# Feather meal: price and protein limitations > Feather meal is a rendered protein made by cooking poultry feathers under pressure, and it carries very high crude protein, around 85 to 90 percent on a dry-matter basis. But its amino-acid balance is poor and its digestibility varies with processing, so crude protein alone overstates what it is worth in a ration. _Updated Jul 21, 2026._ Feather meal carries very high crude protein, around 85 to 90 percent on a dry-matter basis, which is why it can top a board ranked on cost per pound of crude protein. That headline is also the trap. Feather meal is a rendered protein with a poor amino-acid balance and variable digestibility, so the crude-protein number overstates its real feeding value, and this is exactly the case the nutrient-cost screening board is built to flag rather than to endorse. ## What it is and how it is made Feather meal is made by hydrolyzing poultry feathers, cooking them under steam pressure to break down the keratin so animals can digest at least part of it, then drying and grinding the result. Raw feathers are nearly indigestible; the pressure cooking is what turns them into a feed. How hard and how long they are cooked changes how digestible the finished meal is, which is why feather meal quality varies from load to load. ## Why crude protein overstates its value Keratin is rich in the amino acids cystine and proline but short on lysine, methionine and histidine, the ones diets are usually built around. So even at 85 to 90 percent crude protein, much of that protein is in the wrong amino acids, and a share of it stays poorly digestible depending on processing. [Kansas State University Extension](https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/nutritional-composition-of-feedstuffs-for-beef-cattle_MF3648.pdf) tabulates feather meal among the rendered protein feedstuffs; the gap between its crude protein and its usable protein is the reason a price per pound of crude protein flatters it. ## Where it fits and the caution Feather meal is used as a supplemental protein, often as a rumen-undegradable bypass protein for cattle, and in some poultry and aquaculture diets, usually blended with a lysine-rich source such as blood meal or soybean meal to cover its weak amino acids. It is fed at modest inclusion, not as a sole protein, precisely because its balance and digestibility do not support leaning on it. Treat a cheap cost per pound of crude protein as a reason to look closer, not a reason to buy. ## Worked example: reading the board [Chart: Feather meal price ($/ton, as-fed)](https://the-ration.com/ingredient/feather-meal) ([data](https://the-ration.com/ingredient/feather-meal.md) — chart image: https://the-ration.com/charts/ingredient/feather-meal/chart.png) The chart above is the live feather meal board price in dollars per ton. On the nutrient-cost screening board its very high crude protein can make it look like cheap protein, which is why the board separates the animal protein category from the oilseed meals and carries the reminder that crude protein is not digestible, amino-acid-balanced protein. Read the price, then read the caveat. The Ration reports the USDA feather meal price as published and ranks it on cost per pound of crude protein. That is a price screen on one nutrient, not a feeding recommendation: amino-acid balance, digestibility and inclusion limits are the nutritionist's call, not a price table's. ## Related data + guides - [Feather meal price](https://the-ration.com/ingredient/feather-meal) - [The nutrient-cost screening board](https://the-ration.com/leaderboard/cheapest-protein) - [The feedstuffs menu](https://the-ration.com/guides/the-feedstuffs-menu) ## Common questions ### What is feather meal? A rendered protein feed made by cooking poultry feathers under steam pressure to break down the keratin, then drying and grinding them. It is very high in crude protein but poorly balanced in amino acids. ### How much protein is in feather meal? Around 85 to 90 percent crude protein on a dry-matter basis, among the highest of any feedstuff. But much of that protein is in amino acids diets do not need, so its usable value is lower than the number suggests. ### Why is feather meal not as valuable as its protein number? Because its keratin is short on lysine, methionine and histidine, the amino acids diets are built around, and its digestibility varies with how it was processed. Crude protein counts nitrogen, not usable, balanced protein. ### How is feather meal fed? As a supplemental or bypass protein at modest inclusion, usually blended with a lysine-rich protein like blood meal or soybean meal to cover its weak amino-acid profile, not as a diet's sole protein source. --- Canonical URL: https://the-ration.com/guides/feather-meal-price-and-protein-limitations