Jim i am wondering what you bought to process barley ? We used to feed a lot of barley to hogs way back when we started farming ,and also some to cattle .We ran it through a hammer mill but i imagine a roller would be better for fat cattle . Rolled barley would have less fines and dust . Barley works well , it may take a little longer for hogs to finish because its lower in energy then corn but on the flip side you purchase less protein to add to your finish ration ..For those not farming - corn is higher in energy but barley has more protein so in a corn ration you have to add more soy ..Hogs are cheap in my area of SD right now - sons friends processed 5 this weekend . These hogs were open gilts , over 300 lbs and cost 50 bucks a head ..his friends did thier own work and made a lot of sausage . we have a couple more coming for our familys in a month but they are going to the local looker ..Due to plant shut downs i hear that a local big hog finisher sent three loads ( over 600 head ) to a pet food plant in Minn for euthanizing and pet food just to get rid of them..On the beef subject . Grass fed beef can vary a lot , i want mine fed grain for marbeling and taste , if its hamburger your after grass is perfect and most any used up old cow will be as good or better then store bought as thats where hambuger originates..I used to buy short term cows and run them on cornstalks and often sold some with imperfections to a local family with a bunch of kids for hamburger ,Good beef will not be cheap if your going to be fair to the guy that raised it and did the work , processing is expensive but unless you have a lot of freezer space and know how a do it, your self project is a lot of work, a 1400 lb animal it not like rolling a 150 lb deer over,, any way we have raised and eaten our own meat in my nearly 5 decades of farming and all beef is not created equal even out of your own feed yard..
