“Every farmer invests heavily in their animals and they need to be assured of the composition, the quality and the source of the ingredients of all the feeds they purchase,” he said.

“Many widely used animal feeds are comprised of imported and sometimes inferior by-products. This is a timely reminder to feed merchants that a better option is to source locally grown ingredients.

“It is also a reminder to farmers that possibly the best option for them is to buy feed from other farmers locally where possible. There is concern about the use of lower quality imported ingredients in order to make a ration look cheap.”