Don't wait! Do this NOW & save THOUSANDS $$$ later!

If you have livestock or animals, now is the time to be stocking up on extra feed if at all possible. Unfortunately, feed costs are expected to go up exponentially this summer, so having additional feed on hand will only save you money later on.

You may hear me say I buy my feed in "super sacks", this is something offered by my local granary, but it's essentially a 500 or 600-pound sack of feed.

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Links Mentioned:

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My Books:

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Howdy! I'm so glad you're here. I'm Melissa from Pioneering Today and a 5th generation homesteader where I'm doing my best to hold onto the old traditions in a modern world and share them with others.

Click any of the below links for FREE resources and training to help you on your homestead!

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#feedcosts #animalfeed #bulkfeed

[termlessblonde]

An intermediate step between buying a bag at a time and the large totes is to ask your local feed store if there’s any discount for purchasing a certain amount in 50lb bags. We buy a pallet (40 bags) at a time and our feed store will discount it by$1.25/bag. This works really well for us since we don’t have a tractor to move the large totes of feed, but we can handle the 50lb bags.

[socloseagain]

Everything will go UP, the next "thing" after Covid is global hunger, so I'd advise everybody who can, invest into homesteading as much as possible! :)

[yayajo]

I absolutely agree that using a feed labeled for another species is a good way to reduce costs, it should be done cautiously, and only after you have thoroughly researched what can and cannot be fed to your animals, and researched the feed you are considering as an alternative. While the feed may meet the base nutrient requirements it could have problem ingredients. For example pig feeds often contain animal byproducts and they are not allowed to be fed to ruminants like cattle because it could increase possibility of them developing prion diseases like mad cow. Many feeds designed for cattle shouldn’t be Fed to horses because they contain urea which can kill horses, and feeds not designed specifically for sheep may have levels of copper that are too high and could potentially lead to copper toxicity that would kill sheep since they don’t process copper like other ruminants. I do love the Chanel and I don’t mean to be a downer. I just figure in some things more information is better than less.

[Aprons.Overalls]

The most important step with preparedness is to do it BEFORE there is a problem so Mellissa is absolutely right, now is a great time to get ahead of this. We try to only buy a surplus of items that we would use anyway and that have a long shelf life - like food and animal feed. It's an initial investment but in the long run - you save money. Even if you can't afford to buy a full year or season's worth of surplus, adding a little here and there goes a long way over a short period of time. Stay calm and be the positive voice for your friends, family and neighbors! 😃

[papasfunnyfarm]

There are many good books on how to feed ALL cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, etc on grass only. I did it for years with my beef herd. Steers just took a little longer to fatten to weight, but, ohhhh, what good beef! Better NET profit, too.
Grassman Stock Farmer, and another book that I can’t remember title of…yeah, my brain is old…
You’re doing great!

[suzannefronzaglio]

Look up all the info on the Siberian pea bush (Caranga arborescens) which people turned to growing during the Great Depression, for fodder for their livestock and chickens (chickens especially love it). It's also been used during times of famine to prevent starvation in humans (people can eat it too). Immigrants from Eurasia brought it with them as they traveled west to the new world. It is high in protein (36%), can be used to make oil, is very Hardy and long lived. In Canada, it was planted en masse in prairie areas to prevent soil erosion (a good windbreak too). Some people plant it along side of their chicken enclosure/coop, so the pods will drop into the coop for the birds to eat. The chickens will even jump up to get the pods off the branches, they love it that much. I read information online, that said in World War 1 (or 2?), Russian peasants used it for bedding in the winter months, for a source of food in the winter when feed was scarce or nonexistent.

[rachelholdt]

I feed my chickens sprouted weed seed, which I get cheap in ton totes from someone who got it from cleaning their organic soybeans. It does have a few soybeans in it, but it's mostly the weed seed. I supplement with layer feed, but I end up only going through a bag of layer feed in a month for 35 chickens.

[rgrg]

You are our superwoman motivation. Power woman with super intelligence.
Here in the countryside, in Central Europe, such women are seen as some kind of empress.
Your machines, your knowledge, your modesty, everything is very much in one.
I hope that your family and friends can help, and you can share the knowledge and food there on site.
There is no community or money here, but there is still hope, because there is a lot of knowledge and the land is fertile.

[danielleterry]

I have gotten my feed containers and will be hitting the co-op in next town to buy my years worth of feed, I am on a 1/2 acre so only do hen layers and meat chickens in closed in leanto and hen coop and run rest of my back yard and front yard is my garden, I can’t be a trucker any longer due to unrepairable eyesight loss so I must grow, raise, fish for my food been out of work since December and fighting for disability my only saving grace is home stocked to rafters and I got everything paid off since I had 2 years notice on eyes and seeing how our country is getting crazier as the days go by I worked 90 days out 5 days in to get my home in order. Thank you for giving people such valuable information

[robert]

I'm truck driver and last summer I spent 2 months hauling hay from Washington state to California. after dropping my load in California I'd drive back to Washington state empty just to get another load of hay ... with diesel prices now I don't see this happening again this summer so people around California better be prepared

[danielleterry]

Took this advice and stocked up on my layer, meat bird feed and dog food, I also started fermenting and very glad I did.

[pumpkinpatchhomestead]

I think it's key to not buy out of fear and yet prepare for what is expected to come. As gas prices go up and we continue to feel the effects of a world dependent market, buying local and stocking up on what you would normally buy are great words of advice. Thanks for sharing yet another great video!

[amandabrooke]

I love your videos! I refer to you as my homesteading aunt, just so you know ☺️ thanks for letting us into all the parts of your homestead, and all the wisdom you share :)

[Terri_Stauffer]

I am starting to see some companies phase out certain dog and cat food, especially cans so stock up what you can safely that will not go rancid. I could never keep my cat food in metal garage can outdoors, the critters will open and feast. Found that out after doing it with fish food. They even opened the can with charcoal.

[newtboot]

Two months before Covid even hit America and was still in China I had bought in preparation extra rice and extra peanut butter.
In a pinch and just as an experiment The extra peanut butter and rice that I had I started to mix together and feed to the pigs on cold mornings. So they got A warm nice meal.
After that they didn’t wanna go back to the grain bag feed lol
Animals are very adaptable and I did not even think about buying pig feed in replacement for cattle feed.
We just purchased a milking girl she is wonderful in the last time I went to the store to get her feed there was only three bags left. So thank you very much for a great idea. God bless you and your family.

[kclewis]

That’s what I’m trying to do. Grow/raise/catch/catch 90-95% of my food and foods food

[dwslters]

Also so others know pumpkins can be feed to cows and pigs, neck pains I think use to b called cow pumpkins, (that's doesn't quite sound right) but relatives feed them to cows

[morganminer]

I also just ordered a dozen trees to use as fodder trees. I don't have large hay requirements, which means in a bad hay year, I struggle to get hay versus larger customers. I figured tree fodder is a good back up plan for me. Plus, we've been wanting to add a row of privacy trees, so it's win-win.

[victorialg]

Melissa, what did small homesteads do before feed producers were a thing? We need to go back to that. But I don't know how it was done.

[melallred]

I am looking at getting a jersey cow. I know I’ll need to feed her in winter. I’ve got enough grass to rotate her on during the non winter months. I planned to grow my own hay.