Hello Neil, I do think due to adverse weather conditions over the last 3 years or so that a lot of crops have failed when planted by farmers e.g barley, wheat, beans etc even if planted have rotted & failed to germinate.
So I think a lot of home grown feed would actually be a poor yield & so go in to animal feed.
The price will always be dictated by how good the crop is in relation to the cost to plant it & if it ends up in animal feed I would say it's borderline as if the farmer makes any profit which in turn they may well have to diversify & move to other crops in the future .
So in answer to you the cost I think will stay high unfortunately, I pay about £16 for breeding mix , barley I can get for £6 a bag local farm, yes it not as good as say Gem's barley, I appreciate like you said about the ear's but you pay your money & take a chance.
Price of corn
The price of corn has increased year on year and will continue to do so even farm sourced, there has always been a premium for branded corn.
The only way to deal with this on a fixed income is to reduce the number of birds kept, who knows it could even improve the quality of those that are left.
The only way to deal with this on a fixed income is to reduce the number of birds kept, who knows it could even improve the quality of those that are left.