Three Crucial Tips for Preventing Stock Feed Contamination


The contamination of your stock feed can lead to dire consequences on your farm. In general, if your feed is polluted and your animals consume it, numerous health problems might arise. For example, the animals might experience poisoning and digestive disorders. The treatment of the livestock will be costly, and the lack of prompt treatment can translate into the loss of life. In addition, you should remember that all of the discovered contaminated feed will need to be disposed of immediately. Fortunately, most of these problems can be avoided through ideal feed handling practices. Here are some essential tips on protecting your stock feed.

Store Feed in Sealed Bins

You should pour the livestock feed material into a bin after opening the product bag. The placement of the feed into a sealable container will limit access by rodents such as mice and rats. If you decide to leave the feed in the open bag, the vermin will crawl into the feed and consume it. You should remember that rodents are vectors of pathogens. In addition, they might leave their droppings in the feed. An ideal bin should be made from food-grade plastic. Plastic bins are inexpensive, and they will provide a reliable shield against moisture, sunlight and other adverse elements.

Prevent Moisture Absorption

Unopened feed bags should be protected from moisture. If the feed absorbs water, you will have to deal with significant losses. In the best case, a little moisture will shorten the shelf life of the livestock's feed material. However, in most cases, the moisture will interact with the feed, and mould will grow in the bags. The fungi will produce mycotoxins that are harmful to animals. The livestock will experience symptoms such as digestive upset, oedema and general decline in health. Therefore, you should place your feed in dry conditions. Do not leave the bags on the ground, because they might absorb moisture from the ground or water might pool. Instead, you should think about using a rack to elevate the products.

Isolate the Feed

You should not place your open or sealed feed in a space with harmful substances on your farm. You should remember that agricultural operations always have essential but dangerous products. If these come in contact with your feed, it will become unsafe for consumption. For example, you should make sure that the feed is isolated from chemicals like pesticides and herbicides and fertiliser. You should also avoid storing your feed in spaces where the bags of feed might be polluted by animal waste.

For more tips, contact a local stock feed supplier. 

About Me

Managing the rain

With the return of El Nino, this is supposed to be a dry year. I'm hoping that the work we have put into the underground irrigation and extra groundcover is going to pay off in decent yields anyway. It's always been hard to farm in Austraia, but luckily farmers are some of the most flexible and resilient people. We can fix all most anything on our farm and we are always working on the best ways to use the agricultural equipment. It helps to have a great relationship with the local reps as they gives us loads of tips on optimising our machines. This blog is about agricultural equipment and its maintenance.

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