I am a little conserned about the feed lable, it said ANIMAL PRODUCTS on the ingredient list ,WHAT IS THAT! is it realy other animals ,if it is I am not going to use it ,So how do I make my own feed ,is there any thing that I should have in the feed ? If any one has a list of thing that you should put in a feed mixure can you let me know . thanks Vince

-- Vince (usjersey@hotmail.com), April 01, 2002

Answers

First question is "What kind of feed?".

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 01, 2002.

Hi; I do not know which feed label you are refering to,but protein is what you are paying for and it doesn't make much difference to the feed manufactures where they get it,as long as it's cheap.Recycled animals is a cheap source of protien. regards

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@noaddr.com), April 01, 2002.

Be careful! What are you trying to feed? Some animals _require_ animal protiens. Cats for example. (Some vegans try to use vegan ingredients to feed their cat friends, but this is hotly debated even in the vegan world - is difficult to believe it is healthy for cats to be vegan.)

Others do much better with bone meal, animal protiens, etc., altho you can find substitutes.

Some animal byproducts can be the junk swept off the slaughter floor too - processed, it fits the bill for feed, but might not be what you personally want. That's up to you. Frankly, cats are built to process some pretty bad animal products, and given the chance most of my dogs have prefered to age their own meat in the ground for a few days before chewing on it, as well as cow poop.... Grosses me out, but I never asked them if they like it when I cook mine, so I better not judge too harshly! :)

So, be careful what you end up doing here. What is good or healthy for people is different that what is good & helathy for some animals.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), April 01, 2002.

Vince, animal products could be just about anything produced by animals like milk, eggs etc. or bone meal or cooked animal. Perhaps if you told us what you are feeding (like what kind of animals) someone could recommend recipes for making your own feed. Recipes for chicken feed and goat feed would be different.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), April 01, 2002.

Wouldn't surprise me if you're using a Purina feed they seem fond of using ingredient listings like "animal protein products" and "plant protein products."

If it really says "animal products" on the label then that's what it is. Most likely it's meat and/or bone scrap cooked, defatted and dried from a slaughter operation, probably beef but could be pork or poultry. Could be a number of other animal protein products that the USDA allows as well.

The reasons why some feed mills are so vague on their feed labels is that the actual animal protein product they use from feed lot to feed lot might change depending on what they can get the best price on at that particular time and can factor into their feed formulas to give the required protein, fat and other nutrient amounts needed for whatever kind of feed they're making. If the label says "not for ruminants" then you can be pretty sure it has beef in it.

I've stopped using feed that has such vague ingredients listings and have gone with a regional mill that's a little more specific. I'm not all that particular about what they put in the feed but I do want to know what's what.

.......Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), April 01, 2002.

You've had some good responses here Vince, I would just add that many reputable manufacturers will welcome inquiries by phone or website/email. You might check with the ones you are using the products from. Just a thought. good luck, sounds like an interesting quest. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), April 01, 2002.

(Its dairy and layer mash) .thanks for all your help

-- Vince (usjersey2002@hotmail.com), April 02, 2002.

for the dairy feed, its most likely bone meal , since they need calcium for the layer mash , it could be anything......

if you want to know whatsi n your feed, get it mixed by the feedmill,

it may be tought to store as much as they want but the cost beinfits, even if half gets wasted , is still less expensive, and you know what you animals are eating.

for example, purina feeds (goat) , goes for 9.00 a bag at the feed store, for a 50lb bag ( thats 360.00 per ton, i haul) same feed mill will mix up a great ration , with the same end make up for 160.00 per ton , delivered to my house!

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), April 02, 2002.

It is okay for chickens to eat animal products but not cows. Mad cow disease spread through Europe this way and is not killed by heat treatments.

Have you ever seen a cow munching on meat? Not natural. They can get extra calcium through oyster shell if need not bone meal. I would switch feeds immediately.

Amy

-- Amy Richards (amysgarden2@earthlink.net), April 02, 2002.