Switched back my old brand of feed....but

[grumpy]

It sure is dusty! I'm havin' to use the feed-cleaner every day.
I usually put it up and out of the way. But not now, I leave it out.

I was using that really cheap grade made by Purina in the yellow bag.
Finally, Kent commercial feed dropped in price enough to make it profitable again.
It's nice to see 'alfalfa' again as the main ingredient in rabbit feed.

I've got a ton 'literally' to work through. My cleaner's gonna get a good work out.

grumpy.

 

[ckcs]

I know you use a ton of feed. I can imagine that will be some work.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

grumpy,, why would you buy food that is that dusty? It sounds to be the lower grade. I am just confuse.

 

[grumpy]

grumpy,, why would you buy food that is that dusty? It sounds to be the lower grade. I am just confuse.

Mary Ann:

I'd used Kent for quite a spell until the price increases last year.
I'd noticed 'then' that it had a few fines. But not like it is now.

My feed store owner buys a ton at a time for me and holds it in his warehouse.
The first bags I opened a couple of weeks ago had fines. Quite a few actually.
I notified the store owner about the problem and he called Kent.

I was down earlier this morning to p/u another 700 pounds.
He told me Kent had E-mailed him apologizing about the problem.
And....that they would 'compensate' me because of it.
"Excessive Fines was unacceptable...." was their comment.

I've got/had two options: I could refuse the remainder and have it shipped back.
Or....I could work through the problem and save shipping for both parties.
It only takes 3-5 minutes to clean 50 pounds of feed. It's not that hard.
I'm a nice guy!

We'll 'see' what "compensate" means to Kent Feed Company.
Then.... :evil: I may NOT be a nice guy! :evil:

The rabbits do better on this feed. I hated switching last year,
but I couldn't make any profit when their prices went so high.

grumpy.

 

[SatinsRule]

Grumpy, do yourself a favor. Get onto www.randmcnally.com, plug where you're going from, and find out how far it would be for you to travel to Farmersville, IL. Figure the cost of gas, meals, etc. that you would have to pay once you get the mileage total X 2 (to include the return trip).

The reason I am suggesting this is because you can get fresh feed by the ton(s) produced at the mill you'd be picking your feed up at less than a week after it's milled. They sell 2 local brands they mill themselves. One is a commercial rabbit feed, the other is what I use now. It's called Oren Reynolds feed, and it's the same formula Mr. Reynolds sold by the bag out of his garage for years. I've been doing quarterly feed runs for better than a year now, and the only time I ever run into dust or fine particles with this stuff is at the very bottom of the bag, and it isn't enough to even think about. For me, with all the travel expenses for the to/from trip included, my last shipment ran me a grand total of $16 per 50 lb. bag.

I can give you the contact info for the mill if you would like. I can assure you that it is a quality product and they would love to take you on as a customer.

 

[MaggieJ]

According to Storey's Raising Rabbits, the Oren Reynolds original formula included antibiotics. Is that true of this feed as well, SatinsRule?

 

[grumpy]

According to Storey's Raising Rabbits, the Oren Reynolds original formula included antibiotics. Is that true of this feed as well, SatinsRule?

I wouldn't purchase a feed that has antibiotics in it.
That's counter to everything I espouse.
Kent feed has been around for a long time.
Even with the dust problem, I feel it's worth the
effort to feed it in lieu of the bargain brand from Purina.

I have added organic ACV to my regimen about every 10th day.
The jury's still out on this practice.

grumpy.<br /><br />__________ Sun Oct 27, 2013 6:35 pm __________<br /><br />

Grumpy, do yourself a favor. Get onto http://www.randmcnally.com, plug where you're going from, and find out how far it would be for you to travel to Farmersville, IL. Figure the cost of gas, meals, etc. that you would have to pay once you get the mileage total X 2 (to include the return trip).

The reason I am suggesting this is because you can get fresh feed by the ton(s) produced at the mill you'd be picking your feed up at less than a week after it's milled. They sell 2 local brands they mill themselves. One is a commercial rabbit feed, the other is what I use now. It's called Oren Reynolds feed, and it's the same formula Mr. Reynolds sold by the bag out of his garage for years. I've been doing quarterly feed runs for better than a year now, and the only time I ever run into dust or fine particles with this stuff is at the very bottom of the bag, and it isn't enough to even think about. For me, with all the travel expenses for the to/from trip included, my last shipment ran me a grand total of $16 per 50 lb. bag.

I can give you the contact info for the mill if you would like. I can assure you that it is a quality product and they would love to take you on as a customer.

Thanks S.R. I'll do some checking on mileage and see what I come up with.

Grumpy.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

grumpy.. I would like your thoughts on the ACv.. I always read your post .. all informative..

 

[grumpy]

grumpy.. I would like your thoughts on the ACv.. I always read your post .. all informative..

Well Mary Ann,

I'm not quite sure "what" it will do... I've never used it before.

I've heard references to it and about it a few times on this site.
Plus, I've read a lot of information on the WWW. I've seen nothing 'negative'.

