← Animal feed H33-06 · Module 6 of 7 · Pages: 18 · Worksheets: 6

Storing feed without losses

How to keep grain, compound feed, hay and roots free of mould, rodents and mycotoxins, how long each lasts and how to keep a stock record

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Storing feed without losses

In short

  • Dry, cool, closed: grain at no more than 13–14 % moisture, hay at roughly 15 %, feed in a metal bin or a barrel with a lid.
  • Ground grain and home mix last 3–4 weeks, whole dry grain for months, premix until the date on the label.
  • Mouldy feed is not fed, not diluted and not cooked: mycotoxins survive cooking.
  • Aflatoxin from mouldy maize passes into milk: milking cows and goats only on sound grain.
  • Hay that heats up can catch fire by itself: check its temperature for the first 4–6 weeks.
  • First in, first out: every container has a dated label.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. Where feed gets lost
  2. Moisture: the first rule
  3. Mycotoxins in mouldy feed
  4. Grain, compound feed and premix
  5. Hay and straw
  6. Silage, roots and pumpkins
  7. Rodents, birds and insects without poison
  8. Stock record and rotation
  9. Common mistakes
  10. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Store inventory
  • Store capacity calculator
  • Store check log
  • Labels for containers
  • Stores calendar
  • Shopping list for the store

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

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