughts we were better able to predict what we needed to do to control the bagged weight.

As a side note, we were in a small town in CO and Larry lived up the highway a few miles in another small town.  He drank a little too much one night and whipped a couple of cops who made the mistake of thinking maybe Larry was a little out of line.  They got some backup and put him in jail overnight.  Now you never met a nicer guy than Larry sober, quiet and reserved, loved a good joke.

The mill manager was out of town for the week and the mill superintendent got wind of the weekend incident and was struggling with what to do, he sure didn't want to lose his best pellet mill man but he did not like the idea of someone beating up those poor law folks.  So he asked me for some advice.  I asked him if Larry had ever let him down on the job, and he said no, he had never missed a day without some good cause and he was by far the best pellet mill man he had.  I told him to let the law worry about Larry's mean streak and to only judge his employment on how he performed his job.  Larry was still working there after I left.

So, be careful how big you get, qualified people are hard to find and keep.

I suggest you find a local feed mill and go in an visit with them.  Be up front about your interests, you may find a good sales job or a production job that would fulfill your ambitions while you are learning the game.  CO just down the road from me has a great operation (Ranchway) that probably would be great to work for.  They recently saw a demand for organic feed and have been producing some for a year or two.

Locally you may find a mill that knows of a niche they have no interest in pursuing that you could fill, or maybe you could help them develop that niche as an employee.  Employee is sort of a dirty word, until you add in a few words like guaranteed income, benefits and nights and weekends home.