We can't get fancy name brand stuff out here for squat! If they do order it for you, it is then cost prohibitive. I buy a 20# bag of Country Value Cat Food. It has 31% protein in it, and every animal here LOVES it! I don't feed it as a straight diet by any means, just throw a handful or two in the bucket and mix with their feed. I will use it for treats too. I do the hard boiled egg thing here too, probably once a month or so. I mix that with their feed too, to extend it. Since the Silkies all went broody, egg production here has really dropped off.
As far as the hay goes, Marcy, it doesn't have to be alfalfa, it can be just good grass hay. Timothy, clover, fescue, etc. It mainly gives them something to do ripping the bales apart. I found that out quite by accident, when I left a bale of straw outside the garden last year. The free rangers, who should not have been bored, tore that thing to shreds in minutes! Then they spent hours going through the mess to get to the seeds. Straw here is only $3.00 a bale since one of the locals started growing it, before that, it was like $8.00/bale! This year with the weather so dry, I wouldn't be surprised at all if alfalfa here wasn't close to costing what it costs you. Some of the locals said that their first cutting will probably be the ONLY cutting this year due to the drought. People here are already feeding hay to their cattle, I pray it is another mild winter for them...
As far as the hay goes, Marcy, it doesn't have to be alfalfa, it can be just good grass hay. Timothy, clover, fescue, etc. It mainly gives them something to do ripping the bales apart. I found that out quite by accident, when I left a bale of straw outside the garden last year. The free rangers, who should not have been bored, tore that thing to shreds in minutes! Then they spent hours going through the mess to get to the seeds. Straw here is only $3.00 a bale since one of the locals started growing it, before that, it was like $8.00/bale! This year with the weather so dry, I wouldn't be surprised at all if alfalfa here wasn't close to costing what it costs you. Some of the locals said that their first cutting will probably be the ONLY cutting this year due to the drought. People here are already feeding hay to their cattle, I pray it is another mild winter for them...
