The Skinner’s mill has been a traditional part of the Suffolk landscape since 1688.  The Mill has belonged to the Skinner family for seven generations, but it was the idea of the current Chairman, Roger Skinner, to branch into complete dry dog foods in the early 1970’s – a time when there were very few competitors in this sector of the market.  The manufacture of complete dry dog foods was a natural progression from animal feed compounding, and with an excellent reputation already well established the move proved extremely successful.

Skinner’s originally manufactured two diets, Dog Meal and Dog Food, and these proved extremely popular with many of the local gundog and wildfowlers clubs.

Through recommendation, the benefits and suitability of these diets for working dogs soon became more widespread, and before long many of the country’s top kennels were feeding Skinner’s foods with excellent results.  In the early 1980’s due to customer demand, Skinner’s in conjunction with their nutritionists developed other foods to suit a wider range of dietary needs. Ruff & Ready instantly became a huge success, not only with working dogs, but customers with show dogs and pet dogs alike.

Whilst Skinner’s past and present is firmly connected to the working gundog sector, we are proud to supply our foods to a wide range of customers, including several police forces, many husky racing teams, and many show dog, obedience and agility dog customers.

Other products in the Skinner’s range were launched during the 80’s and early 90’s, and following a change in the  VAT status on working dog foods , Skinner’s launched their Field & Trial range in the early 1990s. Originally just two foods:  Crunchy & Muesli , the range now comprises  eight specifically formulated diets,  including the recent addition of the two very popular Hypoallergenic foods, namely Duck & Rice and Salmon & Rice.