ANIMAL FEED STORAGE GUIDELINES

General Recommendations

1. Store all feed and ingredients at a cool temperature (ideally below

77° F although this is not possible at outside locations under summer conditions).
2. Keep feed dry to prevent fungal or bacterial growth.
3. Prevent rodent or insect entry into feed.
4. Use antioxidants to preserve fats and oils in ingredients and feed.
5. Use stable forms of vitamins.
6. Expiration dates (usually on container) are required for all food items.
a. Known shelf life of some products is marked on container (e.g., canned food).
b. Prepared feeds: one week after end of experiment or 8 weeks post mixing
(whichever is shorter).
c. Ground grain: One month after milling unless stabilized.
d. Fats and oils:
Opened container: One month
Un-opened or stabilized: One year post mixing.
e. Vitamin mixtures: 6 months after preparation (exceptions of up to one year if
stabilized with ethoxyquin). Vitamin C hydralyzes more rapidly.
f. Whole grain or seeds: One year after harvest
g. Fat-free ingredients, protein meals, minerals: No specific expiration date as long
as feeds remain dry and free from obvious contaminants (These items
should carry an acquisition date.

Justification

Captive animals depend on caretakers for a diet that supplies adequate amounts of nutrients
required for good health. Some nutrients are subject to destruction by chemical action or light.
Moisture, heat, and, in some cases, light accelerate destruction of nutrients in feed ingredients.
Proper preparation of feeds and appropriate storage conditions can prolong the shelf-life of feeds
and ingredients, but not indefinitely. Therefore, all containers of feed and most ingredients must
have an accepted expiration date. Feed should be discarded on or before this date.

How Nutrients are Destroyed:

1. Oxidation by oxygen in air or by hydroperoxides. Nutrients so destroyed include

unsaturated fats, essential fatty acids, vitamins A, C, D, and biotin, and the amino acid
lysine.
2. Chemical destruction catalyzed by minerals or promoted by high or low pH. This is
accelerated with increasing moisture. Vitamin C and thiamine are destroyed at alkaline pH.
3. Interaction of aldehydes of carbohydrates (e.g., glucose) or oxidized fats with amino
groups. This can occur at room temperature and at usual moisture content in feeds.
4. Cleavage of thiamine by sulfite. Destruction of riboflavin by light.
5. Fungal growth, nutrient destruction or production of mycotoxins. This can occur when
local spots within feed or ingredients develop pockets of moisture of about 16%, usually at
 the edges of the container where moisture has migrated as the temperature
fluctuated.
6. Bacterial growth will develop if moisture and temperature are favorable. Nutrient
degradation and production of toxins occurs readily.
7. Insect damage. Grain and grain products are easily contaminated by larvae and beetles that
typically grow in grains.
8. Rodents eat and contaminate grains and feeds.

Prevention or Reduction of Damage to Feed and Ingredients

1. Grains and Grain Products:

a. Obtain clean, insect-free grain (or treat grain with a USDA-approved insecticide).
Have an effective, safe rodent control program in place.
b. Store feed in a cool, dry location, free from conditions where condensate may form.
c. Store large quantities of feed in tight paper containers or in ventilated cloth or
papersacks or in bulk. These containers allow moisture to migrate and escape
rather than condense, which allows mold growth.
Smaller quantities of feed, as present in feed mixing rooms, should be
stored in closed plastic containers to prevent entry of insects, rodents, and moisture.
The initial moisture content of the feed should be less than 14 %.
d. Grind corn and other grains shortly before use. Grinding, flaking, or crimping
releases the oil in the germ of the seed. This oil contains polyunsaturated fats and
a limited amount of natural antioxidants. Therefore, rancidity will occur within
days or weeks after grinding.

2. Protein Sources:
a. Low-fat (<1%), dry (<12 % moisture) protein sources (e.g., casein, isolated soy
protein, solvent extracted meals of soybean, peanut, etc., may be kept indefinitely).
However, they should be labeled with an acquisition date.
b. Meals with fat, usually > 2% ( e.g., cottonseed meal , sunflower seed meal, meat
meals, meat and bone meals, poultry meals, fish meal) have a limited shelf life that
may be extended to about 6 months if an appropriate antioxidant (e.g., ethoxyquin,
TBHQ, BHA-BHT) has been added. These meals should be stored in a cool
location ( ideally <77° F, although this may not be possible under summer
conditions at the field labs). In summer, use these ingredients within 2 months of
milling.
c. Whole seeds (soybeans, cottonseed, sunflower, etc.) will keep for at least one year
in a cool location. Their oil is contained in oil glands along with a natural
antioxidant.

