# Price of feed is up again



## SkyWarrior (Aug 2, 2012)

Went to Murdochs today to pick up some sweet feed, gamebird feed, and layer pellets.  The price is up again. 

With the drought, ethanol, and whatnot, the price of feed has jumped up considerably.  I'm butchering most of my roosters and drakes to save on feed. The Thanksgiving turkeys are probably going to freezer camp early and I'm encouraging my husband to get the free range turkey house done for the heritage breeds so that they can forage a bit. 

I need to buy a portable electric fence so I can graze the goats on my land.  Money is tight, though. :/

Sigh.

Are you affected by the feed prices and what are you going to do to help keep costs down?


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## that's*satyrical (Aug 2, 2012)

Today I'm going to TSC & stocking up on the feeds they have on sale that I buy & using my 10% off coupon. Times are tight with everything right now though with the cost of gasoline so high everything goes up in price, but no one has gotten a raise in pay to match inflation since 1992 except CEO's & large business owners (with a few exceptions to the rule but statistics show it's definitely NOT the norm). Corporations are exceedingly top heavy nowadays. Plus back in the day you didn't have to worry about paying half your check for health insurance & retirement was often taken care of in the form of a pension. Ahhh, those were the days....


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## SkyWarrior (Aug 3, 2012)

that's*satyrical said:
			
		

> Today I'm going to TSC & stocking up on the feeds they have on sale that I buy & using my 10% off coupon. Times are tight with everything right now though with the cost of gasoline so high everything goes up in price, but no one has gotten a raise in pay to match inflation since 1992 except CEO's & large business owners (with a few exceptions to the rule but statistics show it's definitely NOT the norm). Corporations are exceedingly top heavy nowadays. Plus back in the day you didn't have to worry about paying half your check for health insurance & retirement was often taken care of in the form of a pension. Ahhh, those were the days....


I read some figures that said food prices will only go up 4% because of the corn being affected by the drought.  And that food prices have only gone up 2.8% in the past year.

Really?

Come on.  I know that's not the same for the farmer's market out here, but the store?  You bet that's a lie.  I used to pay maybe $3-$4 per pound for bacon and now I'm paying $7/lb.  Milk I used to pay $2-$3/gal and now more like $3-$5.  All prepackaged stuff is smaller so they can keep the cost the same or just increase it by a little.  Cheese is $8-$10/lb too.

I've got a garden, chickens and goats because things are too expensive.


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## hilltopdextercattle (Aug 5, 2012)

We have been blessed with plenty of rain up until now so we have grass right now and we can somewhat rotate pastures to keep  from stressing them too bad.  I do keep one bag of cubes onhand at all times to help move animals across the front yard. It helps to keep them from lollygagging around,lol. I shouldn't have to buy any feed until this fall when I wean the 3 heifers born this year. When the time comes, I hope to have a 10% off coupon from TSC. 
Last year was completely opposite. We had to keep hay out almost all year and we had to feed cubes and protein tubs.


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## greybeard (Aug 25, 2012)

hilltopdextercattle said:
			
		

> We have been blessed with plenty of rain up until now so we have grass right now and we can somewhat rotate pastures to keep  from stressing them too bad.  I do keep one bag of cubes onhand at all times to help move animals across the front yard. It helps to keep them from lollygagging around,lol. I shouldn't have to buy any feed until this fall when I wean the 3 heifers born this year. When the time comes, I hope to have a 10% off coupon from TSC.
> Last year was completely opposite. We had to keep hay out almost all year and we had to feed cubes and protein tubs.


If you can, try one of the co-ops. I was at Producers in Bryan about a week ago, and they can easily beat TSC' on feed and most other supplies.


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## greybeard (Aug 25, 2012)

SkyWarrior said:
			
		

> that's*satyrical said:
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That's an ADDITTIONAL 4% on top of the normal winter increase. I really don't think anyone at USDA has a true handle yet on just how bad the corn crop failure is (or is not).
We'll know by mid January tho.


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## SkyWarrior (Aug 26, 2012)

greybeard said:
			
		

> That's an ADDITTIONAL 4% on top of the normal winter increase. I really don't think anyone at USDA has a true handle yet on just how bad the corn crop failure is (or is not).
> We'll know by mid January tho.


True, to some extent.  In Murdochs they had a sign saying the price of corn went up 50% in the last month, hence the feed increase.  Right now, I'm paying $12 a bag for sweet feed that cost me about $8 a few months ago.  :/


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## jd4570 (Aug 26, 2012)

Same thing here, feed has gone up 40% in the last year. This coming spring I believe that I'll be growing my own grain and purchasing my own mini-mill. Oh yeah, and then there's the price of diesel fuel. I purchased mine right before it went up 38%! I'm not sure how much longer we can take this!  I've resorted to using used cooking oil to keep my cost down during the summer. That means I'll be changing my fuel filter more often.


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## redtailgal (Aug 26, 2012)

greybeard said:
			
		

> SkyWarrior said:
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The corn crop failure is pretty bad.  While in Kansas/Oklahoma I didnt see a field of corn that had grown taller than a three strand fence....and it was thin stalked and dry already.  Even here in NC, the corn looks bad.  We had rain, but not at the right time, so the stalks were thin, and the kernels never matured.  Ours just got "spikey", tasseled out and quit producing.

Of all the farmers and ranchers I know, I cannot name a single one who had even a mildly decent corn crop.


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