Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[Latestarter]

Just found the martindale Feed Mill store. Think I'll head there tomorrow and check them out. Thanks! DV said the Co-op is actually in Sulpher Springs as well. Not sure where, but if so, I'll check them out at the same time. Also located the Northeast Farmers Co-op and will go there as well.

 

[Bruce]

I know she's been awfully busy with the making of products for sale and didn't want to interfere or cause her to fall behind.

You could do some chores that need to be done but if she does them it takes away from product making

Figured they had "mill" in their name, but no, they don't mill feed...

Kinda like "Mel's Tea Room" in Sackville where DD1 will be going to school. The only tea they have is "regular" and "decaf". It is a diner. Thought maybe it USED to be a tea room and whoever bought it last just didn't change the name but no, I gather it has always been a diner. So WHY name it "Tea Room"??? DD was pretty excited when she saw the store name, quite deflated when she looked at the menu online.

 

[greybeard]

There's lots of feed mills in Texas.
Why name Dollar General... Dollar General when there is very little including a pack of gum that is less than $1?
Why name a five and dime, a five and dime when everything in it is way over that?



Answer:
It gets curious people....just one of several target demographics, to walk into the business.

She should have gone to TAMU so she could visit this place tho she would likely not care much for the rough and tumble rancher customers that get their coffee and kolaches there every morning:
http://www.madhatterstearoom.com/mad-hatters-tea-room-and-boutique-about-us.html
http://www.madhatterstearoom.com/mad-hatters-tea-room-and-boutique-menus.html

I've been there....more than once, for a certain kind of pastry......they make really good kolaches, tho I doubt they give one rats butt in hades whether they're using non-gmo, gluten free, all natural, 100% organic free range fruit and other products and by-products or not.

 

[Latestarter]

So I looked over the sheep/goat pellet offerings by Martidale Feed Mill (Thanks Bay!). Seems most of the feeds are medicated (for coccidiosis). I don't want a medicated feed. The only feed they offer that meets what I'm looking for is a 17% pellet. It does have AC already added, non-medicated, 2:1 Cah (<--- ETA: WTH is that? CA : PH) ratio, copper and selenium (as well as zinc, cobalt, and manganese) added. Though they don't stock it, they can have it in on the next truck (Thursday) for the huge price of $9.65/50# bag. That works out to $193/1000 pounds. I think I'll see if I can talk them down to $9.00/bag with a 1000# order.

Told the lady on the phone I'd likely stop by for a visit as I want to check out the NE TX Co-op as well while over there. There is also an Atwoods as well as several other feed stores so I can check them out as well.

 

[Latestarter]

Just got back from my road trip. Ordered 10 bags of the above feed. Should arrive there Thursday. Round trip cost me ~ $20 in gas, saved >$50 in feed cost. They'll call when it arrives and I'll go pick it up. If this feed works out as well as I hope it will, next order will be for 15-20 bags. Asked about a bulk discount and they said it was 20 cents/bag on 1 ton orders, or about an $8.00 savings overall. Not applicable to me. No matter, I don't mind driving and would have put those miles on the truck regardless just running around town here. $9.65 for a better quality, fresh feed, is much better than $14.99 for feed packaged 2 months ago (or more). Sorry TSC... you lost me as a feed customer.

So I also went over to the NE TX Co-op to see what they had. They didn't have a prepackaged feed that compares with what I bought. But they do have a feed mill so I walked across the street and talked to a sales person and their nutritionist about what they could do to help me get the feed I'm looking for. Short answer is they could help me... If I was willing to buy a min of 6000 pounds The sales guy then said he could possibly get it down to ~1500 pounds, but the price would be ridiculous and It prob wouldn't work for me from that approach. Their mill plant isn't set up to make such small amounts or to package that small. He said they'd have to make the feed and load it into a truck to drive it around to a different part of the plant to be individually bagged in 50# bags. I told them I was sorry I wasn't a large consumer...

The nutritionist said that I shouldn't be feeding feed with AC to lactating goats... I questioned him as to why as I was under the impression that it had no negative effect on them and that I had experienced no negative effects. He said it can cause them to have milk fever among other issues... I haven't experienced that, but will watch out for it next kidding cycle. Any of you other goat experts out there heard one way or the other?

While there I also took a look around the store at supplies. I priced out a bottle of cydectin/moxidectin sheep drench that I paid $95 for at TSC and they had it for $75. Also looked at some other things and they were substantially less expensive. I'm thinkin' TSC has lost more than just a feed customer. The cost for Pyrethrum was substantially less as well. Don't remember the exact numbers.

 

[Mike CHS]

We buy our meds at our Marshal County COOP but what's funny is the COOP in the next county over charges more than TSC

 

[Latestarter]

I wish there was a local Co-op here, but I guess driving 50 miles one way isn't all that bad... It's mostly highway.

 

[greybeard]

If this feed works out as well as I hope it will, next order will be for 15-20 bags

How long will that 750-1000 lbs last you?

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Just stock up while you are there instead of having to make a run for just one thing. Lots of that is stuff you keep on hand anyway. I have an app called EverNote and it keeps everything up to date for me. I have files for farm, goats, cows, and even a grocery list. I can delete it as I buy it. I also have a health one where each of family member has a list of up to date meds, allergies, surgeries, hospitalizations, and other pertinent info. It’s nice to make it harder to forget my list at home and it’s easy to add to. Mine is also synced with DH. The app is free. We pay less than $10/yr to be able to share ours so he can see everything I enter and vice versa. Works great for tracking heats, calving/kidding dates, when roosters were moved, etc.

 

[Latestarter]

Right now I go through ~15 bags a month. A bag lasts ~2-2.5 days