[enjoytheride]

I can't believe I just paid $12.58 for a 50# sack of alfalfa pellets- the stuff goes up 10% every time I go in-

 

[alpinemom]

I know what you mean, my sweet feed has gone from $8.50/50 lbs last summer to $11.50 this week
and beetpulp from $11.00 to $14.00 we can blame that on the increase in fuel prices. :shrug:

 

[StaceyRosado]

my goat feed is over 13.00 for a 50# bag too! It isnt fair that the horse feed is 7.00! I don't get it! I have the ingredients for BOTH feeds side by side and they are so close!

I should jsut switch to the horse feed

 

[Sweet Gum Minis]

I know, to be honest I couldn't tell you what I pay per sack of feed. I know I don't leave the feed store for under $50 anymore.

 

[Muddy Creek Farm]

Ashley, I don't know either. So your not alone!

 

[enjoytheride]

Normally I've been taking increases in stride but this one caught me by total surprise. I wonder if I will be force to reduce animal costs and how I can do it.
I don't need three horses for sure but I could never part with Tess, who is 17 this year. And the baby is only a year and a half- she's turning out so pretty. She's the only horse I ever bred- how can I part with her. And Holly is the one I really ride (truthfully when I ride at all anymore.)

 

[morganslil1]

Alfalfa pellets are 10.95 and horse feed is 8.35 here.

 

[sweetgoats]

Yep, I totally agree. I do believe we are all getting hit all over the US. I hate to say it but it all snowballs. It will keep going up, because look at the gas prices going up every week, and that is hitting EVERYONE. They have to charge more for the produce because it costs more to get it out of the field, to the store and so on. Things really went up around here when minimum wage went up. Everyone is affected. People are paid more so everyone has to raise prices to off set the expense, so it really hurts everyone, mainly those on a fixed income. Vicious cycle. SO if you think your feed is high now, wait till summer. :?

 

[enjoytheride]

I think that dealers, truckers, etc try to hold the line on prices but once they are forced to increase prices, then everyone just does it more easily.
What really worries me (almost everything as I'm a worrier anyway,) is that I think the public utilities road people have deferred maintance as they can not just raise their prices when gas goes up. Right now, in this area, there is a bridge that has deterioated far enough that it was closed and the people using it now have to make a 100 mile detour. And I don't remember electrictiy going off as often as it has lately which makes me think that they are not maintaning things as well either. I know that I personally have "deferred" things too.
But as I said to the lady in the feed store, goats don't stop eating.

 

[RunAround]

I do have to agree that the horse feed is a little less expensive than goat feed but not by that much around here. Also the horses eat more than goats so I would say I spend a lot more on horse food than I do goat food. I don't feed my horses the expensive stuff. They get a little grain and a ton of hay. Which makes the hay bill go through the roof!

I think just about every feed has gone up in $$$. They chicken feed is more expensive too!

I just get the cheap blue seal goat feed cause thats the one my goats like. I tried the purina one and they hated it! Took forever to get rid of the stuff and that was one of the more expensive ones!

Also I can't get goat minerals anywhere around here! I finally ordered some and it was on back order!!! :angry:

 

[sparks879]

wow thats really expensive. Our prices are a lot better here. before the discount i get at the feed store alfafa pellets are nine fifty for fifty lbs, dry cob is ten fifty oats are eight fifty the most expensive things i get are calf manna which is twenty five dollars for a fifty lb bag, but thats ok becaue they just get a handful at a time and barley which is twelve fifty.
beth

 

[Sara]

I get my Alfalfa pellets for 13.25 for an 80lb bag. A 50lb bag is a dollar less.

 

[liz]

I just paid 10.99+tax for 50# Blue Seal Challenger. I can't seem to find Alfalfa Pellets but then again I get all my critter food at TSC...Dog, cat and goat. Maybe I'll have to check Agway for the pellets.

 

[kelebek]

Oh my you all are LUCKY for what you are paying. I just bought an 80# bag of alfalfa pellets last week at the feed store and it was almost 22.00 for 1 bag!!!!!!!!!!! It averaged out to .27 cents per pund. I am fixing to buy a ton at .10 cents a pound. Cause I can't afford to keep paying this for pellets when hay is over 200 a ton right now also!

 

[morganslil1]

horse feed has went up to 9.41 for 10%

 

[Anna]

I feed my goat's horse feed and it's almost 9 dollars.. our goat feed is cheaper... but then all they sell is the Nutrina Natural Way Stuff and my goats have never liked it besides the fact that it's MEDICATED (hmm, not so natural?)!! Feeding a horse and all the goats keeps my feed bill around 50 bucks. The hay prices are the worst for me becuase really, I would rather not feed much grain at all. I'ld say I spend $200 a month just trying to keep everyone fed and healthy!

 

[peachie600]

According to my very knowledgable hay guy Jim.....What we're seeing in increased feed costs, has to do with the fact that the government subsidized farmers to the tune of $900 an acre (at least in this area) to grow the corn that is just used for bio-fuel last spring. I guess they forgot we and our animals have to eat too

Beth Keene
~My Own Private Idaho Farm~
http://www.myownprivateidahofarm.com

 

[goathappy]

As the daughter of a farmer, I kind of know how the game goes. Corn prices are high right now because of the futures market; the market sees a demand for corn so the prices are going up. Grain prices will be high for about another year or two and then everything will go bust and prices will drop. Ethanol is not the future of fuel and nobody seems to realize that. You can't make ethanol with $4-5 corn, its already inefficient as it is(to run it in vehicles now)

And its not just the cost of corn that is going up, the price of fertilizer and chemicals has sky rocketed to which makes input costs per acre much higher than they were last year.

In the end you have to realize its the market that is controlling the cost of grain, its not the farmer. Farmer's get the short end of the stick most of the time, and this is the first time in a long time that farmers are making a little extra money.

 

[redneck_acres]

Yep, we know how you all are feeling to-we went to the feed store yesterday and our feed increased a couple of bucks a bag-it is crazy. It is sad that we will continue to have to cut down the herd-just to afford feed for them. And if grain is this crazy now- I can only imagine what hay is going to cost this year.