Feed prices went up

[faiththequeen]

Actually I have been getting a lil bit of a deal. I feed my rabbits Manna Pro Select Series Pro & Gro formulas, that I purchase from TSC (about 7 miles away from my home). The regular price for the Pro is $ 14.99 for the 50# bag, TSC has it on sale for $ 13.99 till Oct. (can't remember that day). Then Manna Pro has a dollar off coupon for the bag (I printed & used several) on their web site http://info.mannapro.com/save-1-on-sele ... bbit-feed/ . So I have been saving $ 2 per bag lately. Also Manna Pro is good with mailling coupons if you call them & request them.

That's also what I feed and was happy to see that my usually bag dropped a dollar. But I didn't know about the coupon! Darn! I'm going to get me one for next time, though. Thanks!

 

[SatinsRule]

Yeah, but you folks need to understand that my drive includes several rural towns and a bunch of 2-lane roads, most of which are being used by tractors, combines, grain trucks, etc. for most of the year. Little Rock is about 60 miles one way for me, and it normally takes me 1.5 hours minimum to make the trip because of the aforementioned. I make much better time once I get into the metro and suburban areas of LR/NLR, which has plenty of its own challenges with traffic.

It was no different yesterday when I drove to Forrest City, which was just as far in time and distance, but again, rural roads all the way and back. Half my day was shot by the time I got home.

 

[dragonladyleanne]

My point wasn't how far I had to drive, it was that when I DID drive (into the real Lower AL, aka Robertsdale), to a farm country Feed Store, they had LARGER bags of rabbit feed, but it was MORE EXPENSIVE for their cheapest brand than the brand carried at a Walmart less than a half mile from my home, which is NOT "LA", but a Navy town. Home of the Blue Angels and the National Naval Aviation Museum http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/. ANYway, the best thing is to actually comparison shop, online before you drive ANYwhere if possible, and don't assume a place is cheaper because "they deal with farmers, not pet owners", or that Walmart or Target don't carry rabbit chow. To really save money, plant as much as you can, that's what I am doing. Of course, I only have 9 rabbits right now, so I may be singing the bunny chow blues soon, too, LOL!

 

[SatinsRule]

Dragonlady, NW Florida (where Pensacola is located) IS generally albeit jokingly referred to as part of Lower Alabama (aka, LA), mainly because so many former Bama natives inhabit the area or visit there regularly, the latter of which explains why a person can see an unusual number of Bama tags on vehicles on a typical day's basis there. The entire section of NW Florida which lies just beneath the southeast corner of AL is generally referred to as LA as well. Everyone in the area generally refers to it as such.

And yes, I know what and where NAS Pensacola is, as I've actually been on the base several times.

The feed at Wal Mart is not the same quality of feed as you're going to buy at a feed store. List all the ingredient labels you want, but they are not the same. If you wish to feed it to your rabbits after standing in the ridiculous lines that is just about any Wal Mart store these days and think you're "saving money" in the process, so be it, that is your choice, but don't try and tell me that it is the same when it is not, and at the end of the day, it was you who first tried to tell me that there wasn't a feed store anywhere near your house in Pensacola:

Maybe it's region dependent, but as I am suburban, there's no "feed stores" close to my home, only Walmarts and one Pet Supermarket type place on the other side of town.

and that you'd never even heard of a Tractor Supply Store (remember this little ditty):

Never heard of Tractor Supply. I live in Pensacola.

when in fact one of their stores is located less than 10 miles from where you live, all of which leads me to challenge you to get out of your house more. I'll even go you one better and list 3 feed dealers right there in Pensacola, which I located online with a simple google search as I typed this response:

Farm and Nursery Mart
7460 Pine Forest Road

Pine Forest Saddlery
7801 Pine Forest Road

Barnes Feed Store
8650 North Palafox Street

There you have it, 3 more feed stores right there in Pensacola, and 2 of them are located within 4 city blocks of each other. Again, if you'd rather just shop at Wal Mart, so be it, that is your choice, but don't sit there and tell us that there are no feed stores in the town which you claim to live, when you haven't even bothered to check for yourself. Let your fingers do the walking thru the yellow pages.

