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Small Farms
Feed Management
Feeding Tips
Processing feed is helpful if animals are to digest and absorb nutrients. In recent years, the use of corn silage kernel processors has increased on dairy farms. Kernel processors will further process each kernel of grain and make the nutrients in the kernel more available to each individual animal. This has been shown to result in a several percent increase in production in animals fed these diets.
Feed processing includes grinding, flaking, steam rolling, and all processes that improve the availability of nutrients. For example, sorghum grain or milo is unavailable to ruminant animals and horses without some level of processing, such as grinding or steam flaking. It can be utilized by chickens that have the advantage of the crop and gizzard in their digestive system. If there is any down side to feed processing, it would be over-processing or over-mixing.
Mixing feeds, particularly forage, for too long of a period of time can break nutrients down more than is required for optimum utilization and health of the animal. Processed feeds are also more expensive than if left unprocessed, and might not always be necessary (e.g. oats for horses).