I don't believe all that I've read. Yet, some articles made good sense.
It surely couldn't 'harm' the stock...quite possibly may well help their overall health.
"Auto-immune systems may be enhanced." That's a positive, for sure.
"Willingness to breed w/higher conception rates". Would be another plus.
"Overall improvement of health and vitality". There's nothing wrong with that.

One thing for certain: It reduces the 'smell' when the rabbitry's being cleaned.
The boys cleaned the main room yesterday and I noticed the smell wasn't nearly as strong.
The ammonia smell from under the cages when you clean them was nearly non-existent.

It's 'not-cheap' @ near $30.00 a gallon,
I can only treat the main room four times w/1.5 TBS per gallon.

I'm always willing to try new methods as long as they're not too far fetched.
I've got the basics down pretty good after all of these years.
But, as with anything else, there's always room for improvement.

It's the little things that make the big differences.

grumpy.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

Thanks grumby.. I do use it.. but I don't see any difference .. but with you.. being a large herd and all. You will see a difference. .. the only thing I do know .. becareful on your measurments when you use it.. A good thing and become a bad thing really fast.. It does change the Ph level.. to much or to low of a ph ,, you can run into problems. Justs a heads up on that.

 

[SatinsRule]

According to Storey's Raising Rabbits, the Oren Reynolds original formula included antibiotics. Is that true of this feed as well, SatinsRule?

If there are any antibiotics in the formula I'm using, it's not listed on the tag anywhere. Could have been there were 2 different formulas.

Wayne Feed Mills marketed 2 different versions of their prime feed lines back in the day, too. One had an antibiotics added, the one I used did not.

 

[Frecs]

Probably a dump question but here goes:

Is it possible to collect the fines and mix it with other ingredients to..idk...make a "cookie" to feed the rabbits? Thus, preventing waste? For those of us dealing with one bag at a time, the amount of fines isn't much, but when you are dealing with the quantities Grumpy is, I'm just wondering if there is a way to not lose that feed potential...<br /><br />__________ Mon Oct 28, 2013 12:30 pm __________<br /><br />or feed it to chickens???

 

[skysthelimit]

Probably a dump question but here goes:

Is it possible to collect the fines and mix it with other ingredients to..idk...make a "cookie" to feed the rabbits? Thus, preventing waste? For those of us dealing with one bag at a time, the amount of fines isn't much, but when you are dealing with the quantities Grumpy is, I'm just wondering if there is a way to not lose that feed potential...

__________ Mon Oct 28, 2013 12:30 pm __________

or feed it to chickens???

I like that idea. Now that I'm forced to use hay cubes, and the bunnies are actually eating them (yah!!), there are a lot of extra bits in the bag, that I could mix with the sweet potatoes and flax seeds to make cookies.

 

[grumpy]

I clean the feed right near my feed barrels
and the fines 'vent' out into the aisle way
and onto the dirt floor.

The boys swept it up yesterday when they were cleaning.
It was pretty thick. Hardly anyway to salvage it.
Rabbits are the only animal I have on the farm now.

Except the wife's riding horse I bought for her 15 years ago.

She's ridden him twice!!
I bought a new saddle that's never been on him.
Pretty to watch him runnin' out in the pasture though.
Head-High and tail straight up in the air.
Not bad for a 26 year old gelding.
He'll probably dance on my grave. LOL.

Guess who..gets to feed and water him all winter long?

Grumpy.

 

[SuburbanHomesteader]

Ah, yes...... What we won't do for the ones we love!

Good on ya, Grumpy!

 

[SatinsRule]

Salvaging the fines can happen, but it is going to take a significant amount of time, a spare fine-x feeder, and a spare bucket.

You're literally going to have to sift out feed by putting 1-3 cups of feed into the feeder and sift the fines into the spare bucket. Again, it is going to require you to sift thru it each time you fill the bucket that you use to feed the herd, and if you have a large herd...well, lets say that it's going to take a while.

 

[grumpy]

I crippled myself this evening....O-hhhh the pain!!

Lifting 5 gallon buckets of feed into the cleaner.
I cleaned 200 pounds of feed
Twisted something horrible in my lower spine.
I can barely straighten up.

I should know better....I've nursed an injured spine since I was 13.

Geez........that's 50 years. A half-century. Man!! I do feel old.

Drugs and a heatin' pad....those'll help.

grumpy.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Is it possible to collect the fines and mix it with other ingredients to..idk...make a "cookie" to feed the rabbits?

Yes, but apparently it doesn't smell very good when baked. I could only find a couple of references to it, neither of which is from the original thread I recall seeing it in, I don't think...

post113772.html

post3314.html

Salvaging the fines can happen, but it is going to take a significant amount of time, a spare fine-x feeder, and a spare bucket.

I have a large sieve that I rest on the edges of a bucket when I want to sift feed. It is very time consuming, but I add the fines to the chicken bucket or nummy buckets for the horses.

If you don't sift it the fines just end up as part of the fertilizer along with the bunny berries so it isn't wasted in any case.