When you buy a bag of feed, what are you hoping to find inside? Do you find what you are looking for?

When a feeds manufacturer chooses what will go into a feed there are two methods they might use. Recipes whose ingredients stay the same all the time are known as fixed formula feeds. Union Point Custom Feeds uses fixed formulas.

Animals generally need to eat less when their feed is nutrient dense. That’s why there are no fillers in the feed we make at Union Point Custom Feeds, and every ingredient must earn its place in the formula.

If we want our animals to eat less, the feed they eat needs to be more concentrated so that even if they only eat 3.5 oz. instead of 4.5-5.0 oz. they still get all the materials they need to build an egg.

We like to make pellets because we start with whole grains and end with whole nutrition. We use pellets to hide the things that the animal needs but does not necessarily want . It’s not as pretty as a whole grain feed, but it allows for the freshest, most nutritious feed possible.

Our specialty is making nutrient-dense feeds from clean, delicious and wholesome grains and proteins. We use domestic products sourced as close as possible to our mill. Local is a big bonus, both logistically and from the perspective of sustainability. Organic and local is the very best, but it’s not always available. If it is, it may not be affordable. Some of our customers prefer local non-GMO grains to organic products from offshore, provided they are herbicide and pesticide-free. We like choices.

Some people are skeptical of the authenticity of some imported organic ingredients. That’s why we rely on a third-party certifier. It’s true that whenever we trust a third-party certifier to do our due diligence for us we are taking a risk, but it’s impossible on a practical level to evaluate everything first-hand. That’s true whether we are looking at National Organic Program USDA Organic certification, non-GMO claims, farm practices certifications or any other claims where we rely on someone else’s expertise to validate a choice. Generally we don’t have the information to check the claims ourselves, and we don’t have the authority to question them even if we doubt them. If the NOP run by the USDA says something is certified organic, it is.

We rely on a diverse set of sources for our ingredients. That helps us manage our supply chain, but it also allows us to choose the best ingredients. We source grains and other common ingredients through brokers, like most commodities. We negotiate daily, and balance demand with supply so that we can keep fresh ingredients on hand but not for too long.

Getting quality protein into feed is essential, but challenging. Our mill relies on wild fish meal, insects, legumes and more. We do not use pork or chicken meal. Here’s the back story on the trick to getting protein into animal feed….

When we talk about crude protein levels in feed and how that relates to the efficiency and value of that feed we get excited. That’s because if you understand this concept, you are ahead of most feed store shoppers in understanding feed quality. Particularly when feeding animals like pigs and chickens, if you read the label and evaluate feeds you are considering in terms of a couple of numbers you will save yourself a lot of time, money, and frustration.

We’re routinely asked about the question of glyphosate residues on wheat, which can cause all kind of health problems in people consuming the wheat. The short answer is that glyphosate application is not a practice in the Northwest, where we get our wheat.

We love peas. They are an outstanding ingredient when you can get them in a feed. We have been using them successfully here at Union Point Custom Feeds for many years. We’ve found them to be an ideal protein source for many of the feeds we make.

Whole oats are a favorite topic at the mill; we get lots of questions. Our verdict: their nutritional value depends on the animal.

Oats are rumored to be good for poultry because they have a higher fat content and more protein than wheat. But this is only partly true.

Barley is a very common and cheap feed ingredient, because it can grow without irrigation on marginal land. It’s particularly good for ruminants that can digest it without feeling the bad effects of its sticky beta-glucans. But birds can be very badly affected by it. Since we can get local oats for about the same price and we prefer them for many reasons, we skip the barley. If you have birds, we suggest you do, too.

Oyster shell is common and cheap, and hens like it, so it is our most common source of supplemental calcium. By providing it separately we give her what she needs to build an egg with the least amount of stress on her body and the least wear and tear on her metabolism.