FEEDING FACTS
BY J I M M Y PA R K E R
Feed Ingredients There are many options available when you start to look for feed ingredients. Of course, the species of livestock will limit that somewhat, as will government regulations. There are some other limiting factors as well. Local availability and cost are two of the larger factors that restrict what we utilize. The form of the product, space to store products and the equipment used to handle them are some others. Today and in the short-term future, general availability may become the most relevant factor. Generally speaking, the larger the feed mill, the more options they have for storage. Conversely, those really large mills are often specialized with equipment that may limit some forms of ingredients, so they may
or may not have more options than some of the midsized or small mills. In Decatur, Alabama, we are fortunate to have a good range of ingredients that are fairly close by. That has allowed us to use 10 to 12 different major ingredients and 10 or 12 minor ingredients without having to rely on shipping things from all over the world, at least not the things that we use the most of. Specialty items like vitamin and mineral premixes are shipped great distances but in small quantities. Smaller freight bills are a big advantage and the usual reliability of having some things “next door� adds a small degree of security, even in uncertain times where we are seeing major supply interruptions. June 2020
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