Grass flour is one of the best feeds for farm animals and poultry. It is several times superior in nutrition to hay and silage, the content of proteins and vitamins in it is much higher than in grain feed.
The benefits of herbal feed in livestock and poultry farming
In the subsidiary farms and on farms, hay, silage, grain feed, straw and twig feed, as well as root crops, are harvested in the old fashioned manner for the winter. Modern technology allows you to harvest grass feed with much greater productivity.
In cattle breeding, pig breeding, rabbit breeding and even poultry farming, grass feed plays a huge role. The climate of our country does not allow year-round use of fresh grass and free grazing. For this, various grass preservation systems have always been used to feed animals in the cold season.
The simplest thing is, of course, haymaking. At all times there was a period of haymaking. Mowed and dried grass in the meadows was collected and stacked. In winter, fed cattle with hay. Hay is well stored, but when dried in the sun, up to 50% of the nutrients from it are lost. Most of all, hay loses carotene, protein and vitamins, the sun's rays very much destroy them.
Harvesting feed in the form of a silo significantly improves their usefulness, but it is impossible to feed only with silage. Root crops and crushed grain is a very good feed, but they are inferior to fresh grass in the content of nutrients. In addition, root crops also need to be crushed, and they quickly deteriorate, this can cause intestinal upsets in animals.
Herbal Nutrition Nutrition
Herbal flour in its nutrient content is close to fresh green grass. Even with long-term storage (8-10 months), up to 95 percent of nutrients are stored in it. The content of protein, carotene, sugar, vitamins and other substances depends on the grass from which it was made.
The best nutritional herb flour is mowed grass flour during budding, before flowering. During this period, herbs are most rich in vitamins, carotene and all useful substances. If you are late with mowing, then the content of protein and other useful substances is significantly reduced, only the fiber content increases.
The preservation of carotene in flour depends on the storage conditions. If it is stored in bulk, then up to 50 percent of the substance is lost, and if the flour is compressed into granules, then the loss of carotene will be no more than 10 percent in 10 months of storage.
Types of Herb Meal
Grass flour can be of several types: from alfalfa, clover, vetch-oat mixture and forbs. According to the content of carotene, protein and other useful substances, grass meal is divided into 3 classes. The smaller the class, the less useful substances in the flour. Therefore, the best flour is 1st class.
By the content of vitamins, macro- and microelements, carotene and protein, as well as amino acids, the leader is grass flour made from alfalfa. In addition, alfalfa after mowing is quickly restored, so during the season it can be mowed to produce flour three times. This significantly reduces its cost. Because one area of land is used, and the crop is harvested from it 3 times.
Powdered and granular grass meal
Herbal flour comes in two types. It can be purchased in bulk and in the form of granules.
In bulk, flour loses nutrients faster, it absorbs moisture more from the air and can become caked or moldy. In addition, in this form, it takes up too much space, because it is very light. Therefore, it is inconvenient and expensive to store and transport it in this form.
Herbal flour in the form of granules is in great demand. Granular feed less loses nutrients during storage. The granules are dense, hard and shiny. If the technology is not broken, then they can be stored for a long time, without scattering, take up many times less space during storage and transportation. Granules are essentially a concentrate. For animals, granular flour is given in portions many times less than powder. Therefore, if a granular product is used for fattening animals, then it does not need to be bought in large volumes. It is also profitable and convenient.
Making grass flour and granules from it
The grass for vitamin flour is mowed until it has bloomed, and only picked up the buds. If you miss this point, the grass will lose carotene and protein every day. Mowed shredded grass is brought for artificial drying. Shredded grass is conveyed onto a dryer drum through a conveyor. From there, the dry mass enters the crusher. After the crusher, flour is obtained from dry grass, fed to a cyclone, deposited and stored in an operational bunker for temporary storage. If necessary, grass flour is transferred from this hopper to the pressing chamber for the manufacture of granules and to reduce the volume. The pressed mass is extruded through the holes of the matrix and cut with a knife. The resulting granules are 2-3 cm in radius and about 5 cm long. In this procedure, the granules are heated, and so that there is no large loss of carotene, they are placed in a cooling chamber. There they lose excess moisture, become solid and durable. Then they are placed in a bunker for temporary storage, from where they arrive for packaging, packaged and stored.
