I'm Sending Feed to be Analyzed

[Cooptown Lady]

can someone in the US explain to one who's not why plain old crime is overlooked in favour of conspiracy theories and weird govt behaviour? We all know food prices have shot up since covid and the invasion of Ukraine, and issues with the food supply chain have been front and centre in media of all sorts. Historically in such circumstances food gets adulterated to make it go further. Animal feed is subject to less checks and interest than human food, so is even more likely to feel the squeeze. And homogenized products, which make it impossible to identify the ingredients on sight, are more obvious candidates for adulteration than recognizable things.

I don't buy commercial feed so I have no flesh in this game and no axe to grind. I just think if a lot of people are complaining about the feed, it is a bit patronizing to suppose they're all idiots, or arrogant to deny their expressed experiences, or lazy to blame social media, or dismissive to label them conspiracy theorists.

I agree that people with concerns should not be patronized.

Before I heard anything about this feed/no eggs issue, I went to Tractor Supply to buy scratch grains. Since I've been confused why the scratch hasn't been as appealing to my hens as previously (and also that I'm mixed up about which brand is their favorite), I asked the man at TS which scratch has more milo in it, which my hens love. I told him the last two bags were not the same.

He said that feed companies have had to adjust their product in order to keep the product affordable.

Now this man is very knowledgeable about all things farm, but that doesn't mean he knows anything about what feed companies are doing. Just thought I'd throw that anecdote into the mix.

BTW, my hens are in their second winter. Last winter they laid eggs consistently without interruption. This winter 3 of the 4 stopped laying. I switched from Dumor to Pride brand (again before hearing anything about the feed/no eggs issue). Within a few days only 1 of the four isn't laying. Doesn't prove anything, just makes me curious.

 

[aart]

We put a light in our coop and went back to our local co-op's feed and within a few days, we started getting eggs. We're up to 17 a day now. Coincidence?

No coincidence, the light did it.

 

[Ponyiqandhens2]

can someone in the US explain to one who's not why plain old crime is overlooked in favour of conspiracy theories and weird govt behaviour? We all know food prices have shot up since covid and the invasion of Ukraine, and issues with the food supply chain have been front and centre in media of all sorts. Historically in such circumstances food gets adulterated to make it go further. Animal feed is subject to less checks and interest than human food, so is even more likely to feel the squeeze. And homogenized products, which make it impossible to identify the ingredients on sight, are more obvious candidates for adulteration than recognizable things.

I don't buy commercial feed so I have no flesh in this game and no axe to grind. I just think if a lot of people are complaining about the feed, it is a bit patronizing to suppose they're all idiots, or arrogant to deny their expressed experiences, or lazy to blame social media, or dismissive to label them conspiracy theorists.

In the u.s. usda/ fda are responsible for feed issues. The tags are suppossed to change if a manufacturer changes BUT THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF FEED FOR MOST ANIMALS..

SET FORMULA ( has guarenteed analysis but always uses same ingredients in same amounts) AND Guarenteed analysis , which means the supier has to provide a feed that meets the protein, fiber, fat, amino acid, mineral levels listed on the tag..but can change the formula to get thdre based on availability, season, costs etc.. if there is a bad corn harvest they may use moresoy or wheat or barley ...

Also most national livestock feed suppliers havemills in each region.. feed for louisiana, mississippi andalabama maybe different than theexact same feed in montana.. because we may have low selenium levels here where montana has high... so most, not all have a variant based on location.

Also, i havepersonally witnessed the usda and fda step intwicewhen their wassuspected feed contamination..one involved the now shut down Purinamill in macon, ga back in the 90s when monesin ended up inhorse feed and in the fall of 2022 when a dead animal ended up contaminating a large amount of Standlee alfalfa cubes.. they came in like the fbi..testing every back atevery storein every barn wherethere was an issue.. they had an immediate recall.. it was on thenews, social media, feed stores etc... they had state vets, federal vets, private v.ets testing an examining the affected livestock..

So they do investigate

 

[thund3rb1rd]

I still can find NO ONE who is willing to send me their affected feed. I just joined 2 more FB pages for chickens and have sent out requests. So far, no one I can find is concerned about their feed.

I'll keep trying.

