Countryside feed

sawfish99

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I have been looking at the Countryside feeds. We have goats, rabbits, chickens, horses, and are considering getting a couple of pigs. I have friends that raised 3 pigs on the Coutryside swine feed and the local butcher was amazed at their quality and size vs age. In particular, we are interested because of the soy free aspect.

However, switching will result in 2.5-3 times the cost due to shipping. I may be able to have our local feed store take the shipments to ease the logistics of unloading the semi, but still, that is a lot of cost.

Question - is anyone here using the Countryside products? If so, for which species and did you see any positive gains (more milk from goats, less feed consumed for rabbits, etc)?
 

Bossroo

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Econ 101 ... prohibative cost for any perceived benefit.
 

sawfish99

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There is a perceived benefit. No soy in the diet of the animals we are using for meat and for milk. Therefore, no soy (directly or indirectly) in the diet of our family.
 

woodsie

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For that cost I would go to a mix your own ration ( corn, oats, barley, + BOSS) and high quality hay/pasture and avoid commerical feed mix altogether. I totally get trying to avoid soy but I think there are much cheaper options, I can't imagine that you would ever see that much benefit to justify the cost.

For my next batch of pigs I will be switching to soaked barley in whey/milk and skipping the hog grower all together.
 

sawfish99

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The problem is, I live in CT. There is only 1 bulk feed dealer and they are an hour away and they don't offer custom mixes like that.
 

woodsie

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Can you not get a bag of straight grains and mix yourself...layered in garbage can? I see lots of people get one bag of corn, one bag of oats, one bag of barley and mix yourself...we are in an area with limited selection too and that might be an option to get your own customized blend...a little more work though.
 

sawfish99

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We are currently using about 20lbs of goat feed a day. Mixing ourselves adds too much time and work to be worth it. It is better for us to find a bagged option that meets our needs.
 

sawfish99

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While I appreciate the suggestions, I am specifically looking for feedback about Countryside products as we consider their product line.
 

faithfarmgoats

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We have been using Countryside for our goats and chickens for about a year now. I can tell a huge difference in the health and production in both. Our goats have healthier, faster growing kids, our eggs are superior in flavor and our production is good even in the winter months. There is also a side benefit of using about 30% less feed and the feed sprouts so it is never wasted. The grain that falls on the ground in front of our milk stands, sprouts and the chickens come around and have it for a nice healthy snack. For us the benefits of using soy free gmo free feed that does not support big ag and the destruction of the nations food supply far outweighs any other benefit but it is nice that their are other benefits. We also get our kelp, azomite, fertrell minerals and DE from Countryside plus our organic barley for fodder sprouting. We are also getting their alfalfa pellets and are looking into Lespedeza Pellets as well.

One other benefit is the superior growth rate of our chicks as well. The chicks we have grown out on Countryside have grown nearly twice as fast and have had no health issues.
 

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