# Feed conversion value



## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

This subject comes up often with tree huggers and those that are anit just about every thing. However that does not mean it is not worth looking at.
Is feeding gain to animals for meat a good trade off or are we better off using the grain our self.
The amount of beef ,pork ect you get from a pound of grain varies a lot depending on who's numbers you use and how the grain is used.
Cattle that are grass feed and free ranged but given grains as a supplement will fair better than those confined and feed mostly grains and produced hay.. The ranged cattle will take much long to reach butcher weight.
Pork is about the same however pork can do very well on left over scarps as well. Chickens that free range may suffer some losses due to other animals but over all their need for grain is reduced. Making the eggs and meat they produce a better trade. Many also make the case that Chickens allowed to free range produce a high quality egg. And are more resistant to diseases. 
Have you considered this in your plans. We will have the ability to grow plenty of grain, corn wheat, Soy beans will also not be a problem for us. As machinery becomes less of an option the labor to produce animal feeds may not be worth the effort. 
Express you thoughts , how you expect to approach this.


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## Swedishsocialist (Jan 16, 2015)

As far as I understand it we lose engery when feeding them grain. We can feed more people with the grains then with the meat. 

But animals also eat things we dont, like grass for example. They also produce manure that greatly improves the soil. So if you only look at it grain vs meat grain wins hands down. But you dont get the hole picture. Still do we ever get the hole picture?


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## Real Old Man (Aug 17, 2015)

Yeah but there's not a whole lot of protein in grains. And really bacon, pork chops and sausage not to mention fried chicken and chicken fried steak tastes a whole lot better than a bowl of corn mush


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

I do know that all grass feed beef taste like carp. And is tough . Generally we feed our cattle good alfalfa 20-22% protein, corn and soybean meal. The range grass they eat most just kept them busy during the day. Better feed better quality of meat much quicker field to table.
post SHTF we will not only cut back on beef it will be a much lower quality.
Grain byproducts left over from other uses often make great animal feed. This is one of those case where it really pays remember how great grand parents did things.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

I would choose to feed and keep some animals.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

I'll stock up on spam and use the grain for baiting critters to shoot.


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## cdell (Feb 27, 2014)

I don't ever plan on willingly giving up meat. I am also lucky enough to have the land to support both animals and people grain.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Raising animals consumes a lot of water, too, especially hogs, if that is a concern.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Water is something we will not need to worry about. IMO Shortly after SHTF any real meat source is going to come from what we raise. There are just to many that will kill any wild game they can and the numbers will drop fast. Unlike when this land was settle there were few people here and plenty of game. They also did not kill game just to get though the day , they made longer term use of any game taken.


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