Problems Finding Purina Pellet, has anybody used Kings brand?

[TKT]

Is anybody else having problems finding their preferred pelleted feeds? Locally I have one general feed store and one Tractor Supply. I was feeding 50/50 Purina Rabbit Complete and Modesto Milling from Chewy. I don't like the Purina, I don't like Purina anything and refused to feed it to my dogs for the last 25 years. The Modesto has excellent ingredients and is non-GMO. I can't afford $50 for 40 lb of feed for forty rabbits though. Also they were being kind of picky about it and some of them wouldn't eat it so I stopped feeding it about 3 months back.

Tractor Supply is apparently no longer carrying any Purina Rabbit, neither Complete or Show whatsoever. The website just crashed but before it did I saw that I could get one bag only next week if I bought it ahead. It seems that Purina is not going to be making rabbit feed anymore. I expect they will still be making the Producers Pride however but I won't feed that.

I do feed some of the Kruse brand to my quail, I used to feed it to my horses years back when I had them. I have a bag of Kruse's and my other feed store where I get my hay carries it intermittently. Today they only had Kings brand so I checked the ingredients and bought a couple bags. I did pick up a couple bags of Manna Pro Rabbit at TSC, which was all they had, and which at least has an alfalfa base. My problem is I don't have enough Purina to transition 40 rabbits. I just suddenly can't find it anywhere online or in store, and it's now impossible to order it from TSC or any of the feed stores I called, so I'm going to have to do a faster transition than I would like. Everybody eats rolled oats so I will give them a bit more of that and more hay during the transition. And I always prep a lot of extra feed for my animals in case of something like this going down, and I usually ask my husband to get multiple bags when he's in town. Even though he knows it's important he fusses about it. But when he ran by TSC to pick up more rabbit they only had one and we expected they would have more in a few days. Just found out they will NOT in the future going ahead. I usually prefer to have five or six bags and he was being crabby about it because I have to store it in my family room behind my couch.

I would be grateful for any advice as to transitioning, especially as I now have three different brands as backup. I figure I will transition more quickly to the most similar brand which is likely the Manna Pro, and then start adding in either the Kruses or the Kings, or a multiple mix so if I lose one brand it won't make as much of an impact. The Kings is non-GMO and has excellent ingredients but more varied, but it also has a lot of supplements that I don't really care for. Like garlic. I am guessing that's probably in very small amounts, more for promotion than anything else. It's only about $33 with tax for 50 lbs, same price as Purina. If they did well on it I could convert them to that, or go say 50/50 with Manna Pro because it looks like I might still be able to get some, but I have to drive an hour one way to get it, because my local TSC can't be bothered.

Does anybody else have problems finding Purina? Or any other brand? I looked at the brands that Chewy has and I'm not that happy with them. Kalmbach doesn't even list their ingredients. I read so many posts about rabbits losing condition, not being able to successfully breed and have litters, to be coming ill and even dying from mediocre quality or a bad batch of various pelleted feeds.

I would welcome any advice from others who have been through this multiple times, and any boots on the ground reports of shortages or supply chain issues.

Edit: This is the King brand, the Feed Tag tab shows the ingredients.

https://king-brand.com/product/lifelong-natural/

 

[olhippityhop]

I feed Purina complete, haven't had any trouble finding it. I also feed Purina pro plan to my dog and have been extremely happy. I might go stock up on Purina complete. Have you thought about feeding more heavily on hay and greens?

 

[TKT]

Yes, I feed a full to overflowing hay rack every night to each single housed bun, and also plenty to does with litters and grow outs. I'm going to feed hay in the am too now. I feed timothy. I'm increasing oats too, so overall they will want less pellet. They also get some garden greens.

Good idea to stock up I think. I'm in CA and the fact that no one carries much or can no longer even order any kind of Purina rabbit feed signifies nothing good. I've noticed we can't get any Gamebird types either, except for Starter crumbles, which is now 50% dust.

 

[olhippityhop]

I'm on the same coast as you, so it could be coming my way, who knows. Good luck!

