Interactive lesson

Mixing your own feed, step by step

Interactive lesson: a home mix from your own grain with the sums done properly: ingredient protein, the Pearson square, grinding, mixing and rations by species.

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The whole lesson as text

1. Does it pay?

With bought feed you pay for haulage, milling, the bag and the merchant, while a home mix can be cheaper and just as good.

Your own grain — A home mix pays when you grow your own maize, barley or oats. You still buy the meal and premix.
Enough animals — You need enough animals to mix at least 50–100 kg a month. All the recipes are per 100 kg (220 lb) of mix.
A mill nearby — The third condition is a roller mill, hammer mill or a mill that will grind for you nearby. You also need scales, a barrel or bin and a shovel.
Starter for young stock — In your first year, buy starter for chicks and piglets and mix only for adult stock. Bought starter often contains a coccidiostat that protects the young.

Why: It can be, but it isn't always. The most common fault in a home mix is too little protein, calcium and vitamins: hens lay less, piglets grow slowly, chicks fall behind.

For 5 hens, bought feed is almost always simpler.
For 20 hens, 2 pigs and 3 goats on your own maize and barley, the sums turn round quickly.

2. Ingredients and protein

Grain gives energy, meal gives protein, and minerals and premix give bones, eggshell and health.

Grain gives energy — Maize has roughly 8.5 % protein and the most energy. Barley and oats have 11 %, wheat 12 %.
Meal gives protein — Soya bean meal has 44 %, sunflower meal 33 %. Feed peas at 21 % are the home-grown substitute for soya.
Minerals and premix — Feed limestone has roughly 38 % calcium, with phosphate and salt alongside. Premix makes up 2–4 % of a poultry or pig ration.
What must never go in — Raw soya and raw beans are poisonous until heat-treated. Mouldy grain, rye with ergot, urea and meat and bone meal must never go in either.

Why: The figures are rough averages for grain at 12–14 % moisture. Every batch is a little different; the exact figure comes from a laboratory analysis or the label on bought meal.

A premix for that species is essential for poultry and pigs: without it, vitamins and trace elements are missing.
Never give sheep a mix or minerals meant for goats, cattle or pigs: copper.