Deerman, you've really got me curious now. Who was given samples of UltraKibble and by whom? As I'm the person that requests samples be sent I'm at a complete loss.
Elton Housely certainly uses it and so does Norm Johnson (UPA member) but those are the only peafowl breeders that I've ever requested samples sent to-Wait- also Virgil Bates and Sid.
Of course Sid's samples were sent something like four years ago. That was two formulas ago. UltraKibble has only been on the market for two years. Everyone but Sid buys our products and Sid has never said a word to
me about why he doesn't. The other gentleman named here have all contributed in the perfection of each formula. There are other peafowl breeders out there that use these products. I'm certain that ours are the only products with a peacock actually depicted on the bag...So- the average hobbyist shopping for feed that keeps peafowl and that hasn't been poisoned against feeding their birds something actually formulated specifically for peafowl will probably be picking some up.
Getting back to the last bulk samples- sent by the ton- four years ago-
The previous product was called Hunter Kibble and it was made with soy and corn.
UltraKibble is the latest formula -it replaced most corn with sorghum and is soy free. The oil spill in the gulf destroyed our source of crustacean meal. We sell 50 tons every few weeks so we had to replace that with farmed salmon meal as we just can't get quality crustacean meal in the bulk that we require.
We also increased certain ratios of specific vitamins and minerals and so on. I should note we had to work to make our kibble more palatable as well. It takes time to perfect a feed formula.
Anyone that is sent samples is also sent a form to fill out that helps us improve our products. Feed trials and science only get you so far.
It's the customers that bring you to the goal line.
The facts are the facts.
It doesn't surprise me that these "big time peacock breeders" are against using any product that they haven't been using for years. Peafowl breeders don't seem to comprise of a single demographic.
Most people that raise peafowl also raise other kinds of creatures. The big time peafowl breeders drop ship for hatcheries? Or do they sell their culls at auctions and swap meets? How many peafowl are sold every year? I've never really thought about it. I have some data on guineafowl from what Ralph has shared with me over the years. We've also developed some close relationships with major heritage breed turkey breeders, some of your favorite hatcheries are customers too...I just don't think the peafowl set have gotten to that stage of development yet. It's a brand new trend- "the peacock industry".
Frankly, it's the small farms and gamebird breeders that purchase the most material. You could stack ten of the "big time peacock breeders" one on top of the other and bundle all the feed they purchase in one year and still not come close to what the countries egg farmers are buying every month and they've been buying our products by the ton for years. That's our bread and butter.
I truly wish the peafowl breeders would come around but everyone knows that's like herding guineas through a maze.
What we've seen over the last many years is that the largest majority of people that buy these products continue to and they buy everything in the product line. I can't say that for some of my other feed products manufactured and distributed by other companies.
But that doesn't mean I'm just going to give up on them. One has to be dedicated to animal husbandry and truly love the discipline to bother with creating feeds. You certainly don't get into the chicken feed business to get rich, especially selling
supplements. There are better business models.
Selling supplements -the average person buys a bag of kibble and that's all they need for a year. That's not big business. I make feed because I love animals and the people that love them, even those that eat tin cans for lunch and work overtime trying to make me out to be some sort of conniving jerk.
Lots of things to do in the day and if you think being a feed salesman pays my bills you've got to be nuttier than squirrel poop.
And lastly,
food is medicine . Think about if for minute. Can you possibly debate that reasoning?
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