Feed bags....why don't they....

[ozark_jewels]

Recycle them anymore??
I just unloaded our weekly 2,000 pounds of alfalfa pellets from the truck into our semi trailer and got to thinking just *how many* feed bags we use and burn every week. There are the 40 bags for the ton of pellets, then the 220 lbs of bagged feed every day...plus the mineral bags. What a lot of waste!

When I was little and we bought our cow feed in Ohio, it came in burlap bags which were tied shut with string. You saved the bags and took them back to the feedstore for a small refund every week. When I was a bit older and we moved to Indiana the feed came in either plastic or burlap weave sacks and again, we took them back in for a refund and they were used over and over again for the same type of feed. Now, everything comes in paper and they just get burnt. Surely this runs up the feed mills operating costs a bit?? Not to mention just the sheer waste of all that paper?? I mean, we use them for a few things, but there is a limit to how many we alone can recycle.
Does any feedstore out there still use burlap or plastic weave bags?? I sure wish they did here, it would make me feel better about all these bags.

[coso]

We use to resell just plain paper bags too. They would just re-label when they sewed the bag back up. There was no writing or advertising on the bags just plain brown bags.

[topside1]

My feedstore uses plastic weave bags, unfortunately they are only used once, what a waste, plastic no less. As far as paper feed bags go, I use the empties in the garden around cukes, and tomatoes to control the summer weeds. Works great and with old pen bedding weighting down the bags. Everything rots over the winter and all is ready for next spring planting. I remember when feed came only cane in burlap sacks and guess what the bags weighed 100 pounds each back then...John

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by topside1

I remember when feed came only cane in burlap sacks and guess what the bags weighed 100 pounds each back then...John

Yeah, 100 lb bags was what our feed came in in Ohio and Indiana. I was soooooo proud the day I could carry one from the truck to the feedroom by myself......

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by coso

We use to resell just plain paper bags too. They would just re-label when they sewed the bag back up. There was no writing or advertising on the bags just plain brown bags.

I'm glad you said that. I was thinking there had been a feedstore that recycled the paper bags for us, but I thought my memory might have been faulty. The ones I remember did have writing on the outside. They would turn them and sew them back together with the plain brown paper on the outside and the writing on the inside for the second go-round. Wonder why they no longer do that??

[ladycat]

When I was a kid the feed came in cloth bags. So did the flour and a lot of other stuff. Some stuff came in burlap bags.

My mother used the cloth bags for making towels, underwear, play clothes, and a lot of other things.

We reused the burlap bags, too. They have a ton of uses.

Some of the bulk flours and grains we get through our organic co-op is in cloth bags. You better believe we keep them.

I do get a small amount of animal food in the plastic weave bags. I find a few creative uses for them.

Paper bags are a terrible waste. I use some as trash bags, but still end up with a lot of them to throw away.

[pookshollow]

At least paper and burlap will bio-degrade. What are you supposed to do with the plastic weave bags? I asked my local feed mill if they would recycle them - nope.

Where I work, we get shipments from India that are boxes sewn up in burlap. I've saved some of it to use as weed cover in the garden next year, the rest I guess they'll have to burn.

[billygoatridge]

I work at a feed store and believe me we would like to cut cost and reuse sacks. Just another rule the government has their hand in. They started disallowing reuse of the bags a few years ago when they banned ruminant body parts in ruminant feed. Hog and chicken feed was still allowed to use animal by-products. So since the plain bags weren't individually printed what was in them they banned sack reuse to avoid cross contamination of feed and also medications that was in the sack before. That's how it was explained to me anyway.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by billygoatridge

I work at a feed store and believe me we would like to cut cost and reuse sacks. Just another rule the government has their hand in. They started disallowing reuse of the bags a few years ago when they banned ruminant body parts in ruminant feed. Hog and chicken feed was still allowed to use animal by-products. So since the plain bags weren't individually printed what was in them they banned sack reuse to avoid cross contamination of feed and also medications that was in the sack before. That's how it was explained to me anyway.

Hey, thanks for answering!! Good to know the true reason. Hope it didn't sound like I thought the *feedstores* themselves were out to get more money from the farmer. I was just wondering "why". So its just one more thing we can blame on the government....... Sure do miss those old burlap bag days......along with feed scoops with wooden handles, and pitchforks that lasted for years, not just a couple seasons.....

[homebirtha]

Blue Seal is making a change to plastic sacs too. grrrrr... I at least reuse the paper ones as mulch in the garden, but these new plastic ones are just going to be filling the landfill. I hate it.

[Idahoe]

I'm just starting out, and have a little pile of feedbags growing in the woodshed. I've been meaning to move them, or at least straighten them up for a couple of weeks, and finally picked one up today -- it had nine brown pullet eggs in it! So that's where they're laying . . .

I just use them for garbage, but the chickens are more creative. I left it there, anything to get them to lay in one place.

[bill not in oh]

Another reason they don't recycle is pathogenic transfer. Say the bag of chicken feed was fed to chickens on farm A and those chickens had a case of Mareks. The bags sat around in the chicken coop for a month then were recycled at the mill and you got that same bag with chicken feed in it....

Be glad they don't recycle them

Now I can get on the "Plastic Bag Bandwagon" with you - I'd much rather have cloth ones - but I'll bet they are fully twice the price... at least until oil hits $100/barrel.

[farmergirl]

The mill that custom blends and grinds our feeds packages it up in 50 lb bags, the white plastic woven ones. They happily reuse them if you return them labelled with your name. They won't use your returned bags for anyone elses feed, but if you want them to use it to sack your grain, they gleefully comply. The bags cost a whopping $.30 a piece, so I reuse them til they're worn out! After that, I can still use them to bag up cat litter waste and other trash.

[boren]

Our local elevator delivers all of it's small grain orders in poly bags, we return them for reuse. If you get bulk deliveries they'll just bring the truck by and offload it.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by farmergirl

The mill that custom blends and grinds our feeds packages it up in 50 lb bags, the white plastic woven ones. They happily reuse them if you return them labelled with your name. They won't use your returned bags for anyone elses feed, but if you want them to use it to sack your grain, they gleefully comply. The bags cost a whopping $.30 a piece, so I reuse them til they're worn out! After that, I can still use them to bag up cat litter waste and other trash.

That is a good idea!! But probably a little too complicated for some of the giant feed mills around here......good one though.

[pourfolkes]

I have a friend who takes those plastic bags, fills them with sand or dirt, stacks them and makes walls with them for a milking room or shelter for the goats, etc. She even stuccos the outside!!

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by pourfolkes

I have a friend who takes those plastic bags, fills them with sand or dirt, stacks them and makes walls with them for a milking room or shelter for the goats, etc. She even stuccos the outside!!

Cool!! Don't the bags rot over time??

[Simpler1773]

Wow~ I love the wall idea!!

Instead of throwing them you can list them on freecycle, maybe people who don't use feed would have a use for them too!

Ricki

[fishhead]

http://www.freecycle.org tries to match one persons waste with someone who wants it. I haven't visited the site so it may just be MN but if so there may be similar sites in your state.

[ozark_jewels]

We have come up with some creative ways of using some of the paper bags. We use them for hauling hay to individual pens. I use them in the kidding barn as kids arrive. We use some in the garden. I use them when I am butchering if its dry and the ground is dusty, to have a clean place to drop the goat. Use them to cut the meat up on too. Use them for trash bags. For hauling feed in instead of buckets. My favorite use to watch is during summer rainshowers when my little siblings cut a head size hole in the bottom of the bag, two arm-holes in the sides and slip it over their heads to shield them from the rain. Quite a sight!