Question about Feed Freshness

[A Couple of Geese]

Hi everyone!
I just bought another large bag of the All Flock food I usually use, and noticed this time there are dark pellets mixed in with the usual light pellets. I've never noticed this before, is this normal or should I return the feed? The mill date is about 2-3 weeks ago and it smells fine.

Thank you!

 

[HKG]

The green stuff looks moldy to me, but I don't know for sure. Could it be that they are mixing in new ingredients?

 

[A Couple of Geese]

I went back to the store, and asked to switch it out, then checked the new bag in the parking lot. Same thing was going on. They didn't have any bags with a different mill date, and I showed the staff. They seemed to think it's a production thing, but that there's nothing to worry about.

 

[Isadora]

I went back to the store, and asked to switch it out, then checked the new bag in the parking lot. Same thing was going on. They didn't have any bags with a different mill date, and I showed the staff. They seemed to think it's a production thing, but that there's nothing to worry about.

I don't think it's anything to worry about. I have bags of feed that have this all the time, but the feed has a fine mill date and looks/smells fresh. I would agree it's probably a production thing.

 

[Percheron chick]

What's going on is the equipment was not cleaned out between production runs and there is residual product mixed in. Looks like more of a rabbit type pellet with more alfalfa. Normally it's no biggie as most mills sequence the runs so there is no cross contamination. Cattle feeds can have ingredients that are detrimental to other livestock so more care is taken when cleaning between runs.

 

[GranderTheGander]

What's going on is the equipment was not cleaned out between production runs and there is residual product mixed in. Looks like more of a rabbit type pellet with more alfalfa. Normally it's no biggie as most mills sequence the runs so there is no cross contamination. Cattle feeds can have ingredients that are detrimental to other livestock so more care is taken when cleaning between runs.

Agree. Sometimes you will find in bags of feed food that belongs to another animal. Your green pellets just look green, and is possibly rabbit food, as Percheron chick said. Put some of them in your hand, though, and smell them. Moldy feed smells like mold!