Nice one Paul!!
Welcome to the world of stinky maize!
A couple of things I've found with preparing it......
Salt- best to add salt after you've boiled the batch. Read somewhere that it slows the softening process ie takes longer to soften when boiling. Use rock salt too if you can....no preservatives.
Sugar- once again it's good but the best sweetner I've found is Blackstrap molasses. You can get it in health food shops. It's thick stuff but gives a wonderful pungent sweetness and gorgeous golden colour to the maize.
Keep checking it after a couple of days...a white bubbly scum will form. You can skim this off if wanted for aesthetic purposes.
Another great stock feed option is pigeon conditioner. I've just had a quick aussie google. Looks like pigeon seed mixes are pretty basic in Oz. In europe they are amazing sacks of sweet licorice smelling goodness. Try breeders choice, crest seeds, golden cob seeds. Prepare it the same way as maize b ut you can add all sorts of goodies to it. Additives I've used include chilli flakes, hemp oil, cod liver oil, belachan, tuna flakes, garlic oil. Makes a great spod mix to fish over with fake/real maize.
Phew!!
Ben