Mixing Your Own Poultry Feed in Ghana: When It Pays

The volume question comes before the machine

A grinder does not make money by itself. Most farmers who ask us about mixing their own feed are looking at the saving per bag, and that saving is real. What they forget is that the machine, the store and an afternoon every week all cost money too. Mixing only pays when the volume is big enough to carry those costs.

In our experience, which is an observation from talking with farmers rather than a survey, mixing starts to make sense once a farm uses a few hundred kilograms of feed a month and keeps using it. Below that, the time and the risk of getting a batch wrong usually cancel out the saving.

Scale changes the sum. A box of 50 Ross 308 chicks at the starting price of GH₵20 each costs GH₵1,000, and you can check the current starting prices before you plan. The feed those 50 birds eat over a seven-week cycle comes to roughly 225 kg, which at the ready feed price used later in this article is about GH₵3,000. The chicks are a small bill next to the feed, so the feed is where a mixing decision is won or lost. If you are unsure how many birds to start with, our farm budget guide shows how the feed bill fits the rest of the costs.

The break-even in numbers

Use these example prices to test the logic, then replace them with your own quotes. Ready grower mash costs GH₵13.50 per kg. Mixed feed costs GH₵9.00 per kg, including the ingredients and premix but not labour or power. That leaves a saving of GH₵4.50 per kg.

The fixed costs are the other side of the sum. Say the grinder, mixer, scale and bins cost about GH₵15,000. Spread over 12 months, that is GH₵1,250 a month. Add power, maintenance and a small amount for your mixing time, about GH₵400 a month, and the fixed costs come to GH₵1,650 a month.

Look at the first row. At 500 kg a month you keep GH₵600, and that is before any mistake. One lost tonne of mixed feed at GH₵9.00 a kilo is GH₵9,000 gone, which is more than a year of that margin. That is why the quality checks later in this article matter more than the machine.

The numbers move with prices, and the saving per kilo shrinks when ready feed is cheap or your ingredients are dear. Redo the table with your own prices every time maize or soya moves, which in Ghana means several times a year.

The kit you actually need

Buy for the grain you will actually grind. A machine built for a farm ten times your size will sit idle, cost you power and still need its screen changed. Here is the minimum kit for a small mixing set-up.

• A hammer mill or grinder rated for dry grain, with a screen you can change for different stages.
• A mixer. A drum or horizontal mixer gives a far more even blend than shovelling on concrete.
• A platform scale that reads to 0.5 kg for bulk ingredients, plus a small scale that reads to 1 gram for premix.
• Sealed bins, or bags stacked on pallets, one per ingredient, each labelled.
• A moisture meter, or a plan to send samples to a lab.
• A clean, dry, covered space with power and a water supply for cleaning.

If you buy a second-hand grinder, check the bearings and the screen before you pay. A grinder that runs hot or throws dust out of its casing will cost you more in time and maintenance than it saved on the price.

Buying ingredients in bulk without buying trouble

Bulk buying saves money, but it also multiplies problems. A tonne of maize that sits for two months in a damp corner is a tonne of risk. Buy from a dealer who turns stock over, ask for the production or arrival date, and visit the store if you can.

Keep the list short. Maize, soybean meal, a bran, a protein source such as fishmeal, a calcium source, salt and premix cover most rations. Every extra ingredient is another thing to store, weigh and check. Buy only what you can use in about six weeks in the rainy season and eight in the dry season, and let the rest stay with the seller. If a cheaper ingredient tempts you, our guide to cheaper feed alternatives sets out the limits before you buy.

Ask for a price per tonne that includes delivery and sacks, then check the invoice against the weight on arrival. Short bags are common enough that a farmer who weighs the delivery is rarely short again.

Receiving checks: what to do the day ingredients arrive

The first hour after a delivery is the cheapest place to catch a bad ingredient. Do these checks before the lorry leaves if you can, and before any sack goes into the store.

1. Weigh a sample of sacks from different parts of the load and compare them with the invoice.
2. Smell each ingredient. A sour, musty or sharp smell means stop and call the supplier.
3. Look for mould, clumps, webbing and insects, especially in the bottom sacks where damp collects.
4. Squeeze a handful of maize. If it feels cool and damp, or stays in a clump when you open your hand, it is too wet.
5. Record the date, supplier, batch and weight in your book, next to the bin it goes into.

For maize, we want kernels that rattle and feel dry under the hand. A moisture meter gives you a number, and your hands give you an early warning. If either says wet, do not store the batch until it is dried. Our feed storage and aflatoxin article explains why damp grain is the first step to a serious problem.