 

[skysthelimit]

I could smell the feed outside of the bag of Purina, and once I opened it, the smell was heavy (at least to me). It smells like oil. They say they add vegetable oil to the mix. I told the clerk I wanted the 18%, I asked him if it was corn free and they did not know. They don't bring bags to the front counter, they load them so the customer never sees it, and by the time they came back with the bag and loaded it in my van, they must have goofed. This is not 18%. And of course after I get home I see MannaPro is on sale again... Well I'm printing out my coupons and going up to TSC this weekend.

 

[SatinsRule]

Sky, here's hoping that your results with Purina's 18% AdvantEdge feed turn out better than mine did. When stores were actually able to get it in stock, fresh wasn't the way to best describe it. I spent an awfully long time sifting dust out of each of the last 3 bags I bought, and my rabbits wouldn't hardly touch it in the summertime.

 

[MKirst]

Livestock feed prices sky rocketed in my area about 6-7 years ago. I have horses and the price of a 50 pound bag of the best racehorse feed went from 9.95 to 16.95 and now it's 21.95. I don't even go to that Mill anymore.

Brandt's Mill is decent prices - they have textured and pelleted feeds Best Performance 12% protein $16.35 = 50 pounds, 16% protein pellets = $12.15 = 50 pounds, rolled oats with oil $12.65 = 50 pounds, rabbit pellets $15.75 = 50 pounds, alfalfa cubes $14.65 = 50 pounds. I like Brandts for small animals because you can co to the store and scoop from a bin an amount you want in small portions. My Oscar fish loves their fish food pellets.

I mix my own rabbit feed using a custom calf starter by Mark Hershey Farms. Personally, I love Mark Hershey Farms, their custom feeds are so good I eat them myself with milk and pick threw the feed barrels all day long. :x I have a a habit of eating whateva I feed I give my horses and Mark Hershey Feeds I can't ever get enough of. It tastes really good and I know the grains are grown local - no GMO or Monsanto there. :shock:

Anyhows, pretty much the difference between the protein percentages is the amount of molasses used. For example: the Heifer feed is 12% protein - $11.70 = 50 pounds - (I feed that to my retired racers and add nothing to it) the Calf Started is 16% protein - $12.60 = 50 pounds - and the Hershey Special is 18% protein - $14.20 = 50 pounds. I get the Special and add to it calf manna, electrolyte powder, Nu-Image .. etc for my active racers. Rolled oats with molasses is $10.20 = 50 pounds. They taste great !! :mrgreen:

With John and Jane, I feed them different feeds. They both get the 16% Starter - I mix in sunflower seeds, green and yellow split peas, calf manna, barley and flax seeds. Johns, I add a bit more too it like the Nu-Image and Mark Hershey Farms also had Buck Developer at one time I bought for a white tail deer, so I add too Johns 100 pound feed bin about 5 pounds of the Buck Developer making sure I mix it good because it's 22% protein (they no longer sell it - I need to use up what I do have).

I only added to Johns in the past week or so - and the results are amazing in such a short time. It's like his fur he stole from another rabbit. lol I'll have to get some pictures for you.

Jane on the other hand, I hope might be prego so she only gets my basic mix - nothing special. They both eat celery, apples, cabbage, beets and carrots daily too.

 

[skysthelimit]

Sky, here's hoping that your results with Purina's 18% AdvantEdge feed turn out better than mine did. When stores were actually able to get it in stock, fresh wasn't the way to best describe it. I spent an awfully long time sifting dust out of each of the last 3 bags I bought, and my rabbits wouldn't hardly touch it in the summertime.

The average bag lasts 8 days around here, not much time to tell if there is any difference.
I do have to say, that because I put Red Lake DE in the feed, I'm not really sure what's food dust and what's DE dust.

I've feed 3-4 brands of food, with no real difference, as least as far as I can tell. Not even the added BOSS seems to matter. And these guys eat anything, except lambs quarters. I tried all of the mixing whole oats and stuff, and really it's a waste of money for me. I could put that money into buying a higher % of protein pellet, and make less work for myself. I have no other animals eating the grains, at $15 for a 50lb bag of whole oats, that's another bag of pellets, and oats get wasted through the feeders and onto the floor anyway.

