Pheasant feed, just like sausages, come a wide range of qualities, and like many things in life, you get what you pay for. But a good feed\u2019s importance can\u2019t be overemphasized: it directly contributes to our birds\u2019 performance in the hunt. That\u2019s why MacFarlane Pheasants, America\u2019s largest pheasant farm, goes the extra mile in purchasing and formulating the highest quality feed for our pheasants and partridges. It\u2019s taken us time to learn to ask the right questions, and below are the ones we believe you should be asking of your feed provider as well.<\/p>\n
The nature of the feed industry is that they often use byproducts. Those byproducts run the gamut, from soybean meal (the high-protein leftovers after beans are pressed for oil) to distillers grain, a byproduct of ethanol that is terrible for pheasants because of its high levels of toxins and denatured proteins. Other common additives include cereal fines, the fine particles left over after cereal production, and even bakery byproducts like cracker particles. They also vary from region to region. For example, in the western part of the country you\u2019ll often find canola meal, which our birds have trouble with digestibility. The most important question you can ask your feed provider is:\u00a0What makes up my birds\u2019 feed?<\/strong>\u00a0Big mills may refuse, but smaller mills will often be glad to discuss what\u2019s inside.<\/p>\n The next question you should ask is:\u00a0Can I speak to your nutritionist?<\/strong>\u00a0This is absolutely necessary as the limit for toxins, while perfectly fine for chickens and turkeys, can be right on the edge of what can be detrimental to pheasants. Asking to speak to the on-site nutritionist can give you hard answers on what the profile of your feed looks like, how well they\u2019re testing ingredients, and how close they\u2019re coming to the edge with nutrition. At MacFarlane Pheasants, we have our own company nutritionist ensure that our pheasants continue to receive the highest quality feed. It\u2019s too important not to.<\/p>\n Finally, one of the best questions to ask is:\u00a0Are you \u201cleast-costing\u201d?<\/strong>\u00a0This is the process by which a mill will switch out ingredients based on availability and price, and it\u2019s important to ask even if nothing seems to have changed. The industry has gone high-tech, and computers often make the decisions of what goes into the feed, switching out those things that are cheaper without notifying you or changing the price. Again, this can be great for their bottom line, but not for the health of your pheasants. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve formulated our own feed, specially milled to our own rigorous demands. When it\u2019s our formula, mills don\u2019t have permission to fiddle with it.<\/p>\n At MacFarlane, we\u2019ve been raising pheasants for almost a hundred years. We know what works with our birds, which have become industry leaders in their wildness and thrilling hunts. In our feed and our pheasants you\u2019ll never find dry distillers grains, cereal fines, canola meal, or soy flour. It\u2019s more expensive, but it\u2019s worth it. \u201cWe look at the feed as a good investment,\u2019\u201d says MacFarlane\u2019s financial officer. \u201cOur goal is to produce the highest quality game birds in the industry. If we cut corners, we\u2019re working against what we\u2019re trying to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pheasant feed, just like sausages, come a wide range of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farm-management","category-pheasant-feed"],"yoast_head":"\n