Meat Newbie?'s ablout feeding Mash.

[SmokinChick]

I found a local mill that supplies area farms with "Broiler Mash" I didn't recognize the name of the company but the farms are small local market types. 50lbs for $13.00 good price for this area. So I know nothing about mash. He had a sample in a baggie. It looked like powder.
Do I feed the "mash" up to slaughter?
I don't have to wet the mash all the time? Do I?
Right now I feed my layers crumbles. They will stop eating when the feeder has to much powder in it. Will the meaties eat powder?
Any thoughts or opinions would be welcome.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I feed a local mill's ground Hubbard Feeds mash. $17.75 for layer 100#.

I moisten the mash. In a bucket, I just add a little moisture and stir. It's consistency (depending on mill) is not nearly as fine and powdery as it may first appear. When a little moisture is applied, the result is a course cereal that more resembles Crumbles than anything else.

Some folks use a little oil to provide the "glue", while others do nothing and have no issues, depending on what type of feeder one has.

Simply put, if it weren't for my being able to buy locally milled mash at HALF the price of pre-bagged feeds, I'd show zero profit on the egg business. I intend to also grow some dual purpose White Plymouth Rocks out this summer, for meat and they too will be fed a locally, ground Hubbard Mill mash. It is simple economics.

 

[Fred's Hens]

You can always add a little moisture to the powder of bagged feeds as well. Crumbles typically have a lot of powder at the bottom of the bag. No worries.
Dump the powder into a bucket, moisten adequately, stir and feed. Ta Da. The birds LOVE it moistened as well.

 

[bigredfeather]

I found a local mill that supplies area farms with "Broiler Mash" I didn't recognize the name of the company but the farms are small local market types. 50lbs for $13.00 good price for this area. So I know nothing about mash. He had a sample in a baggie. It looked like powder.
Do I feed the "mash" up to slaughter?
I don't have to wet the mash all the time? Do I?
Right now I feed my layers crumbles. They will stop eating when the feeder has to much powder in it. Will the meaties eat powder?
Any thoughts or opinions would be welcome.

You can feed mash all the way thru and you don't have to add any liquid, but you can. Meaties will eat anything and everything, so no worries there. I often add raw goat milk or kefir to my mash. It takes a little extra time, but is worth it.

 

[SmokinChick]

Thanks to you all.
Looks like I'll be running the mash. We are looking forward to raising these meaties. End of March and I'll be a meat rancher. I begin the tractor build next week. I will be using nipples for water and a rain gutter trough for feed.
Again thank you