Why you should test quality of livestock feeds regularly

One of the things you should purpose to do this year if you keep livestock is to periodically test the raw materials you use to make feeds or if you buy finished products, test the quality of the product.

That is what may determine whether you make profit or losses.

I was expecting my first batch of 100 second generation Kari Improved Kienyeji hens to start laying eggs by the second week of last October when they turned 19 weeks, but they did not.

I had administered all the vaccines and de-wormed them and knew everything would go well. As any other hopeful farmer, I waited for the next two weeks, but still, there was no egg.

“Productivity in birds and animals is dependent on genetics, feed conversion efficiency, disease-control and feed quality,” My brother Silas, an agricultural biotechnologist explained when I sought help.

Definitely, the problem was not with the genetic prowess of the birds. The birds are from the first generation Kari Improved Kienyeji and they looked very healthy.

“If the birds are healthy and from an unquestionable genetic lineage, that means feeds must be the problem,” Silas noted.

Poor quality poultry feeds lead to slow growth, low egg production, diseases or even death.

The same applies to any livestock, be it cows, sheep or goats.

They require a balanced diet comprising of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals for optimum growth.

Carbohydrates provide energy and come from cereals and their by-products. Proteins are needed for growth and tissue synthesis.

I use maize germ, sunflower cake, soy meal, wheat bran, premix, lysine, methionine, salt and mycotixin binder to prepare my poultry feeds.

Silas advised me to take a sample of the feeds and raw materials for testing at Kalro in Naivasha.

To sample, scoop a kilo of the feeds or ingredients and put in a manila paper.

DIFFERENT PARAMETERS

Don’t use plastic bags because they absorb moisture.

For ingredients (raw materials), it doesn’t matter how you sample because it is ‘a pure product”.

For complete feeds, (because you have mixed different ingredients), I normally take one sample but repeat in subsequent weeks because if the mixing is not done well, then the analysis could be biased. Taking several samples, however, is costly.

But for good results, the feeds must be mixed uniformly.

I normally first mix the minerals, vitamins and amino acids, then add soymeal and sunflower cake in a basin, and then use a drum mixer to mix with the other bulky ingredients.

One way of telling if the mixing is done well is to check the colour.

Sunflower is pitch black while soy meal is yellow.

If you see tinges of black and yellow in the finished feeds, then the mixing was not homogenous.

When sampling, I don’t label the packs, for instance, ‘soymeal’.

This way, the person doing the analysis doesn’t know what it is and the result given is not biased.

Each sample costs Sh1,000. So if you send soymeal, maize germ and chick mash, those are three samples. Minerals like calcium are charged separately at Sh300 each.

I send the samples by courier to Kalro for a test called Proximate analysis, which takes about a day.

The analysis gives different parameters like ash, dry matter, energy, crude fibre and fat, crude protein and amino acids like methionine and lysine.

I was particularly interested in the Crude Protein (CP). “What is the CP value for sample SO/OCT/7/15I,” I enquired from Mr Kuria, who performed the test at Kalro, before I checked the results on email. “The CP is 11.64 per cent,” he said.

MAIZE GERM
I called Silas immediately. “You need to stop using the soy meal and look for another credible supplier. What you have been sold is not only fabricated, but fake,” he opined.

“Soy bean is the world’s largest sources of plant protein, and one of the most widely used protein source for feeds globally. Pure and unadulterated soy meal should not have a CP below 45 per cent,” he said.

He explained that CP is the total protein, including nitrogen from both protein and non-protein sources.

It is the basic nutritional requirement for any feed preparation for animals and birds.

Most cereals like whole maize, maize germ, and wheat have a CP of above 10 per cent.

On the other hand, sunflower and omena, which are the main sources of protein, have a CP value of between 20 and 30 and above 50 per cents respectively.

The various feed formulas give a combined CP value based on the protein content of the raw materials (cereals and plant/ animals proteins) used in making the feeds.

He explained that for optimum growth and production, chicks require a CP of 18-20 per cent, growers 16-18 per cent and layers 18-20 per cent.

“If the quality of raw materials for making the feeds is poor, you get a low CP,” he said.

This is not the first time I have had poor quality raw materials from unscrupulous suppliers.

Two months ago, I had taken a sample of maize germ for testing.

The results revealed a CP of 0.32 per cent. I later learnt this miller was simply grinding maize cobs and selling it as maize germ.

GOOD VALUE
Farmers need to understand the importance of testing ingredients of raw materials and finished products.

Even if you are buying complete feeds, it is important to test them since some manufacturers take shortcuts to save costs.

I once tested a sample of chick mash from a miller I considered reputable but the results were equally disappointing.

The CP value was 15.06 per cent against a target of 18-20 per cent.

I have now switched to another supplier of soymeal.

Although I am buying a kilo at Sh75 (I was buying previously at Sh56), the quality is much better.

I tested the CP value and found it was 40.27 per cent, against the previous 11.64 per cent.

The layers mash I made using the quality soy cake has CP 15.35 per cent, which is a good value because the hens have started laying, offering me about 20 eggs a day.