I would like to start buying organic (GMO free) feed for my free ranging flock. Does anyone know of a place I can buy it without having to pay for shipping?
Organic Feed in West TN - Where?????
- Thread starter Shannonwbl
- Start date
i'm on the other side of the state, but, as far as i know, there aren't ANY stores in our fair state that carry organic feed. now, i'm sure someone one day will prove me wrong (oh please oh please) but that's what i've found so far.
i buy Countryside Naturals out of Virginia. the thing that sold me on them were their buyer's clubs. a guy in my area orders for all of us and we get SIGNIFICANT discounts on shipping. my shipping costs went from $30/bag to $4/bag.
unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a buyer's club in your area yet. you could try to start one if you know other people who are interested in organic. they have a lot more than chicken feed too, so you might find people that have goats or pigs or whatever that would be interested too. you could ask at your feed store if they have other customers that ask for it and if you could put up a sign on their community board.
good luck. i hope you find something that works for you.
i buy Countryside Naturals out of Virginia. the thing that sold me on them were their buyer's clubs. a guy in my area orders for all of us and we get SIGNIFICANT discounts on shipping. my shipping costs went from $30/bag to $4/bag.
unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a buyer's club in your area yet. you could try to start one if you know other people who are interested in organic. they have a lot more than chicken feed too, so you might find people that have goats or pigs or whatever that would be interested too. you could ask at your feed store if they have other customers that ask for it and if you could put up a sign on their community board.
good luck. i hope you find something that works for you.
- Thread starter
- #3
I just went to my local feed store and I asked the owner. He said that he tried to get some for his store, but the supplier required such a huge order that the shipping was cost prohibitive. I am going to keep looking though. Great idea about asking about putting up a sign!
I'm in West TN, and I think my town and Corinth, MS have grain mills where you can customize your order. I'm still checking into it because I have never PHYSICALLY seen these mythical magical places..lol. Good luck. If you find something let me know!!
- Thread starter
- #5
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Ditto! If you find something in Corinth I could make that drive.
Ditto! If you find something in Corinth I could make that drive.
Try Roy's Feed Mill 662-286-9223 in Corinth. It's behind K-Mart off of Hwy 72 according to a person on here. The address is 511 Cox St. That's all I know, I've been sick and unable to check it out yet. Soon as the weather and this stinkin cold clears I'm headed that direction myself
Oh and my hubby went to High School in Collierville...small world. If you find out before I do please PM me and let me know about their prices
If you have a local feed store that already carries Purina feeds, see if they can add Organic Pride to their order. It would arrive on the same truck with the rest of the Purina order and would not require you to pay shipping. My local IFA did this for me and now keep it in stock because I am not the only one buying it. I use the Organic Pride laying pellets and have had great results from it with my girls.
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the problem with grain mills and grain elevators is that organic and non-organic have to be processed in completely separate buildings. cleaning the equipment between batches on a single mill would be to time and cost prohibitive and otherwise you will contaminate the organic feed. for that reason, MOST mills don't offer organic.
i don't know of any organic mills in the Southeast. the closest ones i've found are in Virginia, hence that's where i get my feed. there are only a couple of organic grain growers in the Southeast so the mills don't see the point.
it seems the best we can do for now is to keep asking. if enough of us are making a stink about it, at some point someone is going to realize there is a market here.
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i could see if they required such a large order that he didn't think he could sell it before it went bad, but it doesn't make any sense that the shipping was cost prohibitive. i mean, placing huge orders is exactly why our buyer's club works. once you have enough for a pallet, i think it's 300 lbs, you only pay the pallet price. last time i checked, from Virginia to E TN, the pallet rate was $117. 300 lbs of feed is 6 bags, so that comes out to about $20 shipping/bag. but the more you ship, the less each bag costs. so, if i have 50 bags shipped and it's still $117 for the pallet, the shipping/bag drops to $2.43.
the problem with grain mills and grain elevators is that organic and non-organic have to be processed in completely separate buildings. cleaning the equipment between batches on a single mill would be to time and cost prohibitive and otherwise you will contaminate the organic feed. for that reason, MOST mills don't offer organic.
i don't know of any organic mills in the Southeast. the closest ones i've found are in Virginia, hence that's where i get my feed. there are only a couple of organic grain growers in the Southeast so the mills don't see the point.
it seems the best we can do for now is to keep asking. if enough of us are making a stink about it, at some point someone is going to realize there is a market here.
Quote:
i could see if they required such a large order that he didn't think he could sell it before it went bad, but it doesn't make any sense that the shipping was cost prohibitive. i mean, placing huge orders is exactly why our buyer's club works. once you have enough for a pallet, i think it's 300 lbs, you only pay the pallet price. last time i checked, from Virginia to E TN, the pallet rate was $117. 300 lbs of feed is 6 bags, so that comes out to about $20 shipping/bag. but the more you ship, the less each bag costs. so, if i have 50 bags shipped and it's still $117 for the pallet, the shipping/bag drops to $2.43.
- Thread starter
- #9
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That is a great idea. I will ask them about that. Do you know if they have organic crumbles? My girls don't seem to care for pellets.
That is a great idea. I will ask them about that. Do you know if they have organic crumbles? My girls don't seem to care for pellets.
If this previous thread is correct they do. For some reason it is hard to get info about this feed even though it is manufactured by Land o Lakes/Purina. I saw it at another feed store where someone had special ordered it and then asked the store that is closer to my house if they could special order it for me. Since it comes with the regular feed delivery they didn't need to treat it as a special order and started carrying it. It runs $6 more per bag than the Layena but we are trying to have organic eggs so the cost is worth it to us.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=83925
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=83925
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