When I decided to grow soybeans as part of my homestead’s livestock-feed system, I discovered that there is an important step between harvesting the beans and feeding them to my animals.
The soybeans need to be properly heat-treated first.
And at first, I was put off by the need to do that, but I learned it didn’t have to be hard or time consuming. Raw soybeans contain compounds such as trypsin inhibitors that can interfere with protein digestion. Proper heating reduces these compounds and makes the nutrients in the soybean more available to the animal.
So, roasting the soybeans isn’t an optional extra step for me. It’s part of turning the crop I grow into usable livestock feed.
But since I’m planning to grow my own feed, I also want to think about the work involved.
I don’t want to create a system that requires me to spend hours doing small batches of something that could be done more efficiently.
How I’m going to roast them
I’m planning to use my oven rather than buying a specialized soybean-roasting machine.
The oven already gives me a controlled heat source, and I can use multiple oven racks to increase the amount I can process at one time.
A typical oven only has a limited number of racks, so I’m going to look at whether I can safely add additional racks that fit my particular oven. If I can add one or two more, that could allow me to put several shallow trays in the oven at the same time.
That would let me process a much larger amount of soybeans without making the actual process any more complicated.
I’ll spread the cleaned, dry soybeans in shallow, even layers on baking trays and place the trays on the oven racks.
The important thing is not simply getting the maximum number of trays into the oven. The beans need to be heated properly and evenly, so I don’t want to overcrowd the oven or place the trays so close together that heat can’t circulate properly.
I’ll figure out the largest practical batch my oven can handle while still allowing the beans to be properly heat-treated.
The exact temperature and heating time will be based on an established livestock-feed processing recommendation. I don’t want to guess at those numbers. The purpose of heating is to adequately reduce the antinutritional factors without unnecessarily damaging the nutritional value of the beans.
Once a batch has been properly heat-treated, I’ll remove the trays and allow the beans to cool completely.
My goal: process as much as reasonably possible at one time
I don’t want to roast soybeans every day or make small batches whenever I need feed.
If I’m going to grow my own livestock feed, I want to do the processing in the most efficient way I reasonably can.
That means I’ll aim to roast as much of the harvest as I can properly process at one time.
Not necessarily the biggest batch I can physically cram into the oven—the biggest batch I can process correctly.
That’s an important difference.
If adding another tray means the beans won’t heat evenly, then it isn’t actually saving me work. It is simply creating a batch that may not have been properly processed.
So, I’ll use as many oven racks and trays as practical while still allowing the heat to do its job.
Then I store them
Once the roasted soybeans have cooled completely, I’ll store them in clean, dry, airtight containers.
I’ll process a large portion of the harvest after harvest season and then have the finished beans available throughout the year.
When I need them for feed, I’ll take out the amount I need and grind or otherwise prepare them appropriately for the animal receiving them.
That turns the process into something I do periodically rather than something I must do every day.
The basic process becomes:
harvest → clean → dry → heat-treat → cool → store
And throughout the year:
store → prepare for the feed ration → feed
That sounds much more manageable to me.
Why I’m willing to grow soybeans
Soybeans weren’t my first choice.
I originally wanted to avoid them and use field peas instead. But when I started looking at how much nutrition I could produce from the limited amount of land available, soybeans became worth considering.
Soybeans can produce a lot of protein in a relatively small amount of growing space, while also providing energy from their natural oil.
When I’m trying to make a small homestead produce food for both the people and animals living on it, that matters.
I’m not growing soybeans because they’re necessarily the easiest crop.
I’m growing them because the numbers make them worth considering.
Growing the feed is only part of the job
One of the things I’m learning while planning for this homestead is that I can’t just look at what a crop produces in the field.
I have to look at the entire process.
If I grow soybeans, the system becomes:
plant → grow → harvest → dry → clean → heat-treat → cool → store → feed
There isn’t a feed mill between my field and my animals doing those jobs for me.
That’s why understanding the processing is just as important as figuring out how many soybeans I can grow.
A crop can look very productive on paper, but if I don’t have a practical way to harvest, process, store, and feed it, then it isn’t really solving my problem.
And I can use some of them, too
One other benefit I hadn’t originally considered is that properly processed soybeans aren’t just useful as livestock feed.
I can set some aside for myself.
If I’m already harvesting, cleaning, and properly heat-treating the soybeans, I can process part of the crop for human use as well. That gives me another homegrown source of protein and fat without creating an entirely separate crop or processing system.
I like that and roasted salted soybeans are a good crunchy snack
The same crop can help feed the animals and help feed me.
That’s exactly the kind of efficiency I’m looking for from this homestead.
Making the work manageable
This is something I’m trying to keep in mind with the entire homestead.
I don’t expect a self-sustaining food system to be easy. Growing food, raising animals, preserving food, saving seed, and processing crops are all going to take work.
But I don’t want to create unnecessary work for myself.
If I can do a job once in a larger, well-planned batch instead of doing it over and over again, that’s what I want to do.
Soybeans are a good example.
Rather than roasting a small amount every few days, I can make soybean processing part of my harvest routine. I’ll process as much as I can reasonably handle at one time, store the finished beans properly, and then use them throughout the year.
Harvest once. Process in large batches. Store it. Use it throughout the year.
That’s the kind of efficiency I’m looking for throughout my homestead.
I’m not trying to build a system with no work.
I’m trying to build a system where the work I do makes sense.
SMALL HOMESTEAD by the river 