Shocker Price for Feed

[ChristineR]

A few days ago, the Blue Seal feed I bought before for around $23 a 50 pound bag (organic poultry layer) had gone up to $27, and I expect it to keep going up.

Might not hurt to find s large sunny area and discover the beauty of field peas, oats, wheat, buckwheat, and flax. They are very pretty plants. Hint hint.

Anyone trying vermicomposting?

Carol Deppe's Resilient Gardening includes a chapter on ducks, and how hers enjoy some squash and boiled potatoes.

Just some ideas.

I was thinking about buying enough now to last through the winter and storing it in the extra bedroom to keep it from molding (I'm sure my hubby would love that). I'm not sure how long you can keep feed without the nutritional value decreasing, though.

 

[Amiga]

It depends on the temperature and humidity. I don't know what the exact formulas are, but most of the ingredients I know of are seasonal. Corn is not harvested year-round, nor are oats, or wheat. So they are being stored somewhere along the line.

Dry, dark, and quite cool keep whole grains for quite a long time. They lose nutritional value more quickly once ground.

Even a few bags ahead can save some little bit of money for now. But you're right that if it spoils, that is money down the drain. Another advantage of having at least a bit stocked up is that if the weather gets ugly (we may get a tornado in my state tonight) and travel is out of the question, you don't have to be as concerned about feeding everyone.

 

[zooweemama]

Oh man. My mil bought our flock raiser last week (we take turns buying it). I should ask her how much it cost. Normally it is just under $18.

Gas is running about $4/gal here. And since I live in Cali- everything is extra pricey. Contrary to popular belief we (personally) do not make more than people back east so we do not get much bang for our buck. We are also at the start of a raising a flock- so -5-6 months of feeding birds with zero kick backs (eggs). I am not looking forward to the next 6 months of rising food costs for animal and people.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yeah it really makes for some sleepless nights here

My uncle is 76 years old and this is all we know; ranching. The Associated Press ran a story about the drought and we met the reporter while at the sale barn in Hill City. My uncle knows the rancher Ken personally who is featured in the story. If anyone is interested in reading here is the story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/midwest-drought-2012-ranchers-farmers_n_1697169.html

Let's just pray for rain

Thank you for the link. We will join in praying for rain, we have been blessed with good rain this spring and summer even without much snow we are doing okay in the rain guage, but not too far from us there is a defficit . So we won't take it for granted.

 

[satay]

I feel for you guys with drought. Being that i live in the country of drought and flooding rains. More drought usually than rain. Our grain prices go crazy when it's drought too. I remember a few years ago before the floods seeing farmers shooting their entire lamb flocks as it was costing them more to send them to market than what price they would get when they sold. Floods can be just as bad though as my area is mostly crops growers and in the floods last year most of them had their crops totally wiped out.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don't know how many get the magazine Back yard poultry but there is an article in it for the Aug. Sept. issue about Teaching Chickens to eat oats. in which Dr. Charles Everett SPPA sec. treasurer talks about feeding oats to his chickens at 50% of their diet. and another article by Harvey Ussery where he is talking about Feeding our flocks and has some very good insight. My problem is we live on the side of a mountain not very good for growing crops. So my flock does free range during the day but I have to supplement with grain feed. Like it or not I will have to continue to buy feed no matter how high it gets but will be using other grains also. Which I know are going to be hit hard too with the drought so wide spread. Just thought I'd mention these articles since some of us have chickens too.

 

[Nebraskagirl]

Thank you for the link. We will join in praying for rain, we have been blessed with good rain this spring and summer even without much snow we are doing okay in the rain guage, but not too far from us there is a defficit . So we won't take it for granted.

Thank you.

Actually I JUST spoke with my uncle and he said at the sale barn today there were over 1,000 head of cattle going through. It is looking like he will be selecting 100 head of his own going next week.

Talk about a crappy day.....

 

[Nebraskagirl]

I don't know how many get the magazine Back yard poultry but there is an article in it for the Aug. Sept. issue about Teaching Chickens to eat oats. in which Dr. Charles Everett SPPA sec. treasurer talks about feeding oats to his chickens at 50% of their diet. and another article by Harvey Ussery where he is talking about Feeding our flocks and has some very good insight. My problem is we live on the side of a mountain not very good for growing crops. So my flock does free range during the day but I have to supplement with grain feed. Like it or not I will have to continue to buy feed no matter how high it gets but will be using other grains also. Which I know are going to be hit hard too with the drought so wide spread. Just thought I'd mention these articles since some of us have chickens too.

Awesome idea!!!! Thank you for the mention!!!!!!!!

 

[jdywntr]

I am going out tomorrow to purchase some started veggies to get my garden up and running. Right now I have a tomato plant which has grown a ton in the 5 weeks I've had it, 2 pepper plants and some herbs. I will be supplementing the birds with extra veggies.

I need to look into what crops are easy to grow here. And I need to learn more about this lovely red clay soil that we have.

It is better than the sand of Florida. I only watered my tomato seedling 4 or 5 times in 5 weeks but it did rain the first week it was planted.

I also need to hit the local feed store and not TSC all the time. The local store only sells medicated feed except for layer pellets and I don't like to give my males the extra calcium. I got a bag of scratch at the local place, maybe $8, 3 weeks ago, got a bag at TSC for $12 which was mostly corn. The local scratch had nowhere near as much corn in it.

I am in a lucky position that my DH makes a good salary and it is just the two of us so any produce that I buy that is not going to be used up goes to the birds but I'd still rather grow my own.

As I'm not the praying kind, I am SO hoping for rain for everyone. I can't imagine how difficult the drought must be for those with large livestock.

and

 

[JoyAnna]

Fortunately, I have a mill close by here in upper western Washington. I only have four ducks, and am learning about all of this. I am hoping for egg production (if I have any girls when they mature). I care about what they eat because of my own nutrition. This mill, Scratch and Peck, has just been certified non-GMO, all of their feeds are soy-free, and grown locally for the most part. I buy only 25# bags for my small flock. Last week I bought their grower for $18.00. I feed them veggies and they are free-ranging most of the day, scarfing up all the slugs and sow bugs which are so abundant up here in the PNW. This thread has reminded me that next month, I should probably buy for at least a few months ahead, except that I am still waiting to see if I need layer feed or not. Taking Carol Deepe's advicer, I plan to buy a 50# bag of potatoes from our local "Spud Barn" which I and my ducks can enjoy all winter. My heart goes out to all the farmers who are suffering such devestation from the weather. It will be affecting all of us as well one way or another.