Groundnut Haulms and Forage for Poultry

What a haulm is, and why it is not hay or husk

The pods are in the sack and the harvest is finished. The vines are sitting in a heap by the compound wall, going pale in the sun. On many Ghanaian farms that heap is the most under-used feed on the place, and it usually gets burned or dragged to a corner when it could be feeding the birds.

A groundnut haulm is the above-ground part of the plant after the pods have been pulled: the stems, leaves and the small stalks that carried the nuts. It is not the same thing as the groundnut husk or shell, which is the hard casing around the nut itself. That distinction matters because the two products carry very different numbers. Husk is mostly fibre and very little protein. Haulm is leafier and softer, with more protein and more of the calcium that comes with green leaves.

Haulm is also not the same as hay made from grasses. It dries in a different way, it is more likely to hold moisture in the thick stems, and it carries a fungus risk that good grass hay does not. Treat it as a crop residue that needs proper handling, not as a bale of finished forage.

Our guide to kitchen scraps and forage covers the other green material you can give a flock. This article is about one specific crop by-product and what it can and cannot do in a ration.

The numbers: decent protein, a lot of fibre, and mostly water when fresh

The figures below come from the Feedipedia entry for peanut crop residues, which covers haulms, vines and tops. They are averages, so treat them as a guide for planning rather than a lab certificate for your own heap.

Read the fresh row carefully. Only about a fifth of fresh haulm is dry matter, so a kilo of freshly cut haulm holds roughly 200 grams of dry matter. Ten kilos of fresh haulm is about two kilos of dry matter once the water has gone. That single conversion stops most of the over-feeding we see, where a farmer throws in a barrow of wet vines and thinks the flock has been fed.

The dried figure tells the other half of the story. Eleven per cent protein is a useful amount of protein for roughage. Thirty-four per cent fibre is a lot. Fibre passes through a bird with little energy taken from it, so a mash that is heavy in haulm will look full and still leave the birds hungry for energy. That is why haulm belongs in a small share of the ration and not at the heart of it.

What the 2015 broiler study actually tested, and what it does not prove

The study most often cited for groundnut haulm in broiler diets was published in Veterinary World in 2015 by Ribadiya and colleagues. From the abstract, the design was 240 Cobb-400 chicks split across four diets with three replicates each. The control used a conventional ration. The other three replaced some of the maize and soybean meal with 2, 4 and 6 per cent groundnut haulm, balanced for nitrogen so the protein was held steady.

The reported pattern was that intake and weight gain rose as the haulm level went up, with the 6 per cent group highest. Feed conversion showed no significant difference between groups. The authors concluded that up to 6 per cent of the concentrate mix could replace maize and soybean meal without harming intake, growth or feed conversion.

Here is what that does not prove. The study ran in a different climate, on a different base ration, with a specific breed of bird and specific haulm. The abstract does not give the feed intake or weight values that a farmer would need to copy the results exactly. It also does not say how the haulm was dried, or whether the samples were tested for aflatoxin. A study that shows no harm at 6 per cent is not the same as a rule that tells you 6 per cent is safe on your farm, with your haulm, in your harmattan.

Our reading is that 6 per cent is the top of what the evidence allows, not the place to start. We would begin at 2 or 3 per cent for growers, check growth on a weigh day, and move up only if the flock stays well and the feed conversion holds.

Where haulm fits, flock by flock

The right level depends on the bird, the age and the job the bird is doing. Here is how we would split it.

For pullets and layers the check is simple. Weigh a sample of birds every week and track the egg size. If the birds stop gaining or the eggs drift smaller while the feed bin looks full, the haulm is taking energy the birds need. Cut it back, then look again after a week.

If you are raising birds for the first time and want the full picture before you buy, our guide to grower feed for pullets explains how the protein and energy targets change as the birds grow. Broiler growers need a different plan again, and the broiler day-old chicks page sets out which line to start with. Layer flocks are on the layer day-old chicks page, and the full range of breeds is on our breeds page.

