Alfalfa Pelets

[Beekissed]

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I buy alfalfa pellets and other whole grains from the local feed store and another one in the next town called Southern States~they are a chain store, I believe. I doubt you will find anything like that in the city unless it would be a TSC, which I don't consider a feed store. They have some feed, yes, but they most certainly are not a feed store.

 

[coberdor]

I use kelp meal that I add to the chicken feed. My goats also get kelp, free choice like minerals. They love it!

 

[Bryceeast]

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You can get them at a walmart supercenter it is ususly by the fish things

 

[SamuelMcF]

I gave some of my hens some beet pulp pellets as a treat and they ate them but they didn't LOVE them

 

[knjinnm]

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Beet pellets are whats left from sugar beet squeezing, they will quadruple in size in the birds crop. Make sure they are really wet as in soaked in water before feeding them to your birds.

 

[SamuelMcF]

oh good to know! I had no idea good thing I didn't give them much!

 

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

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I'm wondering the same thing?

 

[shaft0463]

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Most any feed store will carry those things. For rice bran, you might have to call around to feed stores that cater to horses.

 

[shaft0463]

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I have done wet beet pulp shreds, and mine wouldn't touch it.

Also, be careful with feeding kelp free-choice to anything. It's very high in iodine, which can cause goiter (swelling of the thyroid). It's especially bad for pregnant animals. Eventually, too much iodine can be toxic.

 

[Beekissed]

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I have done wet beet pulp shreds, and mine wouldn't touch it.

Also, be careful with feeding kelp free-choice to anything. It's very high in iodine, which can cause goiter (swelling of the thyroid). It's especially bad for pregnant animals. Eventually, too much iodine can be toxic.

Though iodine toxicity can mimic iodine deficiency, it is usually from giving high doses of iodine to someone who is iodine deficient in the first place. Unless these animals were iodine deficient and ate an extremely large amount of kelp, they shouldn't be in any danger of toxicity levels.

They are more likely to develop goiter from iodine deficiency than toxicity, as with most species.

Iodine deficiency. Iodine, which is essential for the production of thyroid hormones, is found primarily in seawater and in the soil in coastal areas. In the developing world, people who live inland or at high elevations are often iodine-deficient and can develop goiter when the thyroid enlarges in an effort to obtain more iodine. The initial iodine deficiency may be made even worse by a diet high in hormone-inhibiting foods, such as cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. Although a lack of dietary iodine is the main cause of goiter in many parts of the world, this is not the case in First-World countries, where iodine is routinely added to table salt and other foods.

Most livestock that are given mineral supplements free choice will only eat enough to regulate their systems. I've been feeding kelp meal to my sheep and cows for two and a half years now and have never seen any of them stand and actually eat the meal. They sample it a lot the first day and only nip at it thereafter.​