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What is hominy feed?
Hominy feed is the bran, germ and residual starch left when corn is dry-milled for grits and corn meal. It is close to corn in energy with more protein and fat, running about 11 to 12 percent crude protein on a dry-matter basis, and its fat means it does not store like corn.
Updated Jul 21, 2026
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Hominy feed is the bran, germ and part of the starch left when corn is dry-milled into grits, corn meal and corn flour for people. It is not the whole hominy on a dinner plate; it is the feed stream the dry mill sells off, and it is close enough to corn in energy that it often trades right alongside it. One corn co-product, made wherever corn is milled for food.
How it is made
A corn dry mill degerms and grinds corn, then sifts out the clean endosperm for grits and meal. The bran, the oil-rich germ, and some adhering starch are left over, and blended together they make hominy feed. Because the germ carries the corn's oil, hominy feed ends up with more fat than corn grain, typically 6 percent or more.
Protein and energy
On a dry-matter basis hominy feed runs about 11 to 12 percent crude protein, a little above corn, and its energy is close to corn's, near 90 percent TDN, with the extra fat helping to carry it. Mississippi State University Extension describes it as roughly equal to ground corn in energy feeding value, with higher protein and fat.
Who feeds it and the limits
Hominy feed goes into beef and dairy cattle rations and into hog diets as a corn substitute, and it is very palatable and mixes well. Two limits come with the fat. Mississippi State Extension notes that its 6-percent-plus fat can soften pork carcass fat when it makes up a large share of a hog diet, and that it goes stale within about a month, so it does not keep in storage the way dry corn does. Buy it close to when you feed it.
Worked example: reading the board
- fob plant
The chart above is the live hominy feed board price in dollars per ton. Read the latest point as this week's price, then take it to the leaderboard for its cost per pound of protein and energy against corn and soybean meal. The hominy feed versus corn spread tracks how it stacks up against straight corn on energy over time.
The Ration reports the USDA hominy feed price as published, per ton, and does the cost-per-nutrient math on it. It does not tell a reader what to feed or at what rate.
Now look at the live data
Common questions
What is hominy feed made from?
The bran, germ and residual starch left after corn is dry-milled into grits, corn meal and flour. The germ gives it more fat than corn grain.
Is hominy feed the same as corn?
It is close to corn in energy but not identical: it has more protein and more fat than corn grain, and its higher fat means it stores for only about a month before going stale.
How much protein and fat is in hominy feed?
About 11 to 12 percent crude protein on a dry-matter basis and typically 6 percent or more fat, with energy near corn's.
Can you feed hominy feed to hogs?
Yes, as a corn substitute, but its high fat can soften pork carcass fat at high inclusion, so it is usually capped, and it should be fed fresh because it does not store long.