[AT] Weighing feed ingredients (Metering)

[Greg Hass]

Don't know the "official version", but here's my version:

I assume you are referring to metering ingredients by volume instead of by 
weight.  About 20 years ago I purchased a Clay meter/mill.  It was 
electrically driven and had 4 variable rate augers to mix in 4 ingredients 
at one time.  The idea was to weigh the ingredients for a given amount of 
time and then calculate the setting so that they would be mixed in the 
right proportions.  This process worked OK for several years but things 
began to change.  Initially I would grind corn and add a complete 
supplement.  By this time it had become more economical to buy soybean meal 
as the base ingredient and mix in various mineral pacs to provide the 
mineral requirements for the various hogs being fed.  Most of these were 
only mixed at a rate of 50 lbs./ton so it became harder to calibrate for a 
small amount.  Also I was mixing as many as 4 kinds of feed in one day, 
making it very difficult to keep switching the types of mineral.  Another 
problem was that the loads of soybean I was purchasing were varying widely 
in ther density, further throwing off the calibration.  Soybean meal price 
shot up to over $400/ton so that if you were off as little as 20 lbs/batch 
it was costing you either $4 too much or your ration was incorrect.  I 
finally decided I needed a feed mixer and scale.  I ended up purchasing a 
mixer from a guy that was selling them at the National Machinery Show.  The 
one I bought mixes 500-lb. batches and will fit on the platform of a 
standard 1000-lb. platform scale.  I still used the original Mix/mill for 
grinding, however the metering augers were only used to regulate the flow 
of grain into the hammermill.  It was amazing to note the variation between 
loads of feed.  The mixer has windows every so far so you can see the level 
of the feed.  On a 500-lb batch I have noticed as much as 4-inches 
difference in the height of the feed in the mixer due to differences in the 
load of corn.  Also some of the newer way was too put wormer in the batch 
of feed.  Due the small amounts required it was almost impossible to meter 
that small an amount into the batch.    In summary, with margins getting 
tighter, feed and supplements getting more expensive, and government 
regulations becoming more stringent, one must almost weigh the feed to get 
an economical ration.

Greg Hass