
A lab technician at Grain Pulse Limited Facility in Mukono explaining about quality checks of poultry and animal feed materials and finished products. PHOTO/LOMINDA AFEDRARU
Most poultry and animal husbandry farmers in the country device means to come up with feed for their poultry and animals.
In the case of animal husbandry farmers, majority of them are practicing free range system where the drive the animals to graze in the grassland available
Poultry farmers on the other hand rear exotic birds, namely layers and broilers, among others, feeding them with available feeds made locally minus following standards while local chicken are left to loiter to search for their own food on free range.
However, there are a number of Agro input companies that have come up with facilities to process standard animal and poultry feed to ensure farmers adopt the same to achieve better breeds and earn better income.
One such initiative is by Grain Pulse Limited, an agribusiness company which process animal and poultry feed as well as cereal grain for human nutrition.
Seeds of Gold visited the processing facility in Mukono and interacted with the processors and below are the details
Background
Dr Hilary Rugyema, the head of agronomy and advisory at the company, explains that poultry and animal husbandry farming is a lucrative venture in Uganda, with the potential for high returns on investment.
However, success in the two farming initiates depends on various factors, one of which is feed management.
Feed management is critical to ensuring that poultry birds grow well, are healthy and produce quality meat and eggs.
At the same time domestic animals continue to make important contributions to global food supply including Uganda and as a result, animal feeds have become an increasingly critical component of the integrated food chain.
For farmers to realise healthy animal growth both for meat and milk production, the feeding must be managed well by integrating all feed nutrients including Vitamins from grass and protein from feed concentrates.
Feed management
Ms Faith Batwala, the production manager at Grain Pulse Limited, explains that feed processing starts with its management, which involves a series of activities such as feed formulation, feeding routines, feed storage and quality control.
Feed formulation is the process of developing a balanced ration that meets the nutritional requirements of the poultry birds and animals.
The ration should contain the right balance of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. The ration should also be palatable and easily digestible.

A bag of poultry feed. Feed formulation is the process of developing a balanced ration that meets the nutritional requirements of the poultry birds and animals
Feeding routines involve determining the right quantity and frequency of feeding. It should be done at regular intervals to ensure that the birds and animals have constant access to feed.
Another management aspect is feed storage which involves proper handling and storage of feed to prevent spoilage, contamination and nutrient loss.
Quality control involves ensuring that the feed meets the required standards in terms of nutrient content, palatability and hygiene.
Quality control
Ms Eve Arayo, a food scientist who manages the laboratory tests, explains that the company lab is fully equipped to conduct tests of all raw materials before it is accepted for use as well as the processed finished product.
Once trucks deliver raw materials which include maize grain, sorghum and barley grains, these are checked right from the entry point for its dryness, cleanliness, maturity of grain and moulds that cause aflatoxin, among others.
Samples are then taken to the laboratory where moisture is tested. The recommended moisture content for maize, barley and sorghum is 14 percent.
The acceptable aflatoxin level in all commodities is 10 parts per billion (PPB) and the finished products are also checked for their quality to suit humans, birds and animals.
The feed are processed into various forms namely pellets granules and powder form.
Poultry feed concentrate
Batwala explains that the poultry feed concentrate is mainly a mixture of maize bran, wheat bran and silver fish and other supplement essential in nutrient.
The feed materials are mixed with concentrates which include layers and broilers concentrate with nutrients such as lysine, methionine, carophyl, vitamins, trace minerals and phytases.
The mixture is for birds growing at a specific stage. A case in point is starter crumbles for birds from 0-14 days, grower pellets for birds from three weeks up to growth age of selling.
The experts recommend farmers to feed birds from 8-20 weeks 80gm pellets per week. Layers that have grown from 20–76 weeks old eat 120–130gm of layers mash per day
Adult chickens eat about 0.12 kilogrammes of feed per day.
Feed concentrate
Feed Poultry Concentrate is a high quality feed supplement that contains essential nutrients that poultry birds require for optimal growth and health.
The concentrate is made from a blend of natural ingredients, including grains, oilseeds and animal protein sources.
It contains a balanced mix of amino acids, vitamins and minerals that are essential for poultry growth and development.
The feed concentrate is formulated to complement the existing feed ration, improving its nutritional quality and palatability.
It improves the nutritional quality of feed, leading to improved growth rates and weight gain in poultry birds.
It also enhances the immune system of the birds, making them more resistant to diseases and infections.
To get the most out of poultry feed concentrate, it is essential to follow proper feed management practices.
Farmers must ensure that the birds have access to clean drinking water at all times and follow the recommended feeding routines and quantity of feed.
Required livestock feed formulation
Batwala explains that most animal husbandry farmers rely on local pasture to feed them, which is not sustainable meaning they must reach out to feed processing industries for alternative and enhanced sources of protein for animal feeds.
Dependency on and the need for external supplies of formulated feed will be influenced by various factors including the nature of the livestock enterprise, local feed alternatives and the farming system.
There are several sources of animal feed comprising of protein as explained below.
Protein sources
Sources of protein for animal feeds are many and varied, with considerable opportunities for further diversification and substitutions.
Experts note that more research is required on alternative sources before many of the opportunities can be exploited in practice. Some of the proteins can derived from various plants varieties.
The animal feed raw materials used at Grain Pulse Limited include legume crop, which is soybean, oil crops such sunflower and cereals, which is maize bran.
PLANT PROTEIN SOURCES
Legumes
Legumes are a traditional source of plant proteins for animal feed and their production can provide a range of benefits both on farms and for feed manufacturers. The exploitation of soybean is a classic example of successful development and use.
Peas, beans and lupins are exploited as grain crops in temperate farming systems and their production for home-grown protein supply is encouraged (and supported) in the European Union to reduce dependency on imported proteins.
Each has strengths and weaknesses for quality protein provision. Lupins, for example, can yield high levels of crude protein but produce grain which is often low in lysine and sulphur containing amino acids.

Soybean
Citing literature compiled by scientists in Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Ms Batwala explained that soybean remains the most important and preferred source of high quality vegetable protein for animal feed manufacture.
Soybean meal, which is the by-product of oil extraction, has a high crude protein content of 44 to 50 percent and a balanced amino acid composition, complementary to maize meal for feed formulation.
Oil meal crops
There are many different potential oil crops in addition to soyabean, each with strengths and weaknesses for protein meal supply.
The production unit relies on sunflower seed cake, which is nutritious and high protein feed which once blended is used for cattle, piggery and poultry as well. Sunflower seed cake contains 32–36 percent crude protein.
Sunflower is another oil crop the team is using for processing sunflower cake. It is good in protein meal for livestock, especially ruminants. The protein content of sunflower meal can range from 23 percent to more than 40 percent.
Some farmers use cotton seed cake, groundnut cake and simsim cake, which are equally good in protein nutrition.
According to Ms Batwala, her team comes up with concentrate of cakes from the various crops, which are blended to form one concentrate. It is then dried and processed in form of pellets and granules.
They also process concentrates comprising of other essential nutrients such as vitamins and irons, which are good for animal growth.
The team advices farmers to provide 2.5kg of the feed per animal per day.
These products are packaged in 25 and 50kg, which are mostly sold to agro input dealers who purchase in large quantities