 

[Alaska Satin]

Is anybody else having problems finding their preferred pelleted feeds? Locally I have one general feed store and one Tractor Supply. I was feeding 50/50 Purina Rabbit Complete and Modesto Milling from Chewy. I don't like the Purina, I don't like Purina anything and refused to feed it to my dogs for the last 25 years. The Modesto has excellent ingredients and is non-GMO. I can't afford $50 for 40 lb of feed for forty rabbits though. Also they were being kind of picky about it and some of them wouldn't eat it so I stopped feeding it about 3 months back.

Tractor Supply is apparently no longer carrying any Purina Rabbit, neither Complete or Show whatsoever. The website just crashed but before it did I saw that I could get one bag only next week if I bought it ahead. It seems that Purina is not going to be making rabbit feed anymore. I expect they will still be making the Producers Pride however but I won't feed that.

Does anybody else have problems finding Purina? Or any other brand? I looked at the brands that Chewy has and I'm not that happy with them. Kalmbach doesn't even list their ingredients. I read so many posts about rabbits losing condition, not being able to successfully breed and have litters, to be coming ill and even dying from mediocre quality or a bad batch of various pelleted feeds.

I feel your pain. I am currently going through yet another episode of vitamin E deficiency, having had my rabbits' production in the tank since last fall and only recently figuring it out. This time it's a different feed from the last time I dealt with it. I thought it was mixed locally, but it turns out that it's being bought from a producer in the Lower 48. It's a "corn-free, soy-free" formulation which actually, on examination of the fine print, contains soy oil. The local store I buy from, AK Farm Supply, is having a really hard time getting feed ingredient details from the makers, not just for the rabbit feed but for their emu and goat feed as well. Labeling makes me crazy, as the rules are so esoteric that they're almost useless.

Is anybody else having problems finding their preferred pelleted feeds?

I would welcome any advice from others who have been through this multiple times, and any boots on the ground reports of shortages or supply chain issues.

We have even more problems with supply issues here in AK than in the contiguous states. There are only a handful of feeds available: Nutrena, Manna Pro, one local mill that pellets its own feed but sources a lot of its ingredients from the Lower 48, and the imported AK Farm Supply feed I've been using. I don't know if anyone here even sells Purina. I think one store also brings up Heinold, which is a good feed, but I'd have to drive an hour one way to get it and the supply isn't always reliable. After dealing with vit E deficiency in the local pellets, I fed Manna Pro for a while, but then had to switch to Nutrena because of cost and availability. I then gave up Nutrena, which I liked, when the feed went up by $30 a bag because of shipping increases during the Covid nonsense - that's a increase of $30, meaning they wanted $62 for a 50lb bag! Even my friends who were fed up with supply problems and with the absolutely outrageous shipping charges, and now pay to barge up Heinold by the pallet, find themselves holding their breath when the barge runs late.

The take home is that what you're doing - keeping your rabbits used to a variety, and stocking up as much as possible - is probably the best approach available. Although stocking up can only go so far, as vitamins and other nutritional elements diminish over time, even if you store carefully in a climate-controlled place behind your couch. At the moment I am supplementing with BOSS, which has corrected most of the rabbits' reproductive issues, so that I don't have to switch feeds AGAIN. But adding BOSS is making my does fat, and even that is $32 for a 40lb bag. I am running short on patience as the supplier continues to be cagey and not forthcoming about ingredients, but there's no obvious way to feed pellets of any brand and avoid all of these various issues.

It seems like it might be a good idea to shift toward more self-determined feeding rather than relying on pellets, and I've done a lot of reading about feeding "naturally" and emancipating your herd from pellets. But in AK it's a lot more complicated to grow-your-own... some stuff you can't grow here at all... and it's definitely a lot more time-consuming. And the issue with adding a lot of supplements is that a certain nutritional balance is necessary for good health and reproduction. For instance, if I have a Vitamin E deficiency and add supplements containing too much E, I will see many of the same reproductive problems. If there is a selenium deficiency in the pellets, the vit E that is there won't be metabolized properly. Vitamin A threatens similar issues; levels vary by source, but some greens being rich in A, you have to watch that as well.

Another example is that our goats were mineral deficient (our area is terribly low in selenium and copper, thus the hay is also) so my daughter started giving them kelp. Kelp supplied plenty of selenium, and the goats loved it, just hoovered it up. As it turns out, though, kelp is also rich in iodine, and too much iodine produces thyroid problems, coughing, etc... and sure enough, within a few days goats were hacking away.

