Feed Storage

Mixed animal feed lasts about two or three weeks once it has been ground.
Grain oxidizes once the hull has been breached and that begins a steady loss of nutrient quality.
Always buy feed freshly ground.
Organic feed from conventional feed stores is usually stale unless it was special ordered or you get the timing right.
Good health depends on good feed; pure and simple.

We usually buy about 1500lbs of feed each trip.
That's how much the truck will carry home.
That amount lasts over three weeks but Larry at Merrylynd Organics is normally sewing up the bags of fresh feed when I arrive for pick up.
It simply doesn't get any fresher so we push the storage time a little longer to reduce our trips in to town.

Feed should be kept as clean and as dry as you would store your own food.
Ideally, the mice should be kept out of it but rodents can find food, and their way into it very quickly.
We used to keep the feed in our basement, but after the scare with the flour beetles, the feed storage has been moved to the barn
The rodents have been heavy this year and they were heading straight into the house.
I would like a better system, but it will have to wait for now.

Storing feed attracts animals.
Grain eaters attract their predators.
Those predators usually like chicken too.
So the small farm is a perfect lure to bring every creature to your door.
Every year that goes by we have noticed a heavier concentration of critters around our home.
It makes perfect sense that when you grow food, the eaters will be enticed to get in on the produce.

I have placed our feed in with our craziest hens.
These birds are deadly and anything trying to get into the feed will be attacked and gobbled up.
Well...
...maybe they're not that dangerous yet, but I think it's time to start breeding some guard hens.