How much animal food do you go through!

[boykin2010]

I recently did some adding and I was REALLY surprised at how much food i went through! It doesnt sound too bad until you break out the calculator to add it all up. Here is what i go through -

I go through 50 pounds of chicken feed a week, 50 pounds of sheep feed a week, 20 pounds ( guessing ) of grower a week, 20 pounds of dog food a week, 20 pounds of cat food a week. That means a month i am going through 640 pounds of food. Yearly that is 7680 pounds. That is almost 4 tons of food a year!


Everyone add up how much yall go through so it doesnt make me feel so bad!

 

[MandyH]

Before I got rid of all my birds we were using about 40,000 pounds a year.

 

[suzettex5]

NO! NO WAY am I gonna admit how much my critters cost me! I might go into financial shock!

Plus, if my hubby saw me adding it up, or found a piece of paper with #'s on it....ooohh geez, I would have some 'splainin to do!!

 

[Illia]

Most of our animals are fed what grows on our property (mainly what grows in the pasture) . . .

All I spend in feed is about 25 lbs per week of chicken food, which will probably drop to 0 lbs in a year, and around 25 lbs a week on dog-food, which changes all the time, since we're trying our best to move more and more towards a raw diet for them. The food is expensive though, as it is usually the "Taste of the Wild" stuff, but, they love it and it's great stuff.



I couldn't trust giving my animals practically the same corn/wheat/soy mix every day.

 

[boykin2010]

suzettex5 i know exactly what you mean. My 7,680 pounds doesnt sound like much but

that is a lot of money! I pay 30$ a bag for dog food. I pay 13$ for a 50 pound bag of chicken feed. I am getting my sheep for 10$ for 50 pounds right now but the price fluctuates.
My animals are worth it though! I love them all
I couldnt imagine going through 40,000 pounds a year. I have been thinking about starting to buy all my food in bulk, but i have no place to store extra food.
Illia, i have been thinking about that raw diet also. I dont know much about it, but it is better for the dog? I have seen the Taste of the Wild for sell before but it was too expensive for me to get. My dog likes the brand i buy her and she has been eating it for almost 13 years now.

 

[Illia]

Think about it - Dogs are the only predatory animal out there that eats processed, cooked, and shaped-out food with LOTS of grains in it.

I don't know how much difference the raw diet truly offers, but I do know that it offers a wider, fresher variety of foods of which you usually know the life and diet of, and it offers enzymes for better digestion, which dogs feed commercialized feed do not get. The best approach is to feed your dog a good variety of different meats (chicken, duck, turkey, beef, whatever) and make sure some of the more "dangerous" meats have been frozen for at least 3 weeks. (such as fish)

Another big plus is that feeding raw bones is completely fine, they're only risky if fed cooked. (will splinter up) The bones offer calcium and the marrow offers lots of important nutrients.

 

[sumi]

We go through 370lb chicken food every month. 72 chickens at the moment, 55 of them mature. And we pay a lot for their food, but it's worth it!
No idea how much the pigs eat, but then we eat them, so it's a good investment!

 

[kathyinmo]

Poultry feed ..... 50 - 75 pounds a day. If they free range it is only 50. Penned it is about 75.

 

[awesomefowl]

Too much.

 

[Frosty]

Quote:
Not quite true... Cats are obligate carnivores and they get fed processed, cooked, and shaped-out food with LOTS of grains in it. I have thought about switching them to raw, but don't have the freezer space to do it in advance. Just anyone feeding raw, please do the research to make sure you are doing it right. And please don't feed too much fish, it can have mercury.

I really don't want to know how much feed I go through.