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

My bunnies wont eat oats. So I am sticking with pellets for now. It is $14 for a bag of pellets and they get all the hay they want. I have plenty of hay to not worry about waste at all. I put a handful in the hanging cages and spread a flake out on the floor of the colony pens every day. What they don't eat I throw to compost and give them new every day. Then if they pee in it or what ever it doesn't matter. I know it is probably wasteful but I don't mind. I could have hundreds of bunnies and they wont eat what all my horses did last year.

 

[SatinsRule]

Sky, here's hoping that your results with Purina's 18% AdvantEdge feed turn out better than mine did. When stores were actually able to get it in stock, fresh wasn't the way to best describe it. I spent an awfully long time sifting dust out of each of the last 3 bags I bought, and my rabbits wouldn't hardly touch it in the summertime.

The average bag lasts 8 days around here, not much time to tell if there is any difference.
I do have to say, that because I put Red Lake DE in the feed, I'm not really sure what's food dust and what's DE dust.

I've feed 3-4 brands of food, with no real difference, as least as far as I can tell. Not even the added BOSS seems to matter. And these guys eat anything, except lambs quarters. I tried all of the mixing whole oats and stuff, and really it's a waste of money for me. I could put that money into buying a higher % of protein pellet, and make less work for myself. I have no other animals eating the grains, at $15 for a 50lb bag of whole oats, that's another bag of pellets, and oats get wasted through the feeders and onto the floor anyway.

If I had to offer a suggestion, it would be this.

I have a spare fine-x feeder in the feed barrel which I use to pre-sift my pellets before using them to fill the 3-gallon feed bucket. It gets rid of the fine particles and dust, allowing for a more accurate measurement of what is actually being fed to the buns at feeding time. It also prevents alot of the feed dust debris on the floor and the rotting which will happen if it's not cleaned up and water gets on it. It's time-consuming, but worth it IMHO.

I'm using a regional brand of 18% pellets called Prime Quality Growers Ration on my bunnies under 4 months of age and it works well. Some of the biggest "name" breeders in this country don't use the big dollar feeds. They use local brands and they do quite well. Breeders in TX seem to get pretty good results out of a brand of feed named Petrus. The key to it all is to find one which works well and stick with it as long as it works for you. That has been a real chore here in AR, but I think I have finally found a formula which works for me without putting me into the poor house.

 

[skysthelimit]

I usually hold the feed bucket under the feeders to catch the extra dust, and to return the extra DE to the feed bin. No use wasting good DE.

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

I wanted to move to a place 50 miles from the nearest store but my husband said no way. We need our cell phones and cable internet. lol

 

[Miss M]

I have a spare fine-x feeder in the feed barrel which I use to pre-sift my pellets before using them to fill the 3-gallon feed bucket. It gets rid of the fine particles and dust...

Somebody on here, I think maybe AnnTann, collected her fines and used them to make treat cookies! I think she added rolled oats, molasses, and a couple other things, and then baked them. She did say it didn't smell very good. :lol: But she was using them, rather than them being waste.

I'm using a regional brand of 18% pellets called Prime Quality Growers Ration

How much do you pay for it? The feed store near me sells the 16% for $15/50 lb or so, and they could order the 18% for me, but it would be $3 more. Is it worth it? That's getting up there a bit, but it could be that I don't know what expensive is. It's great that there's such a good quality feed available to me now, though.

I saw on their site that they say to provide salt (did I ask you this already?), when the feed already contains salt. ?????<br /><br />__________ Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:42 pm __________<br /><br />

NW Florida (where Pensacola is located) IS generally albeit jokingly referred to as part of Lower Alabama (aka, LA), mainly because so many former Bama natives inhabit the area or visit there regularly, the latter of which explains why a person can see an unusual number of Bama tags on vehicles on a typical day's basis there. The entire section of NW Florida which lies just beneath the southeast corner of AL is generally referred to as LA as well. Everyone in the area generally refers to it as such.

Strange, maybe, but in my 11 or so years of living in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze, I don't recall ever hearing anyone refer to the area as Lower Alabama.

We got started in rabbits there, and I'll admit, I never knew about the TSC there, or the "Farm Mart" (at the time, I thought a feed store had at least the word "feed" in the name. I had heard of Barnes, but that trip would have taken me completely through Pensacola. My husband preferred that I avoid that, and go east instead. I found the Feed Bucket in Navarre, up Hwy. 87 I believe.

