Glossary > Feed Ingredients > SOYBEANS

Soybeans are the richest in protein of all the common seeds used for animal feed. They should not be stored until thoroughly dry.

At harvest the seeds often contain too much moisture for satisfactory storage and must therefore be dried to a moisture content of less than 15%.

For feed they should preferably be cracked or ground (grinding is easier if the beans are mixed with grain). If they are fed in large quantities to cattle, the diet must also contain adequate amounts of vitamin A. Ground soybeans cannot be stored long in a hot climate.

For cattle, soybeans are an excellent feed without processing or specific conditioning by heat; but for monogastric animals, especially young pigs and poultry, the beans have to be heated to destroy factors that lower their nutritive value.

This can be done in a heated rotating drum; however, this method is unsatisfactory because some beans are charred and others not heated enough.

A safer method is to pressure-cook the crushed beans at 115 C for ten minutes or at atmospheric pressure for two hours. The carcass will lack firmness and be too juicy if the level of whole beans in the diet exceeds 20- 25%.

For poultry, up to 30% whole, heated soybeans can be included in the diet with no depressing effects.