It is the first thing I look at, I do the same with food I buy for my household. I can say that all last year and this year so far my mill dates have been within 2 months old. The bag I got a couple weeks ago was milled Jan 5, 2024, that's fresh!I wonder if many people actually think to check mill dates on their feed. You brought up a really important point. I’ve heard people talk about how their birds refuse to eat their feed. Well, old feed may very well be a culprit.