Watch Dates on Poultry Feed!

[rtowerbay]

A few months ago I bought a bag of Nutrena Chick Starter/Grower at my local Tractor Supply store. When I got home I opened the bag to pour it into a galvanized container and noticed the color was paler than usual, the product seemed 'powdery' and there were lots of large clumps, as if it had gotten wet. The bag looked like new, no sign of moisture.

I took photos of the product and label and e-mailed those to Nutrena from their online portal. They were very quick to respond and tell me that bag of feed was just shy of ONE YEAR OLD!. They recommend using their feed within 90 days of manufacture. On the label the date is clearly marked with the month and year of manufacture.

Nutrena was great! They mailed me a coupon for a new bag of feed and put me in contact with their local retail sales representative. The sales rep admitted he had been trying to get all his Tractor Supply stores to properly rotate poultry feeds for months with no cooperation from TSC.

I contacted Tractor Supply about the issue. They promised to correct it. Since that time (last September) I have purchased Nutrena Poultry feeds at Tractor Supply stores in Yuma, Colorado, Guymon, Oklahoma and in Kansas stores in Pratt, Liberal, Garden City and Colby. In EVERY SINGLE TRACTOR SUPPLY STORE I've found the exact same condition... OLD, OLD feed on the bottom of the display with newer feed stacked on top.

If you buy feed at Tractor Supply please be sure to check the dates. On Nutrena, it's easy. The label shows the month and date such as, Dec2024. They don't use a code.

I have complained to Tractor Supply but they just don't seem to take it seriously. I contacted Nutrena's sales rep again and he said he continued to try to get the TSC employees to rotate feed but they just won't do it.

Yesterday, I was in Tractor Supply at Liberal, Kansas to purchase a bag of Nutrena Layer Pellets. The bag on top was dated September 2024. Technically, that's out of date but all the other bags were missing the labels. They had been removed! Apparently, Tractor Supply employees have now taken to removing labels to disguise out-of-date poultry feeds!!!

I notified the Nutrena sales rep of this and, again, he confirmed that appeared to be Tractor Supply's "solution" to the date problem. He also advised that Big R, another local farm supply retailer, also sells Nutrena and "does a very good job of rotating stocks".

I've tried for months to get Tractor Supply to fix their rotation practices but they just refuse to do it. Please be advised and watch out for your flock!

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC, and thanks so much for your post. I quit buying feed from Tractor Supply for the same reason. I can't believe they remove the tags from the bags. Unbelievable!

 

[nuthatched]

Feed stores can only put out stock that's delivered, and there's little to no control over that.
Complain to corporate but they likely won't care

 

[tlcmurphy]

Feed stores can only put out stock that's delivered, and there's little to no control over that.
Complain to corporate but they likely won't care

I think the issue is that TSC is putting new stock on top of the old bags instead of under it so that if you’re unfortunate enough to buy the last bags in the shelf they are way past their Use By date. This is an unacceptable practice.

I order my feed (Kalmbach) from Chewy or directly from the manufacturer.

 

[nuthatched]

I think the issue is that TSC is putting new stock on top of the old bags instead of under it so that if you’re unfortunate enough to buy the last bags in the shelf they are way past their Use By date. This is an unacceptable practice.

I order my feed (Kalmbach) from Chewy or directly from the manufacturer.

That's a good theory, maybe it works that way on a district level, but that's not how it works on an individual store basis.
Pallets come loaded and dragged to floor, after it's empty, a new, full pallet takes its place. There's no stacking of new feed on old feed, its the opposite, old on new.

 

[tlcmurphy]

That's a good theory, maybe it works that way on a district level, but that's not how it works on an individual store basis.
Pallets come loaded and dragged to floor, after it's empty, a new, full pallet takes its place. There's no stacking of new feed on old feed, its the opposite, old on new.

The OP mentions new feed stacked on top of old feed in several TSC locations. Maybe those locations are the exception.

 

[NatJ]

That's a good theory, maybe it works that way on a district level, but that's not how it works on an individual store basis.
Pallets come loaded and dragged to floor, after it's empty, a new, full pallet takes its place. There's no stacking of new feed on old feed, its the opposite, old on new.

What about feed bags sitting up on a shelf? My local TSC has very few feeds on pallets. Most of the feed is in bags stacked on a shelf.

I haven't stopped to read dates, so I don't know which order they are being stacked.

 

[tlcmurphy]

What about feed bags sitting up on a shelf? My local TSC has very few feeds on pallets. Most of the feed is in bags stacked on a shelf.

I haven't stopped to read dates, so I don't know which order they are being stacked.

Ours also has the feed on shelves.

 

[rtowerbay]

Yep. Tractor Supply keeps the pallets in the back and brings out bags one or two at a time to replenish the retail display. There are usually three or four bags in a stack, at most.

I really hate it. I love Tractor Supply. I've spent many thousands of dollars with them but I won't buy feed from them any more.

I've made Corporate aware and they just don't seem to care. Too bad.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Oh wow..
Im upset with my local store as well. Got about 1/4 through a bag of chick feed and found mold and not just a little. I bought the bag less than 2 weeks ago.
Looks like ill also be watching Tractor supply as i will be buying feed from there when needed once at our new house.