What did I just do?? Bulk feed purchase.

[barky]

A buddy of mine drives trucks for a local mill company. He sent me a message stating I could buy 600lbs of scrap rice for $35 OR 600lbs of rice/hominy/ddg for $110. I jumped without any critical thinking y'all and bought the rice/hominy/ddg blend for my TEN laying hens. Buddy also got a friends & family extra dump in the bag wich brought my total weight to 990lbs of this feed...

So the ratio is:
DDG 18% Protein
Hominy 8% Fat
11.5% Protein

My questions I have now:

- Do I need to add/supplement anything to ensure proper nutrition for the birds?
- uh, STORAGE??????
- Should I just roll around in it??

Open to any advice!! I will add a picture once I get it home.

 

[nuthatched]

I think you'll definitely need to add stuff ir just use it as scratch.
@U_Stormcrow
@Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

I think you'll definitely need to add stuff ir just use it as scratch.
@U_Stormcrow
@Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay

Nuthatched is probably correct, use as a scratch. I would not feed it straight through the feeder since it is not a complete feed.

 

[barky]

I think you'll definitely need to add stuff ir just use it as scratch.
@U_Stormcrow
@Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay

Nuthatched is probably correct, use as a scratch. I would not feed it straight through the feeder since it is not a complete feed.

Thank you guys. I plan on contacting the seller directly and seeing if there is anything else that may have been added. Those number were scribbled on the receipt.

 

[saysfaa]

My first thought was it is best used by spreading it across fields to feed the land. If I didn't have enough land for that then compost it.

Then, I looked up the nutritional profile of hominy. It is much better than I thought. High-fat hominy can be substituted for whole corn in a mixed feed ration without too much trouble according to a small broiler trial and several sources of dairy and horse nutrition information. A problem several of the sources noted is feed hominy is more variable than corn.

Rice is less nutritious than corn.

Distillers grain has more protein than corn but that causes problems in formulating a ratio as well as solving some problems. The amino acid composition is not very good so you still need a protein source (usually a soybean product) but too much protein overall is not good either.

Ten hens would take a very long time to eat this, even if it could be fed the way it is. Adding enough other things to approach balancing it makes that problem worse.

For ten hens, I can't see how it would be worth trying to make it work as poultry feed. So, I still think the best use would be to feed the land.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I made the mistake of buying enough feed to grow out 300 catfish from fingerling to one kg thinking it would save money if the price went up. What I learned was the fish don't like it after a few months as the oils turn rancid. They ate only enough and gained weight slowly. Something to consider when buying bulk feed.

 

[barky]

My first thought was it is best used by spreading it across fields to feed the land. If I didn't have enough land for that then compost it.

Then, I looked up the nutritional profile of hominy. It is much better than I thought. High-fat hominy can be substituted for whole corn in a mixed feed ration without too much trouble according to a small broiler trial and several sources of dairy and horse nutrition information. A problem several of the sources noted is feed hominy is more variable than corn.

Rice is less nutritious than corn.

Distillers grain has more protein than corn but that causes problems in formulating a ratio as well as solving some problems. The amino acid composition is not very good so you still need a protein source (usually a soybean product) but too much protein overall is not good either.

Ten hens would take a very long time to eat this, even if it could be fed the way it is. Adding enough other things to approach balancing it makes that problem worse.

For ten hens, I can't see how it would be worth trying to make it work as poultry feed. So, I still think the best use would be to feed the land.

I appreciate this, thank you. I also garden so I could definitely make use of it to feed the land. The guy that got it for me will be using some to feed deer by his house (which still will not really put a dent in it), and I know several people that will buy it for scratch. I will probably never do this again, but I'm getting a valuable lesson out of it.

 

[barky]

I made the mistake of buying enough feed to grow out 300 catfish from fingerling to one kg thinking it would save money if the price went up. What I learned was the fish don't like it after a few months as the oils turn rancid. They ate only enough and gained weight slowly. Something to consider when buying bulk feed.

Since you know some about catfish. This mixture being a mash, do you think catfish would eat this? My boss has a large pond on the property he keeps stocked. Would this be worth offering a deal to him? Or would the fish prefer pellets. I have very lightly considered getting a medium sized pellet machine for like $100-200 to convert the mash over to make it more saleable.

 

[barky]

Here's a pic of it. If anything it smells amazing lol.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Since you know some about catfish. This mixture being a mash, do you think catfish would eat this? My boss has a large pond on the property he keeps stocked. Would this be worth offering a deal to him? Or would the fish prefer pellets. I have very lightly considered getting a medium sized pellet machine for like $100-200 to convert the mash over to make it more saleable.

They will as long as it hasn't turned rancid. Give him a gallon of it and see if they like it . Probably introduce it slowly. Usually you feed floating pellets but you can use sinking feed too, if the catfish don't find it the other critters will and eat it then the catfish will eat them when they get large enough.