Custom Feed by Mike Mehren Ph.D.

Every once in awhile I get a question regarding the way a feed manufacture discloses the formula for a custom mix. By definition, a custom mix is one that goes directly to the end user. It may be sold through a feed store, dealer, Vet clinic or any other middleman, but it must be sold to the ranch named in the custom label. The law states that a feed made for a customer must disclose all ingredients and the amount used in a batch of that mix. The ingredients should be specific names, rather than general terms like grain by-products, or forage products. Those two could be listed as wheat millrun and alfalfa hay. If corn screenings and grass seed straw were included, they would be listed as such, not grain and forage products. Sometimes feed manufacturers will send a statement with a load of feed that states “made to the specifications of Newt Trishon”. This statement is fine as long as the manufacturer will supply the actual formula for your mix on request. This goes for any type of feed supplement, grain mix, concentrate, or premix that is a ‘custom’ formula. It can be block, tub, pellet, cube, liquid, meal or any other form of feed that is made commercially. An example follows:

Fudpucker Ranch Custom Calf
Pellet
Ingredient	Amount/ton
Forage Products	500
Brown sticky liquid	100
Vit-TM Premix	10
Screenings	1390
Total	2000 lb

What does that formula tell you? Can you estimate the crude protein, TDN, calcium, phosphorus, trace minerals or vitamins? If you can, call my psychic hotline and we’ll go into business! What if the formula was like this?

Ingredient	Amount/ton
Alfalfa hay	500
Cane molasses, 48 TSI	100
Vit-TM Premix	10
Ryegrass screenings	1390
Total	2000 lb

We still can’t tell much, but we can make a much better estimate of its’ nutrient content. We know it is NOT high in energy; the protein is quite moderate (10-14%), and we know nothing about minerals or vitamins.

By law, the Vitamin Trace Mineral Premix must be broken down to provide you with the names and amounts of vitamins and trace minerals that it provides. This is not the case if that premix is already a registered product. This means that the name and formula for that premix has been sent to the State Department of Agriculture. There is a label on file for that product. The guaranteed analysis is available for anyone to see at the manufacturer’s location. The manufacturer does NOT have to provide you with the formula for a registered product. That is considered confidential information.

Nutrient information is important to the customer because the feed is normally being fed to achieve a certain goal. If we were feeding the custom pellet described above along with our own grass hay to get gains of 2.5 lb per day, we could easily determine that this product would not work. To get gains of two or more pounds per day takes quite a bit more TDN than is being fed. If this pellet was primarily corn distillers dried grains, corn, barley, or other high energy feed, then those gains would be possible. There would be no hay, straw or other forage product in that mix.

Why bother about the label for a custom mix? Someone else is making a product that will affect the performance of your cattle. Sometimes things go wrong. The mill may believe you requested a protein supplement, while what you really wanted was a mineral supplement. You have two groups of calves; one group of your own is in a natural program, while the others were bought and are generic cattle. In the generic cattle you can feed additives that will promote growth, prevent bloat, and treat
footrot. Who knows which product goes to which cattle? How are the feeds identified? Are they stored side-by-side in the same barn?

When we first started talking about BQA, we never thought the big challenge would come from a disease that was carried in the feed. We have eliminated cattle protein products from the food chain of cattle. However, cattle protein products may still be on the ranch. If your cattle are found to have an illegal substance or a feed-borne disease, you will have to provide a paper trail for an inspector that proves conclusively that the cattle had no opportunity to become adulterated on your ranch. The first thing that will be checked is the cattle feed. Where did it come from? What are the ingredients? How was it stored? Could the wrong feed have been fed to the cattle? The inspector might find a couple of bags or dog food, cat food, chicken feed, or pig feed that are stored in the barn.
Maybe the dog or cat is fed in the barn. Is there a remote possibility that a calf could have escaped from its pen and eaten any of those feeds?

If your custom feed is Medicated, are you certain what the medication is for? Is it for the prevention of a disease or treatment of a disease? How much are you supposed to feed daily? Some drugs are fed at a certain dose per head each day, while others are fed at so much for each 100 pounds of bodyweight. Is the feeding rate the same for a 400 lb calf and an 800 lb steer? Is there a withdrawal prior to slaughter. Does the drug have an expiration date, or can you feed that pellet you bought last year this winter and get the same results?

There are certainly many reasons to purchase custom feeds. They can be tailored to your specific hay, straw, or grazing. They don’t carry the extra expense of advertising and fancy packages. A mixed feed made in another region of the country may have added potassium, which is rarely needed in the Pacific Northwest. Some feeds have no added selenium. Copper is an extremely important trace mineral. We find forages that are grown in the Northwest that have little or no copper, very little copper and very high iron, very little copper and very high molybdenum. Each one of these circumstances influences the amount of copper that is needed in the supplement. If you happen to feed wet corn distillers grain, you may well have high sulfur, high iron, high molybdenum and little or no copper. Getting enough copper is enough of a reason to justify purchasing a custom mix.

Thanks to Richard Ten Eyck of the Oregon Department of Agriculture for reviewing my statements about labeling.

With more and more different government agencies trying to help us run cows without any water or feed, maybe we can find a way to improve the digestibility of forms and documents. The health care package alone would feed a calf for about a week if it was topdressed with a little molasses. Seriously, keeping track of labels, delivery slips, and receipts can make a huge difference if something bad happens at a feed manufacturing plant or on your ranch that triggers an inspection of your ranch, feed, and cattle.

Michael J. Mehren, Ph.D. is a livestock nutritionist from Hermiston, Oregon who has developed the ‘meagan’ diet for those wishing to remove vegetables from their diet
He may be contacted by email at: mehrens@eotnet.net.