alfalfa pellets and free-loaders?

Sondra Peterson · #21 12/25/04, 10:24 PM

Diana that sounds like the best idea and check around all over for the difference in prices on the pellets. At the feed store closest to me the Purnia pellets cost $9+ and a cheeper brand there cost $8+ however down the road the cheaper brand costs me $5+ and less than 15 min away. Only problem is they aren't open all the time like the feed store is. but check around as it maybe worth driving aways to get more at a time for less money. Around me here at 5 different stores there are 5 different prices.

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #22 12/27/04, 03:00 PM

What Cathrine said is correct. Good sun cured alfalfa is of course the perferred way to feed. The problem though is that wonderful New Mexico or Kansas hay costs us 6$ plus per bale if we purchase a semiload full, or 9$ plus in the feed stores, now that's an 80 pound bale. Now that beautiful bale of hay hits our humid barn, whats the nutritional content of that bale of hay when my kids are born in March or for their just fresh moms who are expected to milk for profit and hit the show ring in May? Not much. Plus with at least 1/3 the bale being waste, from just plain pulled out on the ground waste, to leaf shatter or questionable mold, you can see really quickly why alfalfa pellets (ironically here pulled from the same fields in Kansas) are so popular. This idea was actually started by a gal who could no longer lift/load hay bales, I am not at that point, but when you add the cost of hauling to your hay or what about loading...how long will you be able to throw 75 pounds over your head and into a hay loft, or drag one bale at a time up 8 rows of haybales? Yep give me my alfalfa pellets anytime! 50 pounds are $6.95 here, up to right under 10$ if your stuck on the checkerboard label.

When at shows my girls will about break my arm to get to others hay feeders full of hay, as I walk to and from, from their pens to the show arena! So it really isn't that they prefer alfalfa pellets, it's that they are given no choice. There is no other alfalfa offered here, other than pellets. Vicki