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Quick oats

 
Posts: 37
Location: SW Pennsylvania
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fungi trees bee
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Our local food bank occasionally calls me when they have foods they cannot distribute for human consumption. Recently I picked up over 2,200 pounds of quick oats, the type that cooks in 1 minute. As it happens, I don't have much in the way of livestock to feed at the moment so I am looking for ideas to put them to use. I did post in our community Facebook page but was only able to give away about 70 pounds.
I have a small chicken flock (14 birds), 2 pet mini pigs, 2 geese, 1 sheep, 1 standard donkey (retired guardian) and 1 feeder steer.
I welcome all suggestions to avoid wasting these. Oh, BTW, the food bank still has another 3 tons or so. The reason they aren't distributing them is because they supposedly have weevils. I personally opened over 200 packages yesterday and saw none.
 
master pollinator
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Maybe it was a recalled batch or there was a complaint, meaning they are not legally allowed to distribute it for human consumption. It's great they didn't send it to the landfill, but it's a lot to deal with.

Random thoughts if it were my problem to solve:

1. Porridge for my breakfast, with Thompson raisins, cinnamon and demarrara sugar (see no weevil, hear no weevil, speak no weevil  )
2. Porridge for dog breakfasts; apparently it's good for them
3. Contact dog breeders, animal shelters, horse rescue societies; maybe they can use some
4. Add some [non-pet] pigs to your menagerie, or make a deal with a pig farmer (or maybe somebody with a few head of cattle?)
5. Alcohol can be brewed using oats
6. Compost if all else fails; I initially was going to suggest using it directly as a traction aid on ice or a top-dressing for a lawn/pasture, but I worry about the mouse attractant factor

I wonder -- would meat rabbits like oats?
 
Ban Dinh
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Location: SW Pennsylvania
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fungi trees bee
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Douglas Alpenstock - I didn't think about pet shelters. I do have a contact at the local Humane Society I'll ask. I they can't use any maybe she'll no someone else who can.
I did think of alcohol but I'm not set up to distill and all of the beer recipes I found also called for barley. I'm gluten free by necessity so that's out. Unless someone has a good GF oat-based beer or ale recipe.
I am watching the local ads for a feeder pig or 2, though I don't like hauling water for them in the winter.
And I am willing to consume some directly myself but nearly enough to make a dent!
But I appreciate the ideas.
 
steward
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Cake, cookies, and maybe even pie?

Trade with friends or family for something you need?

Compost? worms?

I can tell you that if you store some of it stores really well.  I have some that are at least 10 years old if not 20.  It is still good.

 
Ban Dinh
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fungi trees bee
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Never have I heard before of oatmeal pie, but I'm going to try it.
Raising mealworms seems like a good way to turn low-protein oats into high protein chicken feed.
Composting if all else fails, never a landfill once I get my hands on anything edible of decomposable.
 
Ban Dinh
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fungi trees bee
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It’s been a year or so since I started this thread. I have some time (currently snowed in) so I thought I would follow up. As it turned out, those oats were the last thing I received from the food bank. They had a change in management.
So, the majority of the quick oats went into 2 Berkshire/Mangalista pigs, which are delicious even if they don’t develop very big hams.
I solved the problem of having to haul water in the winter by partially fermenting the oats (just a 24 hour soak) and feeding them very wet. This “porridge” was their sole source of water and they did fine on it. I was concerned about the low protein level of the oats so I did supplement their porridge with some soybean oil meal. Just single 50# bag of the SOM was all the purchased feed I had into them.
The chicken would eat the oats if I added just enough water to make kind of a cake. They would not touch them dry.
We do have a feeder steer that has been getting a small amount of the oats, but not much really. Just using up the last of them and we prefer grass fed beef. I did try oatmeal pie, though I still find it intriguing.
I miss getting the cast-offs from the food bank but it was good while it lasted.
 
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