Feed Weight to Volume Converter

How this converter works

Grain is traded by the bushel, but you feed by the scoop. A US bushel holds 35.24 litres, which is about 37.24 quarts in kitchen (liquid) measure, and the US legal test weights for common grains give you the pounds in a bushel: shelled corn 56, wheat 60, rye 56, barley 48, oats 32 and soybeans 60. Dividing a bushel weight by 37.24 gives pounds per quart. The converter uses that to convert between pounds, quarts, cups and bushels.

Reference values

A worked example

If you feed 10 pounds of shelled corn to a small flock, that is about 6.7 quarts, or 27 cups. If a recipe calls for 4 quarts of oats, that is about 3.4 pounds. A 50-pound bag of whole corn is about 33 quarts. For ration planning, the livestock ration converter turns a daily amount into pounds per animal.

Common mix-ups

• A dry quart (1.1 litres) is not the same as a liquid quart (0.946 litres). This converter uses the kitchen quart and cup, so an ordinary measuring cup or scoop matches the result.
• Test weight changes with moisture, variety and cleaning, so the standard values are averages.
• Scoops vary. Measure the capacity of your own scoop in cups.

Where these numbers come from

Bushel weights are the standard legal test weights used in most US states, and the US dry bushel is 2,150.42 cubic inches. Densities for your own grain may differ by a few percent.