BOSS question...

[Roll farms]

We get volunteer BOSS plants all over, since I feed it to the birds (chickens, that is...local wildlife is on their own) and goats... and my daughter never met a feed bucket she couldn't spill some out of between Point A and Point B.

2 years ago it went up to 20$ per 50# at TSC and I had to wean them off of it....And I did notice Hillary went from "Copper Penny" to "dull brown" during that time.

I get it for $11-something w/ my discount and a bag lasts me about 3 weeks.

All our adult goats are fed the same ration, just in differing amounts depending on season / condition...it's 40% sweet mix, 30% corn, 20% ADM 36% dairy goat concentrate, and 10% BOSS....with a 1 gallon scoop of goat mineral, a scoop of kelp, and a scoop of probiotic powder on top.

(Those last 3 are also fed free choice.)

The bucks get a pinch of AC daily.

CM, not ALL TSC's are bad....just the ones where I don't work...

 

[cmjust0]

All our adult goats are fed the same ration, just in differing amounts depending on season / condition...it's 40% sweet mix, 30% corn, 20% ADM 36% dairy goat concentrate, and 10% BOSS....with a 1 gallon scoop of goat mineral, a scoop of kelp, and a scoop of probiotic powder on top.

Um..

You just confused the heck out of me.. I was like, "Wait a minute...40+30+20+36+10 = 136%!!"

Now I see...20% of the total ration is "ADM 36% dairy goat concentrate." Duh, right?!?

CM, not ALL TSC's are bad....just the ones where I don't work...

For a while, I thought we were lucky to have a "goat lady" as a manager at our TSC.. She'd stock special stuff from time to time, like the gray nipples from caprine supply, X30 disbudding irons, hoof rasps, etc. 'Goat stuff' with hand-written SKU tags on it; not something you'd find at other TSCs, or probably any other feed/supply store in the area.

Then one day she told me alfalfa pellets caused urinary calculi because they had so much calcium in them, and pointed me to Purina noble goat feed, saying I could feed as much of it to a buckling as I wanted with no worries because it was formulated to PREVENT urinary calculi.

I explained my reasoning for wanting alfalfa pellets to avoid calculi...the whole Ca thing, and how calcium helps the body take up phosphorus, MAP stones, why Purina formulated their feed why they did, why I thought alfalfa pellets would be better since they're like *6:1* Ca versus the 2:1 balance in Purina, etc....and she pretty much immediately noted that she'd recently sold out of goats because she basically couldn't take it anymore. She'd lost a show doe to what she could only figure was milk fever a few weeks after kidding, and that was apparently the last straw for her. Someone came along shortly thereafter and offered her a lump sum for the whole herd and she jumped all over the opportunity to be OUT of goats altogether.

Sooooooo... Hey, now that I think of it, there's an opening for a "goat lady" at my TSC. Wanna transfer? Central Kentucky is awfully nice. You'll like it here, I promise.

 

[Roll farms]

Dude....I'm only there 2 days a week....that wouldn't pay for the move.

 

[cmjust0]

Two days?!?

You're doing the goatkeepers in your area a great disservice, ya know.. You should be there open->close, 7 days a week, if only for consultation.

 

[dianneS]

Also, I noticed that it was pretty expensive when I last checked...like $15+ for a 25lb bag at Wal-Mart. Pound for pound, that's more than four times as much as I pay for 16% medicated goat grain.. Yikes..

Then I thought, hey, maybe it's a feedmill item? So I checked with mine today and, sure enough, they have it. It's much cheaper there, too -- $14.50 for a 50lb bag. Less than half the cost of Wal Mart.

I've recently noticed that the price of BOSS has dropped for some reason. I wonder what affects the market price of sunflower seeds? Maybe there is a birdseed and/or a livestock grade? It does seem that feed mills are cheaper. Even less than TSC.

 

[Roll farms]

Shhh...I only work there for the discount / chicken and goat contacts.

Don't tell my boss.

As far as consultation, don't you worry, they have no qualms about handing out my card to ANYONE w/ a critter question and telling them to 'Call Kim, she'd know'...or they'll call and ask me, "What did you say people can give barn cats w/ runny eyes, again???"

It's hard being the only person there who knows animals besides horses.

And who do you think gets stuck w/ chick detail? As if, by running a small scale hatchery out of my house, I don't clean up after enough chickens???

 

[ksalvagno]

I find it interesting that any TSC around us, the only people that seem knowledgeable are the women. There are one or two particular women that you want to talk to there, otherwise, forget it.

 

[dianneS]

I find it interesting that any TSC around us, the only people that seem knowledgeable are the women. There are one or two particular women that you want to talk to there, otherwise, forget it.

Same here! The woman know all about the animal stuff, the men are better for the fencing and building supplies.

 

[lupinfarm]

lmfao I don't think either gender is good for anything at our TSC.

They're all townies and know absolutely nothing about animals. Or building/construction LOL

 

[the simple life]

I don't have any TSC around here but we have a couple of small feed stores owned by local people.
The problem I have is they each have their own one way of doing things and that is all they recommend no matter how outdated it is.
One store is run by all women and I have a terrible time with them telling me what we need instead of just letting me get what I want.
I don't mean to sound ungrateful but when my husband makes a feed run for me he always comes back with the wrong thing because when he goes in and asks for a particular thing they always ask him what its for and then tell him its the wrong thing and send him home with what they consider what I should be feeding my animals.
It drives me absolutely insane.
I explained that now we have to waste gas and drive back and return it and not to second guess me since I have spent a long time researching every animal and their needs before we bring one home.

It took him a long time to understand that I know more than most of these people do about what I should be feeding my animals.

Why do the clerks always have to ask what its for when we order our stuff at the register.

I swear it would be so much easier if you could just pick up the bags you need and bring them to the register but they don't have the room for that so you have to tell them what you want at the register and pay for it then they bring it out front.

When I go in and they ask I tell them its what I came for and am not interested in something else.
I swear that they try to get rid of their overstock, soon to expire feed this way, they push it on you.
One woman at the feed store who doesn't own any goats always tries to tell me what the other woman that owns goats in our area buys for hers, like thats all you should buy.
The thing is if what I am buying is not what they think I should feed my animals why do they stock it?

The other feed store is owned and operated solely by this older gentleman who gets very annoyed if you don't go along with what he tells you.
If you ask him to special order an item he will say what do you want that for and then tell me I don't need that.
I would love to have someone knowledgeable working at the feedstores around here.