To reduce the cost of artificial drying of the grass, another system of harvesting is now used - drying. With this method, the mowed grass is left in the rolls for several hours, and then a special technique collects the rolls, grinds the grass that has slightly subsided. It is loaded and delivered for further artificial drying. The evaporation of moisture from such raw materials is reduced by almost 2 times, which speeds up and reduces the cost of the whole process. With this method, a small amount of carotene is lost in the sun in the rolls, so it is not recommended to dry the grass for more than 4 hours.
Granules and flour are stored in a cool, dry, dark room. The storage must comply with certain microclimate parameters (temperature and humidity).
To keep carotene in flour as much as possible during storage, add 0.5 percent sodium pyrosulfite to it. For the greatest preservation of nutrients in flour during long-term storage, exposure to gamma rays is used. The safety of nutrients is influenced by low temperature, darkness and the addition of oxidants to flour (during granulation).
High-quality granules and flour have a pleasant green color and the smell of hay. The granules are hard, shiny on the sides, even, with no signs of mold.
Compound feed with grass meal
Feed for farm animals must be complete and balanced, and they must also have a low cost. The low cost of feed will ensure lower prices for livestock products: meat, milk, egg and so on.
Any feed mill wants to produce a quality product with a low, competitive price. For the manufacture of such compound feeds, herbal flour is the best ingredient. According to several recipes, it can be contained in compound feed in the amount of 15, 25 and 35 percent. The remaining components are grain, meal, bran, oilcake and mineral additives. When grass meal is added to the feed, the product is enriched with vitamins, carotene, amino acids, fats and proteins. As a result, the composition of the feed is completely complete, balanced and inexpensive.
The feed mill can use hay flour in the recipe instead of artificial dried grass meal. But hay flour is significantly inferior to grass in the content of useful substances. The composition of the feed with it will be less saturated with carotene and vitamins, which disappear during the natural drying of grass. The cost of such feed may be lower, but in terms of useful components it will be less productive in livestock.
Convenience of combined feeds
Combined feeds are very convenient to use. This is especially true for large farms. For example, when raising rabbits, it is enough to feed them with compound feed for rabbits and give water. Complete feed completely replaces succulent root crops, branch coarse fodder and hay. With this feeding, rabbits quickly gain weight, do not get sick, and breed well.
Fattening pigs primarily involves feeding them with compound feeds. Combined feed with herbal flour fully provide all the needs of the body of pigs. It is no secret that in subsidiary farms they give large quantities of freshly cut grass and vegetables to pigs. All this, together with cereals, provides for complete fattening of pigs. But it is much more convenient to use compound feed with herbal flour and drinking water.
Feeding cows with herbal meal increases milk yield and fat content of milk. Cows gain weight even during lactation. The blood condition of animals improves, the level of hemoglobin in the blood rises. As a result, full-fledged strong offspring is born. True, feeding cows should include hay and silage, as well as fodder root crops (beets) in the diet, in addition to feed. But this is only in winter time. In the summer, cows feed on pasture, but even then they should receive feed.
Surprisingly, the largest amount of feed used with herbal flour in poultry farming. This is especially true when breeding geese, ducks and turkeys. Compound feed is in great demand on ostrich farms.
High-quality, full-fledged feed for farm animals is the foundation for the successful functioning of any farm. Any living creature needs a full-fledged diet, where proteins, fats, carbohydrates, trace elements and vitamins are completely balanced. But the main thing in compound feeds is the convenience of feeding animals, cleanliness in the room. They are convenient to transport and store, it is a good canned concentrate.
The production of animal feed is a very profitable business. Modern technology allows you to automate everything. If the feed mill has its own sowing and production facilities, then this is doubly profitable. Of course, we need equipment for field work and seed. Equipment should be purchased, production started, and advertising and logistics organized. As a rule, for the manufacture of compound feed, it is necessary to sow barley, corn and other grain and leguminous crops. And for herbal flour, it is better to grow alfalfa.
