Purchasing bulk feed is a great way to save money on your poultry-feed budget. Many retailers offer a discount per half-ton order, and larger quantities get even greater discounts. Feed mills often offer higher discounts than retailers, and research your options before purchasing. Buying bulk feed can shave hundreds of dollars off your feed bill. Here are some benefits of buying bulk feed:
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Ingredient
If you’re considering starting a coop for your backyard flock, you might want to consider the different types of wholesale chicken feed available. Most of these products are pelleted, which is a process that involves heating ingredients to about 85oC, where they become gelatinous and stick together. These ingredients are generally grains, which are ground into a fine powder, or mash, which is a combination of three to five different types of grains.
While chickens readily eat insects, they also need protein to grow healthy and strong. While most commercially prepared poultry feed contains soybean meal, corn, and peas as their main ingredients, some products contain animal byproducts such as chicken meat and feather by-products. Nature’s Best organic feed contains zero animal by-products. For a more natural option, choose a brand that does not use animal by-products in their feed.
Process
There are a number of processes involved in the production of chicken feed. The final formula determines the nutritional value of the finished product, and poor quality processing can negatively affect the original formula. Feed pellets and mash are common forms, though the pelleting process has a few advantages. Pellets can be easily handled and do not cause as much waste as mash does. Here are some ways to choose the right feed for your chickens.
Purchasing ingredients in bulk can help you save money on production costs, but it limits your flexibility. If you are purchasing commercially produced feed, you are limited by the recipe’s nutritional content. The good news is that you can save even more money by letting your chickens roam free. By leaving them outdoors, you can obtain about 5-20% of the feed’s nutritional value by eating insects and grass. However, it’s still best to purchase feed that is made from locally-grown ingredients if possible.
Scale of production
As the demand for chicken grows, poultry producers are cranking out as many chickens as possible to meet the growing demand. These chicks and broilers are fertilized, and the next step is to raise the chickens to eat. However, the wild card in this skyrocketing chicken market is feed costs. While the price of soybeans and corn are soaring, many producers are unable to produce enough feed on a small scale.
The antitrust era brought many changes to the chicken industry, causing mergers and acquisitions and the consolidation of smaller processors. Larger processors began vertically integrating into breeding chicks and trading in feed and other inputs. These large processors were able to impose a contract model on farmers, requiring them to buy all of their feed from a single processor and sell their fully grown chickens to that same processor. As a result, chicken farmers lost a good deal of their freedom and started switching to contract models.
Cost
The cost of wholesale chicken feed has gone up and down over the past few years. A year ago, the price of boneless skinless chicken breasts averaged $1.91 per pound. However, with demand still high, prices are expected to remain high until production catches up. Currently, the cold storage supply of chicken is down 20 million pounds, or about 5% less than last year. According to AgriLife Extension poultry specialist, Craig Coufal, the short supply is largely due to a slow return to normal production levels and time for feed mills to fill the void.
Rising food prices and the transitioning of the supply chain are driving the price of poultry. According to David Anderson, AgriLife Extension economist, the demand for some poultry cuts has outstripped supplies. The demand for chicken has also risen due to the pandemic that hit the poultry industry last year, which caused production to decrease. This meant lower profits for poultry companies, which in turn has caused prices to rise for chicken breasts.
