Shelf life of feed question

[Astrid]

I was thinking of storing some animal feed for goats and rabbits and thought of dried beets, whole oats, whole corn and alfalfa pellets. I know I will have to rough grind the grain mix all of this with molasses, but I was wondering how long these individual things would store long term. I think the corn and oats would be a long time as long as they're in a sealed, dry location, but what about the beets and alfalfa?

[myheaven]

Beets and alfalfa will store for a year as long as keep out of light and moisture. The cor and oats in a bin with aid flow will last for a few years. Just keep rodents and animals out of it. The corn an oats need air. Make sure they don't get wet. It can make them mold. I use my lawn and leaf chipper shredder to grind my feed and use my compost tumbler to mix it.

[ErinP]

The one that's truly difficult to prevent is bugs. Air tight containers help, but almost all grains, flours, etc. come with eggs already in it. They'll hatch, given time, and need very little air.

[rambler]

Your whole and well dried ingredients should store a year each, if you keep them dry. That includes a bad humidity situation - metal container can condense humidity and start the mold process.

But, keep them in a good location, and should be good.

Once ground, the grains start going off in perhaps 2 weeks. Depends so e of course, but that about the average long term for ground grains.

Paul

[Alice In TX/MO]

The grains will be buggy in a few months.

[Astrid]

Thanks for all of the info! Good things to remember. We get pretty cold weather here. Wouldn't that kill the bugs? Would it be better to store the grains and such in a metal barrel? Or in a mylar bag? Would that help prevent moisture and mold?

[rambler]

Cold certainly helps.

Wooden bin in a grainery is the best place to put a few 100 bu of whole grain.

I've stored grain a couple years, it does start to get oldish after a year, but it kept.

You don't want sweating on metal surfaces from sudden temp changes, or heating from sunshine on one side, and so forth. Wood has less of those issues.

Once you break the seed coats, then the grains are much more likely to act like mini sponges and absorb moisture, get mold or insect action. This is why ground feed doesn't keep real long. Unless you do the preservatives like some bagged feed has.

Paul

[farmerDale]

Originally Posted by Astrid

Thanks for all of the info! Good things to remember. We get pretty cold weather here. Wouldn't that kill the bugs? Would it be better to store the grains and such in a metal barrel? Or in a mylar bag? Would that help prevent moisture and mold?

Yes, cold weather kills the bugs. -15C for 24 hours will do it. If you keep the metal barrel in out of the weather, and dry, grain will store forever. Bugs also desire moist grains. So if the grain is dry, like less than 14% moisture, no bugs will occur. The key is dry. Dry. Dry. If dry, whole grain will not be excitable to bugs, it will store a LONG time. Molds, bugs, and grain going off, depends on moisture levels above the recognized safe storage levels. For cereals this is between 14 and 15% moisture content.

If you are worried about bugs, throw some DE in the grain.

[Jennifer L.]

You gradually lose vitamins out of stored feed, but basic food value is there for a very long time if kept under good conditions.