Do-it-yourself compound feed in poultry farming

Do-it-yourself compound feed in poultry farming – pros and cons!

The main motive for making compound feed with your own hands is an attempt to reduce the cost of feed.

To prepare a grain mixture for poultry with their own hands, farmers usually use the following ingredients:

• wheat
• barley
• oats
• corn
• oatmeal
• meat and bone meal
• fishmeal
• premixes

Adhering to the composition indicated on the packages of ready-made feeds, it is quite possible to create a grain mixture that will support the already established egg production of laying hens and a stable weight gain in meat broiler breeds. That is, the change of feed will not be a stress factor affecting productivity. But there are several conditions that cast doubt on the feasibility of this undertaking:

1. Home-made grain mixture can only be called compound feed conditionally, since it is impossible to adhere to a strict recipe at home, the necessary trace elements may not be available for purchase and addition.
2. There is a need for safe storage of all components from rodents: specially protected boxes or other devices should be available, and there should also be a large enough utility room for food preparation.
3. It is inevitable to spend a lot of time and effort on the processing of raw materials, which can also be problematic for the farmer.

After studying the experience of farms that, in order to save money, tried to switch to compound feed with their own hands, it turned out that the cost of finished home-made feed, on average, can be lower than the finished compound feed Start, but more expensive than factory feed for adult birds. Thus, in general, there was no benefit.

Given the laboriousness of the necessary work on preparing the grain mixture with your own hands and the resources expended, this idea is not cost-effective.

Conclusion about preparing the grain mixture with your own hands

If there are no proven manufacturers of ready-made feeds in the farming region, then making homemade food is a reasonable idea. If there are good quality compound feeds available, then there is no point in preparing the feed yourself.

Mixed feed at the Raiffeisen Agro LLC plant of the German agricultural holding AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG in Novoaleksandrovsk is produced according to high quality standards for all types of pets and poultry. Sale of feed is carried out both in bulk and in retail stores. Raiffeisen Agro feeds have an optimal price-quality ratio.