What is hominy feed?

Hominy feed is the corn bran, germ and part of the starch left when a dry mill makes grits, corn meal and corn flour for food. It runs close to corn in energy with a little more protein and fat, and on the USDA board it has almost always bought a pound of energy for less than corn does.

It is not the hominy on a dinner plate. Feedipedia notes the feed is sometimes called plain "hominy" even though hominy proper is a food product. The feed is what the mill has left once the clean endosperm goes to people.

How it is made

A dry mill takes the germ out of the kernel, grinds it and sifts the clean endosperm out for grits, meal and flour. Mississippi State University Extension describes hominy feed as the corn bran, germ and part of the starchy portion of the kernel from degermed corn meal production. The germ carries the kernel's oil, which is why the feed has more fat than corn grain. UF/IFAS Extension notes it must contain not less than 4 percent fat; Mississippi State puts the usual figure at 6 percent or more and adds that the low-fat form provides less energy.

Protein, energy and fat

Mississippi State's composition table puts hominy feed at 90 percent dry matter, 91 percent TDN and 11 percent crude protein on a dry-matter basis, against 90 percent TDN and 9 percent protein for whole shelled corn. UF lists 11.5 percent protein and 90 percent TDN. The Ration's cost board uses 11.5 percent protein and 90 percent TDN at 90 percent dry matter for hominy, and 9.5 percent protein and 88 percent TDN at 87.9 percent dry matter for corn, so on book values a ton of hominy carries slightly more energy than a ton of corn.

K-State's swine specialists call hominy feed the corn co-product closest to corn in composition, with more starch and oil than any other corn co-product, and count it suitable as a partial corn replacement in swine diets.

Who feeds it and the limits

Cattle and hog feeders use it in place of part of the corn. Mississippi State calls it very palatable and finely ground, so it mixes well with other feeds, and says it is stored, handled and fed much like ground corn with one difference: supplies are best used up in a month or less to avoid a stale smell. UF reports levels of 50 percent or more of the concentrate mix used successfully in cattle rations, with 10 to 15 percent more common, and notes the feed is variable in composition. The fat that lifts its energy is the same fat that shortens its shelf life.

Hominy feed vs corn on the board

The chart is USDA's hominy feed quote, FOB plant in Illinois, the grade and basis the site tracks. Set against the corn benchmark in the same week, it shows how consistently hominy has undercut corn on energy:

• In 202 of the 206 weekly reports from Jul 25, 2022 (when the corn benchmark series begins) through Sep 14, 2026, hominy cost less per pound of TDN than corn. The median was 78 percent of corn's cost.
• The four exceptions came together in early 2024: three January weeks and Feb 12, when hominy held at $159 to $173 a ton while corn slipped to $151 to $161. At the top it reached 105 percent of corn.
• By calendar year, hominy averaged $185 a ton in 2023 against $209 for corn, $128 against $149 in 2024 and $118 against $152 in 2025.

The quote itself barely moved in 2026. In 34 of the 37 weekly reports from Jan 5 through Sep 14 it sat between $121.50 and $123 a ton; the exceptions were three March weeks at $133.75. USDA has not published an Illinois FOB quote since Sep 14, so the hominy feed price page shows that date as its last quote rather than carrying the number forward.

Illinois is not the only place USDA prices it. The regional board also lists hominy feed in St. Louis, last quoted FOB plant at $145 a ton on Mar 16, 2026, and in California's San Joaquin Valley, delivered, at $245 a ton on Sep 28, 2026. The California figure includes freight to the buyer, so it does not compare with an Illinois plant price; the FOB plant vs delivered guide explains the gap.

The corn benchmark above is the denominator in every one of those comparisons. The corn and soybean meal benchmark guide explains why corn is the energy yardstick.

Worked example: the Sep 14, 2026 board

In the last week USDA quoted it, hominy feed was $123 a ton FOB plant in Illinois and the corn benchmark was $179 a ton.

1. Put both on a dry-matter basis. Hominy: $123 ÷ 0.90 = $136.67 per ton of dry matter. Corn: $179 ÷ 0.879 = $203.64.
2. Divide by the pounds of TDN in a ton of dry matter. Hominy: $136.67 ÷ (2,000 × 0.90) = $0.076 per pound of TDN. Corn: $203.64 ÷ (2,000 × 0.88) = $0.116.
3. Compare. Hominy's energy cost 66 percent of corn's that week. A ton of it carried about 1,620 pounds of TDN against about 1,550 in a ton of corn, for $56 less.

Protein tells the other half. At 11.5 percent crude protein, the same $136.67 bought protein at $0.594 a pound, 149 percent of soybean meal's $0.398 at $379 a ton that week, which is why hominy is priced and bought as an energy feed. None of this counts freight, a load's actual analysis or the shorter storage life. To run it on your own quote and lab numbers, use the feed cost-per-nutrient calculator.

The Ration reports the USDA hominy feed price as published and does the cost-per-nutrient arithmetic on it. It does not tell a reader what to feed or at what rate.