I guess the take-away is that "all-natural" feeding feels is too complicated as a day-to-day approach for me right now. But I am working at understanding how to do it, and putting some preparations in place to do so, since it may become mandatory at some point if I want to keep raising rabbits here. And rabbits are one of relatively few truly sustainable protein sources in AK. (If the ***** hits the fan, so to speak, very quickly there won't be a moose, caribou, ptarmigan or grouse, let alone a cow or pig, left within miles of any human settlement.)

Good idea to stock up I think. I'm in CA and the fact that no one carries much or can no longer even order any kind of Purina rabbit feed signifies nothing good. I've noticed we can't get any Gamebird types either, except for Starter crumbles, which is now 50% dust.

A friend of mine (longtime rancher in MT) is convinced that the powers-that-be want to prevent people from growing their own food and being independent of Big Ag, Big Pharma, and Big Brother. She feels sure that the steadily increasing episodes of "mediocre quality or a bad batches," as well as "supply chain problems" and shrinking numbers of small producers, are ways of reducing our food independence. While I believe that some of it may be coming from the difficulties in hiring decent and/or experienced workers, the myriad disruptions in distribution and production that exploded during Covid, and the lack of an honorable business climate, I can't really say those are not part of a grand design. I find that I can't really argue with her, even in my own mind.

 

[Sagebrush]

I am in Northern California and so far I haven't seen any issues with the pellets in my area. I have been using a local feed mill that isn't too far away from me who does mill everything from local sources. I also do feed local hay and have 3 beds in my garden dedicated to the rabbits.

 

[TKT]

It seems like it might be a good idea to shift toward more self-determined feeding rather than relying on pellets, and I've done a lot of reading about feeding "naturally" and emancipating your herd from pellets.

I've doubled my garden size, but I suspect my rabbits will be somewhat fussy, and I don't know how much I can grow and it won't be consistent. I have experimented on which greens they can eat that won't give them too much calcium or oxalates etc etc etc etc etc.

I looked into trying to feed them a mix of legumes, grains, and BOSS, and started with a bag of whole oats and one of barley. They aren't really interested in either, and neither are the damned quail! So the next step is to toss it out in the yard and see if it grows, and then give them the green stuff, or for even more work, try sprouting it. Fussy little brats!

As it turns out, though, kelp is also rich in iodine, and too much iodine produces thyroid problems, coughing, etc... and sure enough, within a few days goats were hacking away.

I am a huge fan of kelp, but yes.

I guess the take-away is that "all-natural" feeding feels is too complicated as a day-to-day approach for me right now. But I am working at understanding how to do it, and putting some preparations in place to do so, since it may become mandatory at some point if I want to keep raising rabbits here. And rabbits are one of relatively few truly sustainable protein sources in AK. (If the ***** hits the fan, so to speak, very quickly there won't be a moose, caribou, ptarmigan or grouse, let alone a cow or pig, left within miles of any human settlement.)

I have always researched all my animals feeds and been as conscientious and careful as possible. But now that I'm old and tired and living on a fixed income and savings, I don't have the bandwidth to keep on keeping on keeping on with deep diving into nutrition for each animal. Even so I deal still do a ton of reading and searching out what is helpful. I do a lot of supplementation with natural foods, and like for the quail supplemental fats during the winter and greens during the summer. I'm doing my best to figure out the rabbits.

Rising prices and declining quality of various commercial meats is why we are raising rabbits. Our dogs tell us with their noses that much of our commercial beef is suspect. So the rabbits are a project we started mostly for them. They will eat rabbit till they pop if I let them. I save the heads and hides and back feet for my breeder to give to her dogs. I'm starting to save ears and some hides for mine as well so now I need to buy a freezer. With all the parts made in China so it will fail at the most inconvenient time.

But it certainly isn't anything I ever expected to do in my retirement, and I don't need the additional stress of not being able to feed them, let alone the costs. I looked at the price of six bags with shipping on Purina's own website and it would be almost $400 because of shipping. So I feel YOUR pain!