 

[SatinsRule]

I'm using a regional brand of 18% pellets called Prime Quality Growers Ration

How much do you pay for it? The feed store near me sells the 16% for $15/50 lb or so, and they could order the 18% for me, but it would be $3 more. Is it worth it? That's getting up there a bit, but it could be that I don't know what expensive is. It's great that there's such a good quality feed available to me now, though.

I saw on their site that they say to provide salt (did I ask you this already?), when the feed already contains salt. ?????

The last 5 bags I received cost me absolutely nothing. I had filed a customer complaint with them over the previous 5 bags I'd purchased containing a rather high number of fine particles, and they gave me 5 new bags free of charge. Gotta like a company which stands behind its product like that. In a roundabout sort of way, what that means is that I haven't paid for any of the feed since about late May, and IIRC, 50 lbs. of it cost me right at $15.

I had used this line of feed when I was a junior exhibitor, and at the time, it was milled and sold in Little Rock and nearly every feed store in AR. It has since been bought out by Cargill (which also owns Nutrena), and is currently milled in Kansas City.

As for the salt, I can honestly say that I do not add salt to their diets and they do well. All I give them is hay, pellets and water, with the occasional supplementing of a treat of celery once in a while.

__________ Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:42 pm __________

Strange, maybe, but in my 11 or so years of living in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze, I don't recall ever hearing anyone refer to the area as Lower Alabama.

We got started in rabbits there, and I'll admit, I never knew about the TSC there, or the "Farm Mart" (at the time, I thought a feed store had at least the word "feed" in the name. I had heard of Barnes, but that trip would have taken me completely through Pensacola. My husband preferred that I avoid that, and go east instead. I found the Feed Bucket in Navarre, up Hwy. 87 I believe.

From the time I moved there in early 1996 until the time I left in late 2000, that entire area of NW Florida from the state line just west of Pensacola to Panama City was jokingly referred to as Lower Alabama by nearly everyone I knew and worked with, and as I stated previously, it was largely due to the abnormal number of folks who moved there from Alabama and to the very common appearance of Alabama license plates you see driving thru the area on a daily basis. One of my favorite chain restaurants in that area was a BBQ shack known as Sonny's (Pensacola, Crestview, Ft. Walton Beach/Mary Esther), and I could not go into any of them without seeing half the parking lot having Bama tags. The same was true with most of the more popular restaurants in the area. As beautiful as the beaches are up there, the overwhelming portion of Northwest FL is not at all like what most people associate with the state of FL. It's more of an extension of southern Alabama than anything else.

And as quickly as TSC stores are popping up, it's possible that it's only been there a few years, but it is odd that a person can live in a town with one of them and not even know it's there. As for driving from Pensacola to Navarre, I say no thank you. I always hated having anything to do with driving that coastal highway. Most of the year, it was always packed with tourists, and it took forever to go from point A to point B. I'd always go out of my way to avoid that area at any and all cost if there was any way I could do so, and with I-10 running right thru the area, the times could be made so much quicker by using that.

 

[skysthelimit]

I have two within 26 miles of me, and only found that out 4 years ago, and I've lived in Ohio for 20 years now. Until I started looking for pro-biotic paste for the dogs, I never even knew TSC existed, and if I had seen it inadvertently, I would not have know what it was.
Remember I just saw and heard of a grain elevator last month. I still don't know what a real "feed mill" is. The stores around here call themselves feed mills, but they just carry bagged food from branded companies. With out forums like this and dog forums I belonged to, as a city person, I would have never known about half this stuff. I could poll all of the people I know and 75% would not be able to tell you what a bale is, let alone the difference between straw and hay, or where to buy it. If the feed store doesn't have it, and my sheep herding instructor doesn't have it, then I have no idea where to get hay.
I know no one besides my rabbit breeder that even owns rabbits. I know no one at all that owns horses, cows, pigs. Everything happens here on line, so half the time when folks here are talking about products and grains and experiences, I have no idea what you all are talking about.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I only found out about TSC a year or two ago. I don't know how long it has been in Bakersfield, but it is a block beyond the normal loop I use for shopping- Rosedale highway which runs East/West has a Costco, Target, Home Depot, Office Max, Walmart, and a family owned Feed Store- and Coffee road that runs North/South has a Trader Joe's. So I never really went beyond Coffee in the 12 plus years we have been in the area. I confess I may have seen it before- there is a "Dollar Store" in the same shopping center- but I would have thought from the name that it was a heavy equipment supplier, not a feed store! :lol: It was only when a friend and I car-pooled into "town" that I found out about it.