3. Fats and Oils:

a. Unopened containers of vegetable oil should keep for one year only. However,
once opened and exposed to air, the oil begins to oxidize. The oil may be stabilized
by adding ethoxyquin (Santoquin from Novus, Inc., St. Louis, MO), or TBHQ
(Eastman Organic Chemicals) at levels such that the total amount of these
preservatives in the final feed does not exceed 0.0125% of the diet (125 mg//kg
 feed).
b. "Stripped" oils or fats are used in some studies. They have been stripped of all
antioxidants by the process of molecular distillation. These products are stored in
a nitrogen atmosphere or at very low temperatures. They are mixed into diets
shortly before use, and the diets prepared fresh at least once/week or more
frequently, unless an antioxidant is added to the feed.
c. Vitamin E or naturally occurring tocopherols are not as good antioxidants as are the
synthetic ethoxyquin or tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ). The acetate
derivative of vitamin E (d,l-alpha tocopherol acetate) is not an antioxidant in feed.
It is a stable vitamin E source. The acetate is hydrolyzed in the intestines so that
the tocopherol becomes a good antioxidant in tissues. Ethoxyquin is absorbed from
the gut and is an antioxidant in tissues. Exceeding the recommended dietary level
of 125 mg ethoxyquin/kg of diet could have pharmacological effects.

4. Mixed Feeds:
a. The moisture content of feed should be <12%. Store feed in closed bags in a cool
dry place. Prevent rodent and insect exposure.
b. Add an antioxidant to the feed (or with the added fat) at time of preparation
c. If no antioxidant is added, store feed in a cool location for a limited period of time.
d. If glucose monohydrate (dextrose, cerelose) is used as a feed ingredient, consider
that glucose will react with the free amino groups of protein and added amino acids
within hours to days.
e. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is stable for only days, not weeks. Ascorbic acid
phosphate is a commercially available, stable form of vitamin C. It is required in
diets for primates, guinea pigs, fish, and probably lizards and some other types of
animals.
f. Add vitamin premixes to diets to provide all the vitamins at concentrations 4 to 5
times required level stated in the National Research Council publications on
nutrient requirements of Animals (Government Printing Office, Constitution Ave.,
Washington, DC), except when the experimental protocol requires otherwise.

5. Vitamin and Mineral Premixes:

a. Vitamin premixes usually contain some ethoxyquin, and the vitamins A and E are
added as the stable acetate derivatives.
b. Vitamin C is usually not added to vitamin premixes but rather is added separately
just before mixing. However, ascorbic acid phosphate is a stable form of vitamin
C, albeit more expensive.
c. DO NOT MIX VITAMINS AND MINERALS TOGETHER IN A PREMIX! This
is done by some commercial mills, even done successfully using special
preparations, but it is not a good, general recommendation.
d. MINERAL premixes are usually stable indefinitely. The carrier is usually
limestone or calcium carbonate; the trace minerals are the sulfate salts (less or
non-hygroscopic) (biologically available). However, zinc carbonate, zinc oxide,
and manganous oxide are biologically available. (The oxides of iron, copper and
the carbonates of iron, copper, and manganese are not biologically available).
e. Calcium iodate (CaIO3) is a stable, biologically available form of iodine.
Potassium iodide (KI) is unstable, especially in mineral premixes.
f. Selenium is usually added to the diet as sodium selenite. Selenite may be added to
the vitamin mix or may be added as a separate premix, usually with limestone or
calcium carbonate as the carrier. Selenium is not very stable in mineral premixes.
SELENIUM is toxic and should normally not exceed 3 times the NRC
recommended level. At 10 X toxic signs appear.
g. Other inorganic mineral sources (calcium phosphates, sodium, potassium,
magnesium, and calcium salts) are stable indefinitely.