A friend of mine (longtime rancher in MT) is convinced that the powers-that-be want to prevent people from growing their own food and being independent of Big Ag, Big Pharma, and Big Brother. She feels sure that the steadily increasing episodes of "mediocre quality or a bad batches," as well as "supply chain problems" and shrinking numbers of small producers, are ways of reducing our food independence. While I believe that some of it may be coming from the difficulties in hiring decent and/or experienced workers, the myriad disruptions in distribution and production that exploded during Covid, and the lack of an honorable business climate, I can't really say those are not part of a grand design. I find that I can't really argue with her, even in my own mind.

I'm familiar with all the conspiracy theories, and while there absolutely are grains of truth to some of them, I tend to believe it is more that supply shortages that were real during COVID showed manufacturers that they could successfully charge customers huge price increases, and that people would be forced to step up for things they absolutely needed. Because of that we now have inadvertently enabled an even bigger culture of psychopathic corporate greed that is completely out of control. And because the bigger corporations pay even less taxes before and and indeed get subsidies even though they are making more than they ever have, now they are even wealthier and greedier than before, so they are buying up or squeezing out the competition which comes from small farms and small businesses. Amazon is a perfect example. So I think it's more of this horrendous greed that is causing the evisceration of consumers in pretty much every day necessities.

I can imagine what it is doing to everyone up in Alaska, and I empathize with the degree of stress and unreliability for many things, along with the tremendous increase in prices.

I am in the low Sierras and while we are covered up in deer and elk where we are, our deer have been exposed to an endemic hemorrhagic virus and it is currently going through the local population. So if SHTF all the clueless people in the local valleys will not have a lot of meat on the hoof available. We also are an hour away from any city of any size, and are on a transportation corridor, so if the trucks stop everybody will be hungry and freaking out. We are in an area that grows a lot of heirloom wheat, and also have huge greenhouse operations in another valley, plus we neighbor the San Joaquin Valley which feeds a lot of the US. Here we have the issues of running out of water and increasing heat, so we also have problems growing. I just spent $450 on shadecloth because last summer I lost 2/3 of my blackberries and some of my more tender greens.

I agree with you that probably my best bet is to source multiple feeds, they go through it fast enough that even if I stocked 20 or 30 bags it would only be a few months worth as long as I have multiple litters growing up. I only have 38 rabbits at the moment and only eight of them are my keepers so far. I have 11 grow outs to process, and possibly an extra buck and doe, which will help.

The other two young litters total 16 and I expect to keep possibly two does and a buck from my American Blues.

As always thank you so much for your highly valuable feedback! Much respect to you, and all best wishes!

Edit to add that when I was on Purina's website and I did the search for dealers near me function, there wasn't anybody showing up within over 140 mile radius. Which is weird because my store is still getting one bag a week for five valley communities of about 35K people.

I just bought that bag online plus two more Manna Pro because they are eating it. I should have one Purina bag in 3 days, and I only have about 7 gallons left. Right now I'm giving them 20% Manna Pro mixed with the Purina. I've doubled their hay so that I can save the Purina pellet mostly for the two mothers with kits, also to keep guts active.

My cart qualified for a free 50 lb bag of rabbit pellet, and it let me get one more bag of the Complete, but the only way I could get it was by delivery to my home, for which they charged me $13. I was also able to get two bags of Purina Show Rabbit. I'm hoping I can order from another TSC an hour away, which says they can do a rain check order which can get me 10 or more bags at a time of the Manna Pro if my store can't. My big concern is just transitioning to a new feed.

 

[TKT]

I'm on the same coast as you, so it could be coming my way, who knows. Good luck!

Yeah just keep an eye out. For a long time now if I try to put anything other than the Purina Complete in a TSC online cart, it says not available at that location, now it says not available within a 72 mile radius to ship to store. So it's not in the store and not close enough to ship for local pickup. It's unusual that I could get it to ship me the Show rabbit, and when I called the local store earlier I was told they couldn't get it. I called the closest big town TSC 36 miles away, same story. I called a couple of independent feed stores and they just don't carry it.

 

[olhippityhop]

I went to tractor supply yesterday. They had lots of Purina Complete and it was on sale, buy 3 get 1 free. If you want to drive north for like 800 miles, I can hook you up

 

[TKT]

We even texted with Purina and they said they don't know why there isn't any in our area. And I called several tractor supplies and they don't know why they can't order it.

It's fine for now, I got the buy three get one free on animal feeds, so I got four more bags, two of Complete and two of Show through various odd shipping availabilities, and I am transitioning them to Manna Pro.