The Advantages of Mash Feed?

[bufforphfan]

A tag on one of my old Hickman feed sacks made this comment about mash vs pellets. "The heat of pelleting destroys some of the vitamin content of the feed. In order to get the same level of of vitamin fortification in the pellet as in the mash, more would need to be added to the pellet. Generally , in order to get excellent pellet quality, an expensive and non-nutritive binder must be used. These binders are either clay or wood by-products (Ligins)." I do not have any exerience with using mash , but it sounds like it has its advantages. Does anyone feed wet mash?

 

[dacjohns]

Wet mash sounds wasteful. It won't keep so it will take some trial and error to figure out how much to put out.

I don't use mash because in my limited experience there is a lot of waste. Some people swear by it though.

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

I use laying mash (Dry, never wet) because I have it custom mixed to my specs for around $17/100. I've decided that the waste factor has been overblown somewhat. Here at least, my waste is marginal. Cost is the reason I switched from pellets to mash.

 

[KYBOY]

Ive been feeding mash as well. I get no more waste than with pellets and Im getting it cheaper at the mill. $16.95 a hundred.

 

[kstaven]

We use mash feed here also. Being that we make cheese, the whey gets added to the mash also. Our chickens are cheaper to feed this way and having wet mash has reduced the wastage to almost nothing.

Sprouting your grains is another way to extend grains in a BIG way without sacrificing nutrients.

 

[cjeanean]

What is mash??? How is it mixed, whatever??? If it's cheaper than pellet/crumbles I'm interested!!!! Can someone give me a Mash For Dummies intro??? What it is, what it consists of, how to get it??? Thanks!!!

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Quote:
The quote you provided is overstates the issues just a bit.

First, the amount of vitamin degradation is an issue, but not enough to worry about especially with new coatings used to protect vitamins now. Plus, the cost of the "extra" vitamins pales in comparison to the high prices of the commodities used to manufacture the remaining 99% of the feed.

Second, the quote does not address the improved digestibility of pelleted feeds due to the gelatinization of the starches in the grains. With the ever increasing price of feed commodites more and more feeds will/should be pelleted to gain further efficiencies.

Third, not all feeds require a binder to produce a high quality product. However, if a binder is needed it is used at a very low level that would not affect the cost or nutritional value of the feed much.

Finally, pelleting of feeds prevents separation of feed ingredients during transportation and feeding. This is typically not an issue in traditional Corn-Soy feeds, but when we use other feed ingredients with varying particle sizes the use of pelleting improves the feeding characteristics of feeds.


A "mash" feed is simply the feed that is a mixture of feed ingredients that has not been processed after mixing, much like a cake mix. To produce a pellet the feed (mash) is heated and conditioned with steam just before the mash is forced through a die that produces the pellet. The length of the pellet is regulated by a scalping knife on the pellet mill. A crumble is produced by processing the pellet between two rollers.

To determine which form of feed to use a producer must weight the economic and phisical advantages of a processed feed agains the simple ground feed (mash).

Jim

 

[spook]

I feed pellets, Layena brand that claims to have a well rounded nutritional list. I would hope that the companies would take into account (perhaps I should read my ingred list closer!) the heat processing...now you got me thinking and it hurts!
I use pellets in the winter with hot water to keep them warm and laying.
Wet mash in the summer would sour to quickly and not be healthy! That is how they make moon shine! Just watch out you are not inviting molds or illness that is in warm water.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Quote:
The nutrients on a feed tag are guarantees of what is actually in the bag of feed you purchase. In essence it is a contract between the manufacturer and the purchaser. If Vitamin E is guaranteed at 30 IU/lb minimum, then that is the minimum amount that will be found when the feed is tested. How the feed manufacturer arrives at the guaranteed level does not affect the guarantee..

Jim

 

[lovemychicks9]

I feed my girls start and grow crumbles from purina. Just about every monring I take about 3/4 of a cup of the crumbles and put it in a glass pie plate and add enough cold water to make a mash with it. My girls think it is just a wonderful treat, and they peck it right down with no waste. It is one way of getting them to eat their crumbles and treating them at the same time.