Drying haulm so it does not turn on you

Drying is where most of the risk is, and where most farmers cut corners. The heap that looks dry on top is often wet in the middle, because the thick stems hold water long after the leaves have browned.

Harvest on a dry day, if you can. Spread the haulm out in a thin layer on a clean, raised surface, such as a plastic sheet on a rack or a platform of planks. Turn it every day, and bring it under cover at night and whenever a shower looks likely. The leaves should crumble and the stems should snap cleanly rather than bend. That is the sign you are looking for, not a date on the calendar. Only bag or store haulm once it has reached that state.

The harmattan is a good time to dry haulm, because the air is low in humidity. Keep the dust off the drying layer, though, and do not dry it on the bare ground where soil and droppings can get into the bale. In the rains, drying is harder, and a heap left out overnight can turn in two days. The Feedipedia entry notes that peanut hay is sensitive to moisture. If you cannot guarantee dry weather, store the haulm off the floor in a roofed barn, or bale it in plastic and feed it quickly.

A warm heap in the middle is the warning sign. It means the material is still respiring and moulds are growing. Pull the heap apart, spread it out, and check for mould before you feed a single handful.

Aflatoxin: haulm deserves the same respect as groundnut cake

Groundnuts and the plant parts that grow with them are a known home for the fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. The Feedipedia entry says peanut crop residues can be contaminated by both, and that they may then contain aflatoxin at toxic levels. The fungus is most likely to take hold when the crop is harvested wet, dried slowly, or stored damp.

What makes this tricky is that mouldy haulm does not always look mouldy. Fresh grey-green fur is a warning, but a clean-looking heap can still carry toxin, and the toxin does not smell. That is why the drying and storage rules above matter more than the look of the pile.

Aflatoxin hurts birds in the ways any farmer will recognise: slower growth, lower feed conversion, weaker immunity and a flock more likely to succumb to other disease. Liver damage is part of the picture. The problem is that the symptoms can be blamed on a dozen other things, which is why prevention is cheaper than diagnosis.

Our soya and groundnut cake guide sets out how to sample a lot and what to do when a test fails, and our feed storage and aflatoxin guide covers the store itself. The same sampling and rejection logic applies to haulm. Keep a retained sample of every heap you use, and throw out any batch that smells or looks mouldy. If you are not sure whether a feed is safe, our frequently asked questions page is the place to start, and our team can talk it through on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503.

Chopping, mixing and feeding without wasting half of it

Long dry stems are the reason haulm gets wasted. Birds pull at the long pieces, drop most of them on the floor, and then scratch them into the litter. Chopping solves most of that. Cut the dried haulm into pieces of roughly three to five centimetres, short enough to swallow and light enough that the birds will not spread it across the house.

For growers and pullets, mix the chopped dry haulm into the mash at the level you have worked out, then mix the whole batch evenly. Do not toss a handful on top of the feed and call it done. Uneven mixing means some birds get a lot of fibre and others get almost none.

For free-range flocks, a separate hay rack or a bundle hung at head height works better than scattering. Birds will peck at the leaves rather than standing on them. Clean out the rack every day in the wet season so the leftovers do not sour in the heat.

Do not soak haulm to soften it. Soaked haulm ferments fast in the Ghanaian heat, and it gives moulds exactly the moisture they want. If the birds are not eating the dry chopped pieces, the answer is usually a smaller amount or better mixing, not a bucket of water.

Haulm for free-range birds when the grass has gone

The dry season is when free-range birds struggle most. The grass has browned, the insects have gone quiet, and the ground is hard. A pile of groundnut haulm, freshly cut and laid where the birds can reach it, gives them something green to work at and something to keep them occupied.

