anybody using sorghum/milo to finish broilers

[Tad]

I know it has less energy than corn so it would take a little longer, but I have a free supply and can grind it myself.
I ordered 30 broilers from the hatchery, I am just trying to stretch the feed $ as far as possible.......

 

[seramas]

Free feed is good with the right birds. The fast growing meat birds will have a lot of problems. The best variety for such feed is White Rocks Cockerels, slower growing (may take 10 weeks) but less health issues than regular broilers will have on it.

Try soaking some over night in a bucket, then rinse them and spread them out on an old sheet and roll it up. Rinse them each day and roll them back up. A warm room will hasten their sprouting. As sprouts they will have an increased nutrient value as feed. Start a batch every 2-3 days and feed equal amounts of the ground seed and sprouts. This might get the protein levels adequate for them. You don't need any special lighting to do this.

Do you plan to free range and/or tractor them? This would be a big plus nutrient wise. Water soluble vitamins and minerals (in drinking water) would be a must. They are relatively cheap.

Try feeding bread soaked with Acidophilus milk the first 2 or three weeks as a 'side dish'. This will prevent intestinal diseases.

I’m interested in hearing how it goes.

 

[Tad]

I plan on feeding them a non medicated game bird starter for the first five weeks then I would add the ground milo, but sprouting it like a mash has peaked my interest too now.... I usually just feed the milo as a treat/scratch to my layers who have an open run, and I toss liberal amounts of it to the others so they will stir the mulch up in the enclosed run.