Just found this thread today. (I was actually looking for pvc pipe feeder ideas) But our story is we keep (in rotation) about 3-4 50# bags of feed. TSC Dumor brand. Our 6 layers were going good until December. We typically get 5-6 eggs a DAY. Mixed breeds, although my wife would know them all. Then all except our olive egger completely stopped laying. At first we didn't think much of it because we had a super cold few days here in the Midwest. But after a couple of weeks of 2-4 eggs a WEEK we knew something was up. My intuition was that it was something feed related, probably not enough protein. So we switched to Kalmbach brand along with supplementing oyster shells. After two weeks egg rate is back to 5-6 per day. I still have half a bag of what we were feeding, and two more full bags. Matter of fact, I recall now, that leading up to the zero production that the shells were really thin (versus what we were used to). The day I got the different feed I ask my wife to check her fauxbook (I don't have an account) to see if other people were having the same problem. She's in a bunch of local prepper groups. Turns out there was a lot of people in our area that experienced zero egg production. Looks like it started 6 to 8 weeks before we had a problem. There were all using Dumor and all of them said it took about a week or two get back to regular production. The reason we lagged behind everyone else is because of our 3-4 bag buffer we give ourselves. It took us longer to run into the same problem.

I can send you some feed we were using when we stopped with Dumor, and/or let me know who to contact to get it tested. I live in Ohio.

I will follow up this post with pictures of old and new feed information and bird ages / breeds tonight. I will try to look for lot numbers on the old feed. Any other information that would be helpful? Or you're curious about?

 

[Aunt Angus]

Just found this thread today. (I was actually looking for pvc pipe feeder ideas) But our story is we keep (in rotation) about 3-4 50# bags of feed. TSC Dumor brand. Our 6 layers were going good until December. We typically get 5-6 eggs a DAY. Mixed breeds, although my wife would know them all. Then all except our olive egger completely stopped laying. At first we didn't think much of it because we had a super cold few days here in the Midwest. But after a couple of weeks of 2-4 eggs a WEEK we knew something was up. My intuition was that it was something feed related, probably not enough protein. So we switched to Kalmbach brand along with supplementing oyster shells. After two weeks egg rate is back to 5-6 per day. I still have half a bag of what we were feeding, and two more full bags. Matter of fact, I recall now, that leading up to the zero production that the shells were really thin (versus what we were used to). The day I got the different feed I ask my wife to check her fauxbook (I don't have an account) to see if other people were having the same problem. She's in a bunch of local prepper groups. Turns out there was a lot of people in our area that experienced zero egg production. Looks like it started 6 to 8 weeks before we had a problem. There were all using Dumor and all of them said it took about a week or two get back to regular production. The reason we lagged behind everyone else is because of our 3-4 bag buffer we give ourselves. It took us longer to run into the same problem.

I can send you some feed we were using when we stopped with Dumor, and/or let me know who to contact to get it tested. I live in Ohio.

I will follow up this post with pictures of old and new feed information and bird ages / breeds tonight. I will try to look for lot numbers on the old feed. Any other information that would be helpful? Or you're curious about?

If you could PM me, that'd be great!

 

[I Love Feather Babies]

I'm wondering why all the media folks haven't gotten results yet. Most labs I see have a turnaround time of 5 business days...

I don’t trust the media to tell me the truth about anything. If they say it’s raining, I’m going to look for myself.

 

[countrybumpkin5]

I don’t trust the media to tell me the truth about anything. If they say it’s raining, I’m going to look for myself.

A voice of reason about all of this. People should know by now the media is bought and paid for and controlled 100%. It's even easy to trace.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I don’t trust the media to tell me the truth about anything. If they say it’s raining, I’m going to look for myself.

Except it's the guy who has been very vocal about the feed being tainted. I figured you'd appreciate his input as he agrees with your assertions.

And, again - this is why I am paying $$$ to have the feed tested. I'm having zero issues with my birds, but I want to find out for those of you who are experiencing problems. I am the ONLY one doing that, as far as I have seen.

 

[BelovedBirds]

A voice of reason about all of this. People should know by now the media is bought and paid for an controlled 100%. It's even easy to trace.

Definitely not 100%, but it is heavily biased, and some sources are deceitful.

 

[countrybumpkin5]

Definitely not 100%, but it is heavily biased, and some sources are deceitful.

All of the mainstream and most of the "alternative" media is controlled and owned by only a couple conglomerates. That doesn't mean they don't report some truths, but it's been owned for several decades and those purchases can be found, it's not even really been attempted to keep a secret, but it's definitely not broadcast. Someone has to be very motivated and dedicated to spend the time to go far enough into the records to find it. Just as with food brands and ingredients and other corporations, there are numerous ways to deceive that are technically "legal", but are often not lawful. Now, that said, I'd wager that most of the individuals that are reporting have no clue they are lying, although I'd say many, if not most, have a gut feeling about it, but nearly all will want to just keep their jobs regardless. There are some that did not and stepped away, some didn't make it out alive.