alfalfa pellets

[Jay27]

I went to the feedstore to buy some alfalfa pellets the other day. I figured I'd offer some for extra calories for my does in milk, despite the fact that they have free choice alfalfa hay. My girlfriend, who manages the feed store, insisted that I come up with a different idea - she suggested black oil sunflower seed. This feed store formulates a lot of their own feed, so she spends a considerable amount of time working with pellet extruders and mixing companies. She says that alfalfa pellets are hay that is too crappy to be sold any other way. She says their lovely green color is nothing more than dye. She said she wouldn't feed alfalfa pellets to anything if she could help it. I have no reason to doubt her, since this is what she does for a living and I have never been to a mixing/extruding company. The pellets are nutritionally analyzed, so they can't be too bad, right?

[Minelson]

Since they are already getting it in hay form I would go with the Boss...(black oil sunflower seeds and your girlfriend lol!). All my critters eat them even the dogs and cats will nibble on them because they think they are missing out on something. It's the only feed my horses and goats get besides hay and an occasional treat.

[Jay27]

I'm looking for discussion and comments on alfalfa pellets and whether they are nasty or not, rather than comments on what I should be feeding. I was already giving my goats BOSS... just figured alfalfa pellets would save some of the waste that goes on with feeding alfalfa hay.

[sandc]

I have my milkers broken apart into 2 groups. Those with horns and those without horns.
I had been told something along the same lines so I started an experiment around the end of February. I started giving alfalfa pellets to one group and only hay to the other group.

My regular feed that both groups received -

Sweet feed from TSC 40%
black sunflower seeds 30%
cracked oats 30%

This mix is by volume and not weight. Hay is almost always present as are mineral and protein buckets.

The group that was receiving the pellets had a noticeable improvement in their coats and have a better overall appearance than the other group. This is not to say that the one group looked bad, but with me milking all of them I want to maintain as much meat on their bones as possible. The alfalfa pellet group also has shown an improvement in their milk quantity. I started everyone onto the pellets as of June.

Alfalfa hay is running $13-$15 a bale here right now.
Pellets are running me $10.50 for a 50# bag.

The pellets definitely have less waste so I feel that I get more bang for my buck

[sammyd]

The pellets should have a tag telling you the min and max of the important nutrients. The tag will tell you the story.
I don't believe that commercial pellets would be crappy hay as they have many customers to keep satisfied and crappy pellets would put them out of business.

[Eunice]

I live in an area the grows lots of alfalfa. I have never fed pellets, but I know enough of the one company that pellets and cubes hay and sells it in bags around here, that I would not feed them to my goats except as a last resort. I also expect that there are other companies with a higher level of integrity.

[wintrrwolf]

hmm I am going to admit that while I worked at a couple vet clinics, we were "suppose" to push that clinic's choice of pet foods. I have worked in the pet industry for a very long time and am still amazed at how often personal preference is given as "scientific" fact.
I think I am allot like sandc and have conducted control experiments like that. I prefer knowing for a fact from personal experience then relying on just one person's say so... and of course you can always read the label I use alfalfa pellets and am not ashamed to admit it.

[suzyhomemaker09]

I'd hazard to guess that they are going to be different in so many locations.
The only bad review on the brand I get locally is that instead of the advertised 17% protein it has actually 16%...
If it had added coloring it would technically have to be listed in it's ingredient label.

[ozark_jewels]

I have fed alfalfa pellets as a large part of my goats diet for years now. I have found that some companies sell crappy ones and some sell ones that are green like dark alfalfa, but not too green, smell great and my does love them. The ingredient is *just* alfalfa, nothing else.
Now the ones I use are pelleted by a local mill, and I tend to like how they do things anyway.
I bought a different brand a few years back and they were bright green, like dye, and yet the does wouldn't eat them.......so I wouldn't say that it is impossible.
But if you buy ones that are just alfalfa(17% protien), and they smell like good alfalfa hay, aren't dusty, etc, I think they are great.
*If* I can find good alfalfa for my girls, I'd rather feed hay. But since I can't most of the time, I buy the pellets and am very happy with them.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I feed mine alfalfa pellets primarily, with just a touch of oats and BOSS mixed in. I also put out grass hay and two flakes of alfalfa hay per day. They eat both the pellets and the alfalfa hay. They look great.

I did have to try a couple of brands to get a good alfalfa pellet that they like and doesn't have too much dust.