I love TSC! I don't know if it is company policy that emphasizes good customer relations, but the employees at my TSC are so very friendly and helpful, it is like a breath of fresh air every time I shop there. If a bag of feed has born torn and taped back together, they always give at least a $5 discount too.

 

[Piper]

And as quickly as TSC stores are popping up, it's possible that it's only been there a few years, but it is odd that a person can live in a town with one of them and not even know it's there. As for driving from Pensacola to Navarre, I say no thank you. I always hated having anything to do with driving that coastal highway. Most of the year, it was always packed with tourists, and it took forever to go from point A to point B. I'd always go out of my way to avoid that area at any and all cost if there was any way I could do so, and with I-10 running right thru the area, the times could be made so much quicker by using that.

I can understand not noticing / or even caring that there is a TSC. The average pet owner thinks that buying a 10 pound bag of feed is a lot to store. For a store to carry 25lbs or 50lbs, I would not have even fooled with them or considered that they were worthy of my notice. It was not till yesterday that I found out that the silo thingys a 1/2 mile from me, were grain storage. I may have 12 rabbits descend on me in a few weeks and I am 'all out' researching sprouting, where to keep more feed and more hay! I thought I was doing good with hay at Atwoods at around $8 two months ago, until someone said that she sees signs for hay at $3 a bale as she drives. Difference from being in a city / town or knowing your way around farm country.
-- TSC, Atwoods and grain elevators are no longer thought of as just for farmers, but to have to buy 200 or more pounds at times, is still something that I am having to wrap my mind around. You may take it as normal but for me, it was a bit of a sticker shock. It has been a bit easier, because of having built up to it, having the chickens have chicks (and the geese eating all the grass) and gradually having to keep more and more feed. BUT! Yesterday when I saw an ad about lower prices and that they would deliver when you bought a whole truck load of hay.!?!
Suddenly the 50lb bag at TSC seems like a good deal, will have to add them into my (previously organized) shopping trips. Do they have coupons too? :roll:
Careful, I know I am leaving my self out on a limb, from the experience people - be easy on me. I have done city shopping! During sales even!

 

[skysthelimit]

I can understand not noticing / or even caring that there is a TSC. The average pet owner thinks that buying a 10 pound bag of feed is a lot to store. For a store to carry 25lbs or 50lbs, I would not have even fooled with them or considered that they were worthy of my notice.

Since I haven't fed dog food in 5 plus years, I hardly set foot in a pet store.

I went the other day for some herbal flea relief for Phoenix, since I can't exactly powder my show dog with DE, and no local stores carry essential oils.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I can't exactly powder my show dog with DE

Why not? As long as you bathe them before you show... you don't need to powder so heavily that the DE will absorb all of the natural oils to be effective against parasites. A little goes a long way.

 

[skysthelimit]

I can't exactly powder my show dog with DE

Why not? As long as you bathe them before you show... you don't need to powder so heavily that the DE will absorb all of the natural oils to be effective against parasites. A little goes a long way.

Fleas don't die very quickly. It takes a while for the fleas and eggs to dry out, in the mean time, I'm washing, kind of seems like a waste, wash, powder, wait a day, wash powder, repeat. Twice a week till the coat blows, sometimes a rinse down 3 times if she' sin the pool/pond/herding. You would think the Avon skin So Soft I put on after the wash would help. And it doesn't seem to rinse real well out of a harsh german shepherd coat, seems like there are always some fine particles that show up as grit on the day of the show while she's being groomed on the table.
I forgot to mention that I have the Red Lake Earth, it's got the extra clay in it.

I suppose in that case I could use flea shampoo, I just never have, so never thought about it. I want to try some of that neem oil shampoo, kind of $$.