KENYA STANDARD       DKS 2500: 20 21 
ICS 65.120  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dairy cattle feed premix  — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© KEBS 20 21                    Second Edition 20 21 
 
 DKS 2500: 2021  
ii   KEBS 20 21 — All rights reserved  TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION  
 
The following organizations were represented on the Technical Committee:  
 
Minist ry of Agriculture  Livestock and Fisheries — Directorate  of Livestock Production  
Directorate  of Veterinary Services  
Kenyatta University — Department of Animal Science  
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO)  
Kenya Industrial Research a nd Development Institute (KIRDI)  
National Public Health Laboratories  
Unga Farm Care E.A. Ltd.  
Mombasa Maize Millers Ltd  
Modern Ways Ltd.  
Pet Pal Ltd  
Animix Ltd  
Consumer Information Network  
Association of Kenya Feed Manufacturers — AKEFEMA  
Government Chemis t’s Department  
Pioneer Feeds Ltd.  
Pembe Feeds  
 Bureau  Veritas  Kenya  Ltd 
Polucon Services (K) Ltd  
Lunadka Ltd – East Africa  
Essential  Drugs  Ltd. 
Kenya Bureau o f Standards ― Secretariat  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
REVISION OF KENYA STANDARDS  
 
In order to keep abreast of progress in industry, Kenya Standards shall be regularly reviewed.  Suggestions 
for improvements to published standards, addressed to the Managing Director, Kenya  Bureau of Standards, 
are welcome.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© Kenya Bureau of Standards, 2021 
  
Copyright. Users are reminded that by virtue of Section 25 of the Copyright Act, Cap. 12 of 2001  of the Laws of Kenya, copyr ight 
subsists in all Kenya Standards and except a s provided under Section 26 of this Act, no Kenya Standard produced by Kenya Bureau of 
Standards may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or transmitted by any means without prior permission in  writing 
from the Managing Director . 
 KENYA STANDARD        DKS 2500: 2021  
ICS 65.120  
KEBS 20 21 — All rights reserved     iii  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dairy cattle feed premix  — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
KENYA BUREAU OF STANDARDS (KEBS)  
 
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Coast Region     Lake Region          Rift Valley Region  
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Fax: (+254  041) 229448    Fax: (+254 057) 21814  
 DKS 2500: 2021  
iv   KEBS 20 21 — All rights reserved  Foreword  
 
This Kenya Standard was prepared by Animal Feeds  Technical Committee under the guidance of the 
Standards Projects Committee, and it is in accordance with the procedures of the Kenya Bureau of  
Standards.  
 
Animal mineral and vitamin requirements vary from herd to herd and group to group dep ending on 
physiological status  and seasonality. Appropriate levels of vitamins and minerals impact energy and fat 
metabolism, immunity, h ealth and lameness, f eed intake  and animal productivity. Many factors influence 
vitamin and mineral availability and utilization.  
 
The animal feed manufacturing industry in Kenya has continued to utilize animal premixes that are either 
imported whole (ready for use) or locally  re-constituted in our factories without clear guidelines on 
specifications on nutrient requirements for the premixes. In view of the above, it has become necessary to 
develop standards for animal feed premixes for use in compounding animal feeds in Kenya.  It is expected 
that such an attempt could facilitate increased trade volumes as well as create a vibrant and competitive 
animal feed manufacturing industry in the region.  
 
During the preparation of this  standard, reference was made to the following docume nt: 
 
KS EAS 75: 2019 , Cattle feed supplements  — Specification . 
 
Acknowledgement is hereby made for the assistance derived from this source . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
KENYA STANDARD         DKS 2500: 2021  
 
 
KEBS 20 21 — All rights reserved     1  
 
Dairy cattle feed premix  — Specification  
 
 
1 Scope  
 
This Kenya Standard specifies requirements for compoun ded dairy cattle feed premix used in animal feeds.  
 
2 Normative references   
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of this document. For dated references, only the editio n cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
 
ISO 6497, Animal feeding stuffs — Sampling  
 
 
ISO 13903, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of amino acids content  
 
ISO 14565, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of vitamin A content — Method using high -
performance liquid chromatography  
 
 
 
 
 
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
 
3.1 
premix   
is a concentrated mixture of vitamins, trace minerals and diluents. It may contain other feed additives such 
as amino acids or medicaments  
 
3.2 
compound feeds  
is a mixture of feedstuffs blended from various raw materials and additives as a concentrate that provides 
part of the ration (energy, protein, trace elements) for dairy cattle  
 
4 Requirements  
 
4.1 Description  
 
Premix shall be a fine powder, granular or liquid concentrate.  
 
4.2 Quality requirements  
 
4.2.1 The premix shall be free from harmful constituents, metallic objects, adulterants, moulds, pathogenic 
micro -organisms or insect infestation and free from fermented, musty, rancid or uncharacteristic odour.  
 
4.2.2   The animal feed premix shall contain levels of nutrients as stipulated in Table 1. 
 DKS 2500: 2021  
2   KEBS 20 21 — All rights reserved   
 
 
Table 1 Minimum levels of Trace Minerals in dairy cattle feed premix  
 
SL No  Nutrients  
 Requirements  Test method  
i) Manganese (min.)  20,000 mg/kg   
AOACa ii) Zinc ( min.)  40,000 mg/kg  
iii) Cobalt (min.)  100 mg/kg  
iv) Copper (min.)  10,000 mg/kg  
v) Iodine (min.)  800 mg/kg  
vi) Selenium (min.)  10 mg/kg  
a Association of Official Analytical Chemists Methods.  
 
NOTE 1  The above levels must be attained by inclusion a t 1 kg per metric tonne of feed. Premixes 
labelled at different inclusion rate must contain a pro rata level of nutrient.  
 
NOTE 2  Vitamin B 12 may substitute cobalt at a minimum rate of 3000 µg/kg to represent 100 mg/kg of 
cobalt with no upper  limit. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5  Packaging and labelling  
  
5.1  Packaging   
  
5.1.1  Dairy cattle feed premix for sale shall be packed in containers which are of sufficient strength and 
sufficiently sealed so as to withstand reasonable handling without tearing, bursting or falling  open during 
normal handling and transportation.  
  
5.1.2  Each container for feed premix shall be clean and free from visible indications of contamination, 
infection and insect infestation.  
  
5.2 Labelling  
 
The packages shall be securely closed and marke d with the following information:  
 
i) Name of product;  
ii) Category of animals for which it is intended;  
iii) Net w eight of the product;  
iv) Batch number;  
v) Name and physical address of the manufacturer;  
vi) Date of manufacture and expiry;  
vii) Nutrient declaration;  
viii) Instructions for use and storage.  
 
6 Sampling  
Representative samples shall be drawn in accordance with ISO 6497.                                                
 KS 2 500: 201 4 
 
KEBS 20 21 — All rights reserved     3  
 
 
 
 
 
ANNEX I  
 
(Informative ) 
 
 
 
Recommended Minimum Vitamin levels  in dairy c attle feed premix  
 
SL No  Nutrients  
 Requirements  Test method  
i) Vitamin D (IU/kg) (min.)  1,000,000 IU  AOACa 
ii) Vitamin A (IU/kg) (min.  6,000,000 IU  
iii) Vitamin E  (IU/kg) (min.)  18,000 IU  
a Association of Official Analytical Chemists Methods.  
 
NOTE  3 The above levels must be attained by inclusion at 1 kg per metric tonne of feed. Premixes 
labelled at different inclusion rate must contain a pro rata level of nutrient.