Third largest Hog Producer Switching to Wheat in Feed as Prices Slide

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The Maschhoffs, a family owned company that is the nation’s third-largest hog producer, says the plunge in wheat prices has the company using wheat in feed rations. 

Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today Reports typically, hogs eat a mix of around 80 percent corn and 20 percent soybean meal, but that mix can vary based on the availability of attractive alternatives like distillers' dried grains. Wheat is normally too expensive to feed to animals, but record-setting yield reports as winter wheat harvest progresses has sent prices lower and made the grain viable as a feed ration. 

Futures for wheat in Chicago hit a six-year low on Thursday at $4.36 per bushel while Kansas City hard red winter wheat touched $3.98¾ per bushel, its lowest price for a decade.

Wheat has higher protein levels than corn, which economist calculate make it the better buy once it is less than 110 percent the price of corn. The company detailed that wheat can replace around 50 percent of corn for young pigs and 100 percent for adult pigs.

 

Source:  NAFB News

 

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