Dosing premix: the small amount that makes or breaks the feed

The premix carries vitamins and trace minerals in amounts so small that a kitchen scale cannot weigh them. This is where home mixers go wrong most often, and it is the reason we tell farmers to buy a scale that reads to the gram.

Mix the premix into a small carrier first, such as a few kilograms of bran, and blend that carrier thoroughly. Then add the carrier to the bulk mix and blend again. Our formulation basics article explains what each group of premix ingredients does in the ration. Skipping the carrier step leaves pockets of feed with too little or too much of the vitamin pack, and the birds show it as uneven growth in the same house.

Follow the inclusion rate on the premix maker's sheet exactly. If the sheet is hard to read, ask the supplier to write it down for you. Do not add extra to be safe. More vitamins is not better, and some minerals are harmful in excess.

Medicated additives are a separate matter. Use them only on your vet's advice, follow the withdrawal times, and write every addition in your records.

A routine that keeps every batch the same

Consistency is what the birds feel. A batch that runs 1 per cent low on protein one week and 1 per cent high the next looks minor on paper, but the weights will show it within a fortnight. A written routine keeps the batches alike, even when the person mixing changes.

1. Start with the recipe card for the batch, written out and pinned on the store door.
2. Weigh each ingredient into a labelled bin before grinding anything.
3. Grind the maize and check the screen size against the stage of the birds.
4. Add the protein and bran to the mixer, then the calcium source and salt.
5. Add the premix last, using the carrier method.
6. Mix for the time the machine maker recommends, usually a few minutes, and no longer.
7. Bag or bin the feed, label it with the date and batch, and record what went in.

Keep the record for every batch in the same book you use for the flock. Our poultry record keeping guide shows the columns that make a batch easy to trace when something dips.

The birds tell you first: quality checks in the house

Your scale and your meter are useful, but the birds are the final test. Walk the house every morning and check these things before you decide a batch is fine.

Weigh ten birds every week, on the same day and at the same time, and write the average down. Compare the figure with the last batch as well as with the chart in your book. A chart tells you where the birds should be. The previous batch tells you whether this feed is working. For broilers, our broiler feeding schedule gives the week-by-week figures to compare against.

Where home mixing goes wrong

• Uneven blending. Mixing by shovel leaves streaks of fine ingredients. Use a mixer and time the run.
• Protein drift. A new soybean source with a lower protein content, bought without checking. Ask for the protein figure on each delivery.
• Wrong grind. Grinding too fine makes dust that birds waste. Grinding too coarse lets them sort the mix. Pick the screen for the stage.
• Mould in the bins. Bins left in a damp corner grow mould on the bottom layer, which then gets mixed into the next batch.
• Premix by the handful. Guessing the premix is the commonest home-mixing error we hear about.
• Unrecorded changes. Changing supplier without writing it down, then not knowing what caused a dip three weeks later.

Most of these are cheap to fix. The problem is that they are easy to ignore when the batch looks fine in the bin. Check the birds, not just the bin.

When buying ready feed is the right answer

For a small flock, a good ready feed from a mill you trust is often the cheapest honest option. You pay for the mill's testing, the premix and the mixing skill, and that is a fair price. Keep mixing your own feed for the day the volume justifies it.

Layer farms can run the same logic through our layer feeding guide, which sets out how the ration changes with age. There is a middle path. Buy a ready premix from a reputable maker and mix only the energy and protein yourself. That keeps the grinder work small and removes the most dangerous step, which is dosing the vitamins and minerals by guesswork.

If you are planning the first house and want to match the chicks to the feed plan, the broiler day-old chick page sets out what we sell and the starting prices. We deliver to all 16 regions, and the cost is confirmed before you pay (see our delivery details). You can message our team on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503 with your questions. When you are ready, the order form is on the homepage.

Before you mix the first bag: a checklist

1. Work out the monthly feed volume and the break-even using your own prices.
2. Price the fixed costs honestly, including power, maintenance and your own time.
3. Choose a grinder and mixer sized for your real volume, and test them before the first batch.
4. Agree a price per tonne with delivery and sacks included, and get a receipt for each delivery.
5. Weigh and smell every ingredient on arrival, and record the batch details.
6. Write the recipe card with the inclusion rate for the premix, and pin it up.
7. Dose premix by weight, using the carrier method, every time.
8. Weigh ten birds each week and compare the average with the previous batch.

Questions farmers ask