Fresh haulm is wet, so it is a forage and not a store. Cut it in the morning, lay it out where the birds can get to it, and take away what they have not eaten by the evening. If you leave wet leaves in a pile overnight, they heat and the next morning they are worse than nothing. The birds that pick at them will then have mould in their gut as well as in their feed.

The free-range flock also gets a benefit from the scratching. Birds that spend time on leaves are working for their food and spreading the dropping across the yard, which is less concentrated than a whole house of droppings in one corner. That is a management gain, but it is not a substitute for a balanced ration. Free-range birds still need a feed that covers their protein and energy, and our guide to feeding free-range chickens sets out how to share that work between the feed bin and the yard.

Groundnut husk is a different feed, and the numbers prove it

Farmers sometimes read a study on groundnut shell or husk and assume it applies to haulm. It does not. A 2024 study from Benson Idahosa University in Nigeria analysed dried groundnut shell meal and tested it as a partial replacement for maize in Ross 308 finisher diets. Its analysis of the shell meal found 7.5 per cent crude protein, 37.8 per cent crude fibre, 1.31 per cent ether extract and metabolisable energy of about 2,130 kcal per kg.

The fibre figure is higher than the haulm figure, and the protein figure is much lower. The paper reported the diet compositions at five inclusion levels, from 0 to 20 per cent, and the analysed crude fibre was higher in the 10 to 20 per cent diets than in the control and the 5 per cent diet. It did not report weight gain, feed conversion or mortality, so the study tells you what the diets contained, not how the birds performed on them.

The lesson is practical. A husk is a fibre source for a bird that can handle bulk, and a haulm is a roughage source with some protein. Do not put one in the place of the other, and check the label or the supplier's description before you buy. Our sunflower cake guide and the cheap feed alternatives article show how other by-products compare on the same questions. If a seller calls a sack of groundnut material haulm, ask to see the leaves and stems, not just the shell.

Mistakes we see with haulm, and what to do about each

These are the errors that come up most often on farms that have just started feeding haulm. Each one can be fixed in a day.

• Feeding wet haulm straight from the field. Fix: dry it until the stems snap before any bird sees it.
• Piling damp leaves against a wall. Fix: raise the pile on planks, under a roof, and turn it every day while it dries.
• Putting haulm in chick starter because the birds are eating it. Fix: keep haulm out of starter until the birds are on grower feed.
• Adding a barrow of haulm to the mash without weighing it. Fix: weigh the dry matter and write it on the batch record.
• Using the same heap for the goats and the birds without checking it. Fix: test or sniff the heap before either animal eats it, and keep a sample.
• Judging the result by how full the feeder looks. Fix: weigh birds weekly and watch the feed conversion, because fibre fills the crop without feeding the bird.

The last mistake is the one that costs the most, because it hides. A flock on too much haulm looks well fed and then grows slowly. Weighing the birds is the only sure way to see it early.

A worked example: one fresh heap, two uses

Here is a worked example from the numbers above. It is an illustration of the arithmetic, not a recipe.

Say a farmer cuts 40 kilos of fresh haulm after the harvest. At 19.8 per cent dry matter, the 40 kilos holds about 8 kilos of dry material. If it is dried and then used in a grower mash at 3 per cent of the total, a 300 kilo batch of mash would take 9 kilos of dry haulm. So a 40 kilo heap of fresh leaves is worth about 8 kilos once it is dry, which covers one 300 kilo grower batch at 3 per cent and not much more. A farmer who expects the same heap to last a month of batches will be disappointed.

The same heap, left in the yard for the free-range flock instead, would be eaten fresh over a few mornings, and whatever the birds leave should be cleared each evening. The choice between the two uses is a choice between a measured ration and an open scratch. Both are valid. Mixing them up is what causes the trouble.

If you want to keep the haulm for the dry season, then dry the whole heap and store it properly. A dried heap loses most of its weight, so plan for that in the store, not in the field. When you are ready to restock after the dry season, our starting prices page lists current chick prices, and you can place a request through the order form.

Questions farmers ask