There’s a good reason why I changed the Defender’s suspension from County spec to pick-up spec and this is it. No, not the boy. I picked up half a tonne of livestock feed today and with the uprated suspension, the Defender barely notices the load. In fact, it actually handles better than it does empty. I’ve carried heavier loads but the handling starts to suffer so I tend to stick to 500-600kg in the back or use the trailer.
Having helped load the feed at the farm merchants, I then have to unload all of it back at the croft and empty it into the bins. We keep batches separated, use an old vacuum cleaner to clean the bins, and regular scrub them out with hot, soapy water before disinfecting them and letting them dry. Purpose-made feed bins are fairly expensive so we only have two of those. We also use 10-hundredweight metal coal bunkers as these are much cheaper.
A full feed bin this size holds 250kg of bruised barley, while the big coal bunkers hold just over half a tonne. With those sorts of weights, it’s essential to have solid floors underneath the bins. We place ours on pallets suitable for holding one-tonne as this provides ventilation under the bins, plus space for rat traps and baits.
Another alternative to steel bins are strong water butts. These hold 80kg of feed, and are used for poultry feed and sow rolls. The bins are supported on concrete blocks so we can place traps and bait under them. Rats could probably gnaw through the plastic bins given enough time, but the traps and baits ensure they don’t have the time. Once the bins have been filled, the floor is swept and vacuumed to stop stray feed attracting vermin.
The job doesn’t end with a clean feed store, though. As we mix feed, we’re now subject to Feed Hygiene Regulations and have to keep all the feed labels with their batch numbers, nutrient analysis, and ingredients.
We also have to keep a feed log that details the source of the feed, the date we bought it, the batch number, the best before date, what animals it was intended for, what it was mixed with and in what quantities, and how often it’s fed to the animals. It has to be updated very time we buy feed, use up a batch of feed or start a new batch of feed.
Finally, to verify the source of the feed and the quantities, we also have to keep the receipts. We should also keep 500g samples of each batch of feed, but that’s ridiculous when you’re using a tonne of feed a month of four or five types and from one or two batches for each type. If we did keep the samples, we could be storing up to 5kg of a feeds for each month. It all adds to the workload.
Bureaucracy gone mad!
What it’s saying is that you can’t trust feed suppliers and that the govt want’s you do do its work for them and that it wants to force everyone to buy commercially prepared feed. I don’t think that all that paperwork would stop anyone feeding animals with feedstuff of dubious/untracable origin - I assume it is part of the BSE reaction. Yes it would reduce people using foodstuff of unknown origin it because they would still have to buy the other stuff to put in the records but it was commercial feedstuff that led to BSE. It’s just another thing to drive out smallholders.
How often does the paperwork get examined, is it just if there is a problem and how long to you have to keep the records?
Of course all of the above is actually useless unless you can get your pigs to sign they have actually eaten the feed
I have their trotter prints on their feed contracts, and witnessed by Johnny the Cockerel. They agree to eat everything I put in front of them and to confirm this to the inspectors.