Sunflower Animal Feed

Maize Suppliers is the #1 supplier of bulk yellow and white maize, grain, maize meal, maize flour, instant porridge, soya beans, animal feed and instant beer to Africa.

We also specialise in Top Quality Animal feeds e.g. Bulk Soya Cake, Sunflower Cake and B-Grade Maize Grits.

To bulk up livestock and increase their food production qualities, they need to be fed a nutritious diet. Dairy animals have neds that are quite different to the other livestock and so they are normally fed a diet rich in energy and protein. The main source of protein for dairy cattle is oilseed such as sunflower seeds.

Sunflower meal, which is also reffered to as sunflower oilcake, is a powerful protein source for cattle as it is both economically and biologically the better choice. Sunflower meal is the by-product of the oil extraction process. The process involves the of grinding flakes which remain after oil has been removed by either solvent or mechanical extraction processes.

Oil is the majority value of the sunflower seed and sunflower meal is considered a by-product which has a major protein meal source which is primarily used for feed in cattle or livestock and other animal feed. This by-product is known as Sunflower Cake Animal Feed and it is an excellent livestock animal feed. The use of this low-cost sunflower animal cake feed, the specifications of which are high in protein, fibre and fat, has been somewhat frowned upon. Due to the increased production of sunflower oil, the market for sunflower meal for sale has grown as the need for this by-product increases, with a very favourable sunflower meal price per tonne rating.

The sunflower seed cake (as it is also known) has been used extensively in feeding in temperate countries, but while it has not received much attention in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is an important feed in South Africa. In South Africa, sunflower seed cake is a source of high-quality protein and is used freely in balanced diets for poultry and pigs owing to the absence of toxic compounds. Sunflower seed cake produced is almost entirely consumed as feed.

There are two processes used for the crushing of sunflowers during the manufacturing of sunflower oil. Some sunflower crushing plants remove a portion of the hull prior to the oil extraction process. This process is called ‘dehulling’. Thie final result is sunflower meal with protein level specifications usually above 30 percent and fibre level specifications of 21 percent and below. The other process involves the use of mechanical presses when removing the oil from the sunflower seed. This process usually results in fat content specifications of 13 percent. Some manufacturing plants incorporate both the mechanical and solvent extraction processes. When incorporating both processes the end result will usually have fat content specifications of 1 percent.

Sunflower meal specification-feeding limits are 2,26 kg to 3,63 kg of DM per cow per day. The hulls in sunflower meal are not easily digestible which results in a restriction in the energy value of the sunflower meal when it includes the hulls. This can increase the value of the meal as a forage replacer. However, this gives it some value as a forage replacer.

Sunflower animal feed provides nitrogen which is required by rumen microbes in the form of rumen-degradable protein. Ruminal degradability of sunflower meal protein is often >60 percent, which is higher when compared to canola and soybean meal. The milk yield of dairy cows is found to be similar in diets containing partially dehulled or fully dehulled sunflower meals compared to soybean meals.