BOSS has gotten TOO expensive!!!

[Rechellef]

Prices of BOSS are climbing too high for this goat gal. When I bought my first 50lb bag, it was $19.99 and that was the cheapest in the area. Now it has climbed to $24.99 It's bad enough I have to wring my hands over my regular feed bill and now this price jump is going to force me to put BOSS off the menu. How do companies (not that they actually care) expect farmers and homesteaders to survive!!!

There's my vent for the day.

[pookshollow]

It's $30 a bag here. It's not considered livestock feed - it's sold for the wild birds, and as such, is considered a luxury item. I don't pay tax on livestock feed, but I do pay it on BOSS - not that I'm buying it right now!

[chewie]

here too, is around $27, but I do not know for sure, as I won't buy it. I feed noble goat, and that is dang good feed, and am adding pasture that I didn't have before, so that will have to do. I liked to give it to the ones who have trouble holding any weight on, but have switched to bran, which I got 50lb for less than $11. and, I use it too! just like the stuff from a box in the grocery store, but way less $$.

not that those big companies care about us, but, you'd think they'd loose even the bird feeding ppl at those prices, and would rethink it.

[motdaugrnds]

Rechellef, I took a handful of that Black Oil Sunflower Seed that I had been feeding my goats and threw it over a spot in the back of the garden. Some of it is now over a foot tall. I plan to see just how far I can get with this, what needs to be done to protect it and how much produce a handful of seed will provide. You might consider this yourself. We can experiment together.

Chewie, what do you mean, "...I use it too! just like the stuff from a box in the grocery store, but way less $$."? ROFL No I'm not asking you what you use it for? I am asking you "how" you use it. Cook with it? In milk like cereal? Go ahead and laugh; but anything that will save my family money and still help us stay healthy I'm all for!

[ozark_jewels]

I've cut my goats back to half rations on BOSS because of the cost. All are in good condition, so its not hurting them any. My feedstore assures me that prices will go down after this harvest.....we'll see.

[fffarmergirl]

Yeah - what's that all about? We only use it for wild bird feed but still . . . . don't want to pay $30 a bag for it!

[LoneStrChic23]

It went from $16.99 for 40lbs to $24.99 here!

I bought rice bran for fat this time......My Alpine is a heavy milker, is dealing with stressful 100°+ temps, plus is nursing a March kid 24/7. If she doesn't have the extra fat, she drops weigh rapidly.

I lucked out on the Rice Bran.....They had a 50lb bag of the Max-E-Glow rice bran by Manna Pro for $19.99 at TSC.....As usual my TSC didn't have prices listed so I asked a manager to gey me a price....Asked when they would get more in as they only had one bag on the shelf and the bag was ripped....She looked at the bag & asked if I'd want it if they dropped the price.....Ended up getting the bag with a small rip in it for $9.00 Fat is 18% I believe (mch higher than BOSS) and a little goes a long way.

I mix BOSS into my milkstand grain mix, if prices don't go down before I need to mix another batch, I'll have to skip it

[Backfourty,MI.]

I was paying $9.99 a 50 pound bag in the winter & this last time I bought it, it was up to $24.99 for the same bag. I feed it to the wild birds & the goats get it in their feed.

The wild birds will be cut some if it keeps going up here.

[akitt]

Crystal,
How much of the Max-E-Glo rice bran do you feed? Sunflower seeds here are $26.99
for 40 lbs.

[ghmerrill]

$32.95 here locally for 40lbs! I can get some cheaper, but its mostly thin seeds and empty shell that has bug holes. Good quality seed is crazy expensive here, but then, all feed is ridiculously priced here. $24 for 50 lbs of pigeon, $15 for rabbit.... Bleah! Wish we could grow alfalfa ($15 a bale from the farm)

[Rechellef]

Originally Posted by ghmerrill

$32.95 here locally for 40lbs! I can get some cheaper, but its mostly thin seeds and empty shell that has bug holes. Good quality seed is crazy expensive here, but then, all feed is ridiculously priced here. $24 for 50 lbs of pigeon, $15 for rabbit.... Bleah! Wish we could grow alfalfa ($15 a bale from the farm)

WOW WOW WOW - I guess I'll stop complaining!!

[Minelson]

Yep...same here. And I just picked up minerals at the feed store and the guy said EVERYTHING is going up way high. It's $22 for a 40lb bag and the last time I bought it I got it on sale for $14. He said all the pet foods are going to go up crazy high too.

[southerngurl]

I grew some BOSS one year and it was real easy. However, I piled the heads in a wheelbarrow because I thought they were dry and they molded. I'm going to grow some more this year.

[mammabooh]

Is there any difference nutritionally between BOSS and regular old sunflower seeds? I think I might just grow a patch. The hard thing is going to be keeping the birds and mice from helping themselves to it while it's in the garden.

[Creamers]

I like Rice Bran a lot better than BOSS

[SquashNut]

Does any one know how much vit e is in the rice bran?

[LoneStrChic23]

Originally Posted by SquashNut

Does any one know how much vit e is in the rice bran?

My bag says Min 50 IU/Lb of Vitamin E

Crude Protein Min 13%
Crude Fat Min 18%
Free Fatty Acids Max 0.72%
Crude Fiber Max 8.5%
Calcium Min 1.3%
Calcium Max 1.7%
Phosporus Min 1.5%

[LoneStrChic23]

Originally Posted by akitt

Crystal,
How much of the Max-E-Glo rice bran do you feed? Sunflower seeds here are $26.99
for 40 lbs.

I worked Sabrina up gradually to about 1 1/4 cups per day split in 2 feedings. I'm keeping this amount for the next week or two & see if she maintains her weight. She's still averaging about a gallon of milk per day (past week its been 100°+ & she's dropped off to about 7lbs of milk a day), plus nursing her kid 24/7 so without some extra fat she turns skeletal really fast...

Tootsie, my mini Alpine gets a sprinkle on her milkstand grain just because she likes it....The chickens like it & so does my rabbit but I don't give it to them often.

[southerngurl]

Originally Posted by mammabooh

Is there any difference nutritionally between BOSS and regular old sunflower seeds? I think I might just grow a patch. The hard thing is going to be keeping the birds and mice from helping themselves to it while it's in the garden.

You can plant the very seeds you buy for your goats. That's what I did. The striped sunflower seeds have harder shells, where as the black sunflower seeds have softer shells.

[Whisperwindkat]

Back in the spring I took a few pounds out of the bag of BOSS and planted about an 1/8 of an acre. They are now putting out heads that are the size of dinner plates and loaded with seeds. Some of the stalks are over 6 feet tall and not only have one very large head, but several smaller heads. I know I have quite a few that I counted 8 heads on the stalk. When I harvest the heads, I hang them on the porch with the ceiling fans going to dry then store them in a plastic trash can. The stalks are fed right to the goats and horses. The rabbits get some of the leaves. It does save some money and I just break up the large heads and feed the whole thing to the goats and horses. They love it and eat the whole thing up. Just make sure that they whole head is dried well before storing because they are prone to mold. I made the mistake of storing too soon the first year I did this and wound up having to throw the whole lot into the compost pile. I am already starting to harvest batch number one and will follow with a second batch. I don't get enough to get me through to next year yet, but I do get enough to be able to wait and stock up once the price drops, which will be in another month or so when the commercial harvest comes in. This is truly one of the easiest feeds to grow myself especially since I don't need lots of it. Blessings, Kat