Feed Cost!

[BunnyStuff...]

I raise my rabbits and a few chickens. I can't believe the cost of retail feed pellets at about 10 to 15 dollars a 50lb bag! I've been considering building a shed to house feed by the tonnage. Does anyone know any feed mills in ky, northeast tn, or western-virginia that will sell to non-retailers?

 

[Cindi Davis]

10 - 15 thats cheap compared to Eastern Oregon its 18 per bag in a couple places. They will give a discount of 15% by the ton, so Im trying to get a few fellow rabbit folks to go in together to purchase it that way

 

[skysthelimit]

That's normal price for me. Does it get any cheaper anywhere else?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

It is close to $20 in CA.

The problem with buying pellets in bulk is that you will lose nutrients over time- vitamin A & E are lost fairly quickly. Unless you have hundreds of rabbits, or are willing to supplement to account for the vitamins lost, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Secuono]

$15? cheap...we pay 18-23 per bag...

 

[Peach]

Pay $24 dollars a bag because they are the only people who I've me the feed I want and gave me great costumer service, unlike the tractor co that is super far from my house and said they could not do it even though they carried the brand. Person was probably just being lazy. These other people are really friendly, down to earth, and a close by little feed store with a fat dog laying outside

 

[skysthelimit]

There aren't any real feed stores here, so unless I want the K brand or Buckeye (paper bag is hard to store,has corn in it) it's TSC and Manna Pro. They were running a $12 special for a while.

 

[grumpy]

My feed costs me $13.25 per 50# bag. KENT is the brand and I'm very satisfied with their product.

Grumpy.

 

[Lastfling]

I use Manna Pro from TSC and have no complaints with it, just bought a bag today as a matter of fact. I do check the date on the bag to be sure I'm getting some fairly fresh.

 

[skysthelimit]

My feed costs me $13.25 per 50# bag. KENT is the brand and I'm very satisfied with their product.

Grumpy.

I'd like to try Kent, but can't find anyone that sells it within in a reasonable distance. I have a choice between TSC's brand, Purina, MannaPro, Buckeye and the K feed Kalmbach. Slim pickings, but I here that more choices than many people have.

 

[ollitos]

Cheapest chicken feed in Winchester, VA is at least $16 per 50lb. We had 200 roosters we were raising for meat and they were eating a bag a day.

 

[raetcd]

We feed lots of grass and some pellets to supplement their diet. With 27 rabbits the hay, grass and pellets last much longer than if we did just pellets.

 

[skysthelimit]

We feed lots of grass and some pellets to supplement their diet. With 27 rabbits the hay, grass and pellets last much longer than if we did just pellets.

True, but I have found that my show rabbits coats don't look as good as they did on pellets alone.

 

[SatinsRule]

It's been my experience that the words "cheap" and "feed" no longer belong in the same chapter, let alone in the same sentence.

I don't know that they ever did, but it's becoming more and more true as time goes along.

Here's an idea, though. Look at some of the lesser-known mills or feed brands. Be careful to read and understand the ingredient labels, though. While many breeders are staying away from feeds with corn in them, another thing you'll want to look for is whether or not they contain salt. If not, I stay away from them because I refuse to put salt spools in my cages.

Another way to lighten the load on feed costs is to use hay. It's worked rather well for me this year, as I now feed it daily to all my rabbits. Right now, mine are on local grass hay, and they're doing very well with it. It's something that's relatively inexpensive ($5-10/bale, depending on where you live) and a single square bale lasts most breeders a while. Be selective about it, though. Look closely to see if there are any signs of mold or mold spores. If it has a stale smell to it, chances are good that it's developing mold inside the bale.

__________ Sun May 27, 2012 8:48 am __________

Given your location, here is one you might consider. Their mill is located in North Carolina, but they're bound to have dealers in that region of the country.

http://www.bartlettmillingfeed.com/inde ... =33#rabbit

 

[Diamond]

Look 'outside the box' for small local feed mills. Google "grainery" "Livestock feed" "feed mill" and add a county name, see what comes up. Often the big mills that feed to farms will sell smaller bags as well. There are a half dozen scattered around the region in the rural, west Wilammette valley. I buy 50# bags of rabbit pellets for $12 a bag. "Egg Mash" 20% protein chicken feed is $12.50/ bag and the meat birds do fine on it as well. It is a powdered feed but the chickens eat it just fine. The added bonus is that most of the ingredients are from the region, not somewhere on the other side of the USA.

My husband has worked out some trade with a local farmer for horse hay and pig feed. My husband does construction/ carpentry work for the farmer, who has a hammer mill and grinds a pig feed mix out of grains he grows. The chaff is ground in with the grain, so it is a 'whole feed' with about 9% protein, but it does well for our pigs who also get pasture/ mast (brush, grubs, etc) as we rotate them through the property.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I use a 16% feed that costs $12 for a 50lb bag, made by a local feed company here in Texas, Lone Star Feeds.

 

[~Abstract~]

I noticed that the feed store prices everything around 15.00 or more per 50 lbs regardless of the species it is made for. I think they do this on purpose, otherwise people would buy bags of the cheaper animal feeds and mix it to make their main feed stretch further. I think chicken scratch is about the only thing they sell for less than 15.00. I know some feeds are a lot cheaper to produce, yet even the cheap feeds don't go below that set price. It would be nice to be able to buy cheaper bags of basic oats to stretch the feed by mixing.

 

[skysthelimit]

I noticed that the feed store prices everything around 15.00 or more per 50 lbs regardless of the species it is made for. I think they do this on purpose, otherwise people would buy bags of the cheaper animal feeds and mix it to make their main feed stretch further. I think chicken scratch is about the only thing they sell for less than 15.00. I know some feeds are a lot cheaper to produce, yet even the cheap feeds don't go below that set price. It would be nice to be able to buy cheaper bags of basic oats to stretch the feed by mixing.

Yes I have noticed that. Oats are the same price as MannaPro. There is absolutely no advantage for me to get oats to cut the feed, I'm not saving anything. And then MannaPro goes on sale, and it is cheaper than the oats. There are no other grains at the feed store, no wheat, barley, and only one type of oat. BOSS is $12 for a 10# bag. So I'm just going to feed plain pellets, and give some greens as they grow/are found.

 

[akane]

Unfortunately small local feed mills also tend to make the crappiest feed because they can't compete for ingredients. Read the labels carefully for vague ingredients that allow them to switch things out whenever they want and byproducts. Sure you might find $10/50lb bags but if it's made of nothing but leftover junk that has little nutrition it's not going to do you much good. Your rabbits will have to eat a lot of it to do worse than if you spent the money on a well known brand.

Kent and manna pro are $20 here. Nutrena is cheaper but it's a 40lb bag or smaller so probably the same in the end. I think we are going back to horse pellets which are $12/bag but only 14% protein for the meat rabbits and making up the protein in hay while keeping just the mini rex (who get fat at the drop of a hat) on the lower fat rabbit pellets. We also only feed pellets 2 days a week. They are a supplement not a main diet. The rest is hay which is much much cheaper. The last stuff we got was $5 a bale. If a bale lasts 2 weeks and a bag of pellets lasts 1 week the $5 bale wins over the $20 bag of pellets hands down. The problem is hay lacks nutrients from being dried and stored which is added in to pellets and not found in trace mineral blocks or those spools.