Mix the Feed or Buy It?
The answer to this question will depend entirely upon individual circumstances. It is not uncommon for one neighbour to purchase prepared feed and the other neighbour to mix their own feed – both may be making the right decision.
Consider:
- What is the availability and relative costs of raw grain compared to purchased feed?
- If considering home mixing, what other raw materials are required for the ration (including roughage)?
- Can the home mixing facilities and equipment adequately process grain plus other ingredients and feed out?
- What labour and time is available for mixing, feeding and feed management?
- Are there any finance or cash flow issues? The availability of credit terms for purchase may influence decision making
- What is the cost of home mixing compared to purchasing feed? True cost includes raw materials such as grain, roughage and protein sources, the time taken to source ingredients, finance costs, labour and milling losses
- To compare feeding costs, consider rations on a dry matter (DM) basis
- Are there any animal performance advantages from a purchased feed versus the home milled ration? For example pelleting can eliminate selective feeding, ensuring all stock receive a consistent ration and steam-flaking can improve digestibility of sorghum grain.
Fully Prepared Feed
Advantages of purchasing a prepared feed:
- Guaranteed analysis – Ridley feed mills have guidelines and testing procedures in place for all incoming raw materials and bulk stock formulas. This aids diet formulation to exacting standards, which are followed up by testing of the finished feed to ensure it meets specifications
- Time savings – you will not have to source raw materials, or handle, store and mix feed
- Less labour needed
- No capital expenditure on purchasing or maintaining mixing equipment
- Ridley invests significant capital in grain processing equipment that potentially can improve the performance of the ingredients when fed to cattle
- With the mixing and specifications covered, you need only to match the class of cattle you are feeding with a suitable product.
Use the table to quickly select the most appropriate Ridley product to meet your needs.
Home Mixed Feed
Many people decide to mix their own feed because they may grow grain, live in a grain-growing region and have mixing facilities.
If mixing your own feed, it is imperative that rations fed to cattle be formulated correctly. Feed must also be mixed correctly to ensure nutrients are evenly distributed. Uneven mixing due to mechanical or procedure issues can result in poor/uneven growth rates, deficiency or episodes of toxicity (eg. urea).
Although grain is high in energy and contains moderate protein levels, it has a number of shortfalls when fed as the sole feed source. It contains a high level of phosphorus relative to calcium. Levels of macro and micro minerals are variable and many are not present in adequate levels to meet ruminant needs.
The protein level may need adjustment, depending upon the weight and class of cattle being fed.
Using a concentrate is a convenient, cost effective method of nutritionally balancing grain rations.
Ridley produces a number of concentrates that can be mixed with grain. Selecting the most appropriate concentrate will depend on the raw materials being used, ration type and presentation, stock being fed and mixing facilities.
It is good practice to keep a regular check on the raw materials being used in the ration. Raw materials are not always consistent in quality and will vary in nutrient value in different seasons, regions and even between paddocks.
It is worthwhile testing some of the major raw materials you intend to feed, in order to match the diet to animal requirements. Your Ridley Territory Manager can assist with advice on nutritional value of raw materials, testing, choice of suitable concentrate and ration formulation.