Feed for the Animals

We decided to do things a little bit different this month.  Rather than scramble each week to find the cash to buy feed for the animals, we estimated how much feed we need for 30 days and bought it all today.  We made the trek to Redmond for some locally grown and made feed from a company called Haystack.  They buy grains as locally as possible and have a mill in Culver and sell out of the Oregon Feed and Irrigation store in Redmond.  Great product and great prices.  I love the idea that we can tell our customers that our animals eat locally grown grains and grasses.

So here's the breakdown...

For the pigs, we have three adults and two growers.  Each adult gets 6 pounds of grain a day total.  For cost effectiveness, I have been giving them 3 pounds of pig chow and 3 pounds of all breed (cheaper than pig chow).  Each grower gets 5 pounds of grain a day total...3 pounds of pig chow and 2 pounds of all breed.  In total, the pigs eat 15 pounds of pig chow and 13 pounds of all breed each day.

For the goats, we have one doe in milk, two adult does, and four kids.  Lilo, our milker, gets 3 pounds of all breed per day.  Each of the other adults get 1 pound of all breed per day.  Each of the kids gets a half pound of all breed per day.  In total, the goats eat 7 pounds of all breed each day.

For the chickens, ducks and geese, I feed a total of 6 pounds of layer pellets per day.

For the baby chickens, I feed free choice chick starter...we didn't buy any of this today.

We will have meat chickens starting next Tuesday, so we need to make sure we have enough meat bird pellets to feed 4 pounds a day. 

The grand total is 15 pounds of pig chow, 20 pounds of all breed, and 3 pounds of layer pellets per day.  For 30 days, we need 450 pounds of pig chow (nine 50lb bags), 600 pounds of all breed (twelve 50lb bags), 180 pounds of layer pellets (four 50lb bags), and 120 pounds of meat bird pellets (three 50lb bags).

The cost:

• 9 Pig Chow x $11.95 = $107.55
• 12 All Breed x $11.95 = $143.40
• 4 Layer Pellets x $10.95 = $43.80
• 3 Meat Bird x $10.95 = $32.85

$327.60 total cost for all of the animals for one month.  That doesn't include the hay that we feed, but we have hay in the barn.  All I can say is those animals better start pulling their own weight.