posted 11 years ago
Malting the barley will give a wider range of nutrient value. Hobby Distillers are good people to get to know, they create lots of wonderful pig food that they usually need a way to dispose of. The mash leavings (mast) make great food for pigs and is/ was a traditional way of moonshiners disposing of their mashes so they didn't draw attention to their activities. I'd malt (sprout) all the whole grains; barley, oats, rye, corn, wheat. Mash is made with a portion of corn, usually cracked or even meal which is cooked for 1-2 hours to bring out the starches through gelatinization, the malt contains enzymes that covert these starches to sugar, the yeast converts the sugars to ethanol. YOU can use the ethanol for fuel by getting the proper licenses from the state to be an alternative fuel producer, this would allow you to make lots of pig food, legally and run some equipment as a bonus. vegetable left overs are also good, find the farmers stand and see if they have "throw outs" and if you can dispose of these materials for them. These are just some of the things I do to keep feed costs down and more natural and healthy.