In the nearly 15 years living in central Missouri I have noticed a lot of change in feed availability. While in southern Indiana, a location much more rural, we had feed mills that could make a broad range of custom mixes using intact grains. The mills there at the time had a much broader range of feedstuffs in their bins. Here I realized an abrubt reduction in the variety of feed stuffs so had to become more reliant upon complete feeds formulated for commercial production flocks. My birds are not commercial production and they spend a significant portion of their lives free-range. The feeds available through the local mill are too hot, loaded with fines, and often medicated when medication is not desired. My standard approach was to "cut" an overly hot grower with whole grains I could get to bring nutrient density down into range that is more optimal. That ability is particularly important as weather cools and energy requirements go up, but protein and vitamin requirements remain essentially the same. Milo or millet used to be a very important part of the cutting mixture as was popcorn and wheat. I still have options of oats and black oil sunflower seed but the corn is exclusively dent with much higher levels of starch and wheat is only seasonally available and often very dusty even then.
A recent flood forced me to patronage places like TSC and Orschelns for the better part of 2 months. The only grain options then become much more expensive shelled dent corn and oats (that were cleaner). Thus I began mixing multiple complete feeds to get nutrient levels in desired range with a coarser particle size. The feeds used where more palatable with a lot less fines than obtained from feed mill locally before flood. The feed is also about 1/3 more expensive at the chain stores.
Now my local feed mill (MFA) appears to be in trouble, to the degree I got snapped at by a guy that was literally shaking with anger when he saw I purchased feed from a chain store. The local mill is offering even fewer options than in the beginning when I started dealing with them. People like me do not represent a market worth catering to anymore. The market has shifted almost entirely to those solely reliant upon complete feeds where packaging is becoming as important as feed quality. If the local feed mill drops out, then the chain stores will be free to jack up prices further.
Now I must expand search to find feed stuffs so I can mix feeds in their entirety, or nearly so, on farm. That means a lot of work. A major problem is that many grains I need are no longer produced anywhere near close by and must be purchased in volumes I am not equipped to store.
A recent flood forced me to patronage places like TSC and Orschelns for the better part of 2 months. The only grain options then become much more expensive shelled dent corn and oats (that were cleaner). Thus I began mixing multiple complete feeds to get nutrient levels in desired range with a coarser particle size. The feeds used where more palatable with a lot less fines than obtained from feed mill locally before flood. The feed is also about 1/3 more expensive at the chain stores.
Now my local feed mill (MFA) appears to be in trouble, to the degree I got snapped at by a guy that was literally shaking with anger when he saw I purchased feed from a chain store. The local mill is offering even fewer options than in the beginning when I started dealing with them. People like me do not represent a market worth catering to anymore. The market has shifted almost entirely to those solely reliant upon complete feeds where packaging is becoming as important as feed quality. If the local feed mill drops out, then the chain stores will be free to jack up prices further.
Now I must expand search to find feed stuffs so I can mix feeds in their entirety, or nearly so, on farm. That means a lot of work. A major problem is that many grains I need are no longer produced anywhere near close by and must be purchased in volumes I am not equipped to store.
