It took some time to get everything right; however, we are pleased as can be that we will receive our first shipment of our custom mixed poultry ration next week. We had high hopes of coming out a bit cheaper; however, it was not to be. Giant feed companies can still buy ingredients from around the world, mix in Minneapolis (soybean capital) send it through national distribution channels, place on the shelves at your favorite feed store and still come out cheaper than we can make it locally with as many local ingredients as possible.
So it goes…as we felt the cost:benefit ratio still came out in our favor. For one primary reason – we know what is in it!! Commercial feed ingredients sound identical to the chemical tongue twisters on the back of a pack of Twinkies. In addition, pasture raised poultry doesn’t require every little mineral or vitamin feed to them through the trough. They get lots of goodies from the bugs, dirt and grass.
Our ration is pretty straight forward:
- Corn
- Soybeans
- Oats
- Alfalfa
- Fish Meal
- Oyster shells
- Organic minerals
We try to keep everything ‘chunky’ rather than ground up and then reassembled into pellets or crumble. We cannot wait – this is a critical component of the farm and we were concerned that we wouldn’t be able to get this done locally. I’ll post more as we transition the flock to this new common sense ration.
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