Okay -- silly question, maybe, but what the heck is the difference between "feed grain" (such as oats) and the stuff we buy in pretty little boxes in the grocery store for ten times the price? Can you buy plain grain (oats, barley, etc.) at the feed store and feed it to humans????

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001

Answers

Response to Feed Grain....what's the difference?

Feed grain is handled in a different way, not tested for pesticide as strict, may have been wet on by grain handlers who just had to go, may have dirt added at elevator to bring up to legal dirt limit, the list goes on. I pick out snuff cans, junk items, etc from my feed quite often. They don't take much pain with it. Don

-- Don (dairyagri@yahoo.com), October 30, 2001.

Response to Feed Grain....what's the difference?

Well, there is some difference in Food grade and the grade that you would get at a feed store. When we used to take in wheat harvest and I knew where a load came from, I would have them save me a couple of bushels to use for bread. My hubby worked at the mill and could triple clean a load for me and some of my friends. We had and still have lots of people buy a 50 pound bag of cow peas to cook over the winter to eat. They can be washed though and aren't as apt to be so dirty as the oats or wheat would be. If you have a way to get the cheat out of it, then it would probably be just fine. I would run it in front of a fan and pour it from one container to the other to get rid of the dust and stuff first. OH...outside of course..heehee! What a mess, huh? That is all a cleaner basically is anyway...a big fan. It would sure be nice to know if and how much chemicals were used on the crop. That is why I liked knowing who grew it!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), October 30, 2001.

Response to Feed Grain....what's the difference?

All righty then -- I was on board to use this as a cost-cutter this winter until I heard about the grain handlers peeing on it...I'm out. Thanks, Don!

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

Response to Feed Grain....what's the difference?

Tracy, having worked in elevators several times over the years,I can say that there is some basic diferences. Usualy it has to do with color ,protien and sometimes variety. However how it is handle is the same as feed. Many farmers and elevators when storing grain use pesticides to prevent bugs in storage. Malathion, is real common and the measuring of its use is very crude. I have even tasted it in store bought bread, so you know the grain had been stored and treated several times for long periods. I would only buy grain for my family from a trusted friend,better yet grow it yourself.

-- Del (dgrinolds@gvtel.com), October 30, 2001.

Response to Feed Grain....what's the difference?

Also..this is a difference no one mentioned...the oats are not rolled. they have hulls usually still on, and would be alot more work to use. My sis in law bought a bag of corn called "recleaned" and it had little bug holes throughout. then man at the feedstore sort of thought she was nuts when she tried to return it. She had planned on it for food storage. Ended up feeding it to her chickens. I buy grain from a food storage company through church, but its not very expensive. (wheat especially) I would trust it way before feed store bags. You never know how long they have been sitting around,besides the lower standards.

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 30, 2001.

If you want absolutely clean wheat, go to a seed store and ask for untreated seed. It will cost two or three dollars more than feed store wheat, but it is clean and you can pick the exact variety you want. Friend in Kansas does this. She got some very hard wheat that was a pain to grind but made excellent bread. May only be available where wheat is grown commercially, I dont know. Havent seen such a seed store around here, so I use the only untreated feed store wheat I can find which is even a soft spring wheat. I just clean out the extra chaff and have to add little wheat gluten to make good bread with it. Only thing i have noticed is it has more chaff and weed seed than much more expensive health food store wheat. The farmer gets $2.50 for bushel wheat (around 60#), I pay $4 for 50# at feed store, the last I checked health food store, it was over $20 for 50#. I'd prefer to cut out all middle men, but no commercial wheat growers around here and they probably arent wanting to bother with selling just few bushel.

You folks worried about handlers peeing on grain, what about all those lovely produce items at your local grocery store. You think farm laborers who get paid by how many crates they pick take time to go to the porta john IF one is available? As previous poster said the grain that is used for human consumption is just cleaned for chaff, etc little better. They dont have inspectors watching who pees on what when its handled early on. Also when all grain is harvested their are all kinds of insect parts and dirt and what not. Government standards even allow for a certain amount of insect parts, rodent feces, etc in all the wonderful processed items available at your local market. One of my uncles worked in a peach cannery in Oregon just before USA got into WWII. He wouldnt eat store bought canned peaches for a long long time. Why he thought any other commercially canned/processed item was any better, I dont know, but guess he believed what he saw with his own eyes.

-- Hermit John (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), October 31, 2001.

A.T. Hagan covers this pretty well in his Prudent Food Storage FAQ. I have used feed grains before and may again in the future but you have to exercise some discretion because from state to state, region to region it can vary *widely* in what you get.

A.3 TYPES OF AVAILABILITY OF GRAINS AND LEGUMES Scroll down to reach this section. http://www. providenceco-op.com/fsfaq/fsfaq3-035.htm

Dirty grain I can pretty well clean myself but fungal infections are another problem altogether.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), October 31, 2001.

Not all feed stores are created equally! My husband has worked in the feed business for years. In most of the stores that he has worked in I would not have a problem with buying recleaned rolled oat groats(for oatmeal) or wheat, or beans. I would certainly check out the mill manager first! Where he worked the longest was extremely clean! The man had an immaculate mill! Not many of those around I am afraid. Go peek in the door and if it is filthy, you know what you'll get. The grain gets the most contaminated after it comes into the dirty mill I would imagine. Otherwise it has only been handled by large machinery and been in the back of a truck. I haven't a problem with it, because I know the guys that handle my stuff. They would take extra care of mine. Better to make friends with the mill hands! I will say this...I would never walk into a feed store and just buy a bag of wheat or oats unless I knew the people well. One place that my husband worked was filthy and the guys were NOT beyond doing nasty things to the bagged grain! He did not work there long! Not a very reputable place! Seems like the family owned ones are a little better than the bigger feed mills. Maybe that is my prejudice.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), November 01, 2001.