HOW OLD IS TOO OLD?

How old is too old? Most anything that we buy foodwise has a date on it, whether that is a “date of manufacture,” a “use by date” or a “sale by date.” How important is that and how concerned should you as producers be about those kinds of things?

Clearly, knowing which kind of date you’re dealing with is the place to start. In the grocery store, you will see “sale by dates” or “use by dates” and they should be clearly marked as such. Those dates are based on years of research and trial. They tend to be fairly accurate given that you store the products in the same manner when you get them home. Changing storage methods can alter the accuracy of those dates. For example, if you leave a gallon of milk in your truck for

14 Cooperative Farming News two or three days in July, it really does not matter what date is stamped on the jug and conversely, if you put some things in the freezer, they will stay safe well past whatever date is stamped on the package. It simply takes a bit of common sense to figure those things out and most people have little trouble with making those decisions.

Pet foods usually have a significant shelf life, often months if not years, and are generally safe through those dates, which tend to be “use by dates” and not “sale by dates.” This long shelf life is a really nice feature that adds to flexibility throughout the process.

Most livestock feeds will use a “manufacture date” and it is most often on the feed tag itself. This leads to

a situation that can leave a consumer wondering if the food is safe to feed or still of the highest quality and it takes a bit more knowledge and interpretation to arrive at a sound conclusion.

Feed type, weather, storage situations and many other things will add to the variability of the shelf life and since most of those things are well beyond the control of the feed mill, using a “manufacture date” typically is the preferred option. It allows the consumer to know when the feed was made and make an informed decision.

Feed type is always a factor. Any grain, in its natural form, whole corn instead of cracked, rolled or steam-flaked corn, for instance, will have the longest shelf life. It is naturally protected from outside factors and has a very long shelf life. Here corn is harvested in August and September, and fed or used to make feed all winter, spring and summer with absolutely no problems. Processing removes, or at least damages, the natural protections that the grains have and shorten their shelf life somewhat. The more moisture in the grain when it is processed the shorter the shelf life. Pelleted feeds tend to be somewhere in between, usually because they contain less moisture.

Weather and storage issues are also factors, but so closely related that it probably makes sense to talk about them at the same time. Hot, humid weather will shorten the shelf life of any feed and the more moisture that is naturally in the feed ingredients will only make the situation worse. Cold, dry weather can add weeks or months to the shelf life of feeds. So high-moisture corn in August will have a considerably shorter shelf

life than a pellet in January that is properly stored.

Mold and insect damage are generally the most obvious signs that a feed has gone bad or is no longer good to feed. Those are generally easy to see. What other things will change as feeds age and why? As was mentioned earlier, nature provides the grains that we use as the basis for most feeds with a natural protective shell that keeps it from spoiling. However, when we break that shell and moisture can get to the starches and vitamins they start to degrade.

Vitamins are normally the most sensitive to loss and the first place that a feed loses some value. A portion of the vitamins are oxidized or weakened in strength every day that the feed sits. It is a fairly slow process and if a feed is used within a few weeks there will normally be only minimal losses of vitamin efficacy. Six months or a year is a different story and most of your vitamin activity will be gone unless they are protected with some form of antioxidant, as is the case in most pet foods (which is why they have such a long shelf life).

If the feed is stored properly, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and fibers tend to hold up fairly well for a longer period of time. Minerals, at least most of them, are good for years and will have little loss of value as a feed ages.

Here in the Southeast in the summertime, we generally look at around 30 days for sweet feeds with processed grains and 60 or a bit more for pelleted feeds as a typical shelf life. In the winter, you can double or triple that depending on what our crazy weather is doing.

If the feed is stored properly, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and fibers tend to hold up fairly well for a longer period of time. Minerals, at least most of them, are good for years and will have little loss of value as a feed ages.