It is much more profitable to produce feed than to engage in animal husbandry. Less risk and unusual situations. Animals are sick. They need vaccination and veterinary support. How many pigs were killed due to the plague, and birds due to bird flu! Dairy farms are suffering losses due to mad cow disease and foot and mouth disease. On rabbit farms, epidemics of coccidiosis and myxomatosis occur.
It is necessary to organize the processing of products and sales. Meat, eggs and dairy products are perishable goods. And the competition is high. There are a lot of problems, it is hard to be a profitable economy, doing livestock.
The production of animal feed is once a well-established system for generating income. Compound feed has a long shelf life. He is always in demand. Feed mixtures are in demand by large farms and private traders. The demand for quality feed, grass meal and granules is only growing. But offers for the sale of granular grass meal is not enough. So this niche is still a little busy and has great development prospects.
How much does herbal flour cost?
The product is mainly sold in granular form, because it is cheaper and more convenient to transport. How much does herbal flour cost? The price depends on which party the buyer purchases. Minimum purchase - 1 bag (25 kg) - with VAT will cost an average of 700 rubles. Wholesale granules are supplied in bags, big bags and in bulk. Therefore, prices may vary (10,000-15,000 rubles per ton). It turns out 10-15 rubles per kilogram for wholesale buyers. Retail purchase for a private trader will cost 2 times more expensive.
Herbal granules seem more expensive than regular feeds. But it is worth considering a comparison to understand how beneficial it is to feed animals. When feeding with grass pellets compared to conventional feeds, the gain in young cattle and foals will be 20% more. Pigs gain 15% more weight and 10% more poultry. All this against the background of the fact that feed is required 10% less than usual. And when recalculating it turns out that feeding animals with pellets is beneficial.
The production of granules from vitamin grass meal is a great business idea. That is why this niche will fill up over time, and due to competition, the price of the product will begin to decline. Then feeding pellets will be even more profitable.
How to feed animal pellets
Pure herbal granules or compound feed with herbal flour can feed animals dry, especially rabbits and horses. In private courtyards, 1.5 kg of granules are soaked with 6 liters of water, and then this mass is fed to cows. It is advisable for pigs to do a mash too, so the product is better absorbed. Bird pellets are also better to soak.
In a private farmyard, granules made from grass meal of cows and sheep need to be fed only in the cold season. In the summer, as a rule, they graze and eat fresh grass.
In addition, storing granular feed requires very little space, unlike hay or silage. Owners from private farmsteads are very pleased that the granules are long and well stored, they are called herbal canned goods. This is much more convenient than storing fodder or sugar beets and potatoes. Moreover, vegetables can freeze, deteriorate, and granules, on the contrary, in the cold preserve all their useful qualities even better.
A bit of history
Herbal flour in our country began to be produced in the 70s of the last century. It was mainly used in poultry farming. It was noted that when it is consumed, the bird develops rapidly, it has good immunity, egg production increases by 10% and high-quality breeding material is obtained.
The production of grass meal in the USSR developed at a very fast pace. For example: in 1965, 82 thousand tons of green flour were produced, in 1970 - already 820 thousand tons, and in 1975 - more than four million tons.
At the end of the last century, in connection with the development of new technologies, concentrated vitamin supplements appeared, and herbal flour began to be produced significantly less. But soon livestock again returned to an environmentally friendly product - grass meal. The fact is that it contains large quantities of proteins, fats, and not just vitamins. For the convenience of using such a unique product, flour began to be produced in granular form, and it began to quickly gain popularity.
In general, herbal flour in the form of granules is a wonderful product in its pure form and as a component of grain feed. Behind these feeds is the future. The food is universal, they can feed all types of pets and poultry. Animals that use herbal flour and granules from it, receive good nutrition. This provides fast growth, good immunity and performance. Cows produce more milk with a higher fat content, and chickens carry more eggs. Feeding pellets and grass meal makes animal care easier.