[Oat Bucket Farm]

Feed pellets free choice rather than alfalfa hay. Its easier for me to store, easier to feed and little to no waste. We feed a grain mix of whole oats,whole milo and BOSS and free choice grass hay and loose goat minerals.

[steff bugielski]

If your pellets come from Tractor Supply that might be true.
The tag says forage products and the protein is 14%.

[motdaugrnds]

I have been purchasing Alfalfa Pellets from Tractor Supply for years now. I have noticed sometimes my does don't eat it all; but their kids finish it up.

Does anyone know for sure what brand name sells the 17% quality pellets? (We do have a Leggett as well as a Southern States in our area. I just have not been trading with them as they are not as near to other shops I visit when in town; however, will certainly be willing to travel a little farther for quality pellets.)

[Lada]

The pellets we get are just alfalfa, 17% protein, made by "Merry Mixer" or something like that. They are not nasty, or the goats would not eat them. They are made of just alfalfa, so of course they are green. They smell sweet and do not have a lot of dust, until I get to the bottom of the bag. I just throw that little bit out onto the roses.

There are myriad reasons why people feed pellets and if they were truly just consolidated "crappy hay", then livestock wouldn't eat them and people wouldn't buy them. They are more easily shipped than huge bales of hay, keep longer, and result in less waste.

I don't know about where you are, but here, BOSS costs $22/50 lb. and alfalfa pellets are around $11/50 lbs. So, um, which product would you expect a person who manages a feed store to recommend? Duh.

[Minelson]

Originally Posted by Lada

T
I don't know about where you are, but here, BOSS costs $22/50 lb. and alfalfa pellets are around $11/50 lbs. So, um, which product would you expect a person who manages a feed store to recommend? Duh.

I get 40lb bags of BOSS here for $11.99. And they are a real nice quality. Alfalfa I can get really good small sqs for $4.00/bale that weigh 60-80lbs.

[Alice In TX/MO]

All the prices are location dependent.

I can get alfalfa here in Southern Missouri for $4.00.

In South Texas, I was paying $17.95 until I found ONE local grower, and I have reserved the winter hay supply for $10.00 a bale.

[southerngurl]

I can't hardly store hay, especially alfalfa hay. It's so humid and we don't have a real hay storage barn, the building we have is really too closed up for hay. My animals do real well on the alfalfa pellets. They are 17% so they can't be made from too crappy hay. Maybe someday I'll get a good hay barn and can go back to alfalfa hay. But the pellets are very convenient.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by Lada

I don't know about where you are, but here, BOSS costs $22/50 lb. and alfalfa pellets are around $11/50 lbs. So, um, which product would you expect a person who manages a feed store to recommend? Duh.

And regardless of price, alfalfa pellets and BOSSare not comparable products and should not be substituted for each other.

Here in southern MO, alfalfa pellets are $7.00 a bag and BOSS is $14.00 a bag.

[Jay27]

Originally Posted by Lada

The pellets we get are just alfalfa, 17% protein, made by "Merry Mixer" or something like that. They are not nasty, or the goats would not eat them. They are made of just alfalfa, so of course they are green. They smell sweet and do not have a lot of dust, until I get to the bottom of the bag. I just throw that little bit out onto the roses.

There are myriad reasons why people feed pellets and if they were truly just consolidated "crappy hay", then livestock wouldn't eat them and people wouldn't buy them. They are more easily shipped than huge bales of hay, keep longer, and result in less waste.

I don't know about where you are, but here, BOSS costs $22/50 lb. and alfalfa pellets are around $11/50 lbs. So, um, which product would you expect a person who manages a feed store to recommend? Duh.

We are talking about a very good friend here, so she wouldn't tell me one thing just so I buy the more expensive product. I have no doubt that she truly has my goats' best interest in mind. This is all stuff that she has personally saw first hand at several manufacturers. According to her, dyes and stabilizer ingredients do not need to be listed on the tag or can be listed using non-descript language... similar to what they do on nutrition label on food for human consumption ("natural flavoring" = MSG). I guess the protein additives are delicious enough (to critters) that if you put enough of it on rocks, they'd eat the rocks. None of this means that alfalfa pellets are 'bad', but maybe just not as good as the hay that was baled down the road. At $3.50 a bale, I think I'll just stick to regular alfalfa hay.

[ozark_jewels]

And again, there are good alfalfa pellets and crappy alfalfa pellets. I spent lots of time finding the good ones.