Questions about Animal Feed?

Presently, I am feeding 3 horses, 26 sheep, 12 goats, 28 chickens, 13 cats, 3 dogs, & me.My food bill is on the LARGER side with me getting the least amount. Now work with me on this.

CHICKENS:

My chickens are being fed Purina Layena Pellets @ $12. 40ish a bag

What are you feeding? Is this comparable to what I am feeding?

MINIATURE HORSES (2 of them)

When I first got the girls I was feeding them the Miniature Platform food but when it got up to $17.99 a bag I decided that it was getting expensive so I am now feeding a Purina feed, 12% sweet at $10 a bag.

SHEEP & GOATS

Now my big dilemma is with feeding the sheep and goats as I run them both together and one knows you can not feed sheep straight goat feed unless you want to kill them. So everyone has been getting sheep feed. At the feed store where I purchase most of my feed, a 50# bag of sheep feed is $12.99. I go through about 3-4 bags a week.

A problem arose when I move my POA in with the 2 rams (which is working out fine). I knew I could not keep the rams from eating the horse grain and vice verse so I thought about an All-Stock feed. A 50# bag of All-Stock is $8.25.....much cheaper than the sheep feed.

The All-Stock is a 12% sweet though the protein is only 12% verse 15.50% on the sheep. Calicum & fat is lower on the All-Stock but not by a lot. Johnny (POA) and the 2 rams are fine with it.

BIG QUESTION: Is it good enough to feed all the sheep & goats? Its like $4.oo cheaper a bag which will save me a lot in the long run.

I bought a bag of corn to mix in with the All-Stock which I have been feeding everyone for the past week and they are all eating it very well.

So, in your opinion, would this be fine to feed everyone?

Could/should I add oats to it?

Should I continue to add the corn or not?

I can get corn @ $5.00 for 50# down at an Amish feed store.

I know oats are more expensive but is it more nutritious?

I can also get an #80 bag of horse feed at the Amish feeds store for $14.99 and there are a lot of oats in that (this would obviously just be for the mini's)

I am curious and looking for some insight on what everyone feeds there animals. Hay is running $5.00 a bale right now plus grain costs......gets expensive. I have heard some people just feeding corn to sheep???? I know that with "brand names" you are paying for the label though I have been fine with the chicken feed and the dogs get ProPlan lamb & rice formula. I will not discuss the cats because I swear they cost me the most (okay they do get Indoor dry formula & Nutro's senior formula dry plus the cans. I worked to long at a vet. hospital to see neutered male cats with UTI's due to cheap dry food).

So, if you have time to comment, I would love and appreciate your "feedback" on what everyone feeds out to their sheep, goats, and horses. Perhaps I missing something or can do better. I wonder if they would eat Kraft Mac n' Cheese?

Me & Miss Gracie

Today my mom and dad brought my niece and nephew over to enjoy some outside time with the animals. My dad, Gracie, and I went for a walk and Bobby played with the ram lambs.

Gracie's role was to make the biggest snowball she could on our walk.........

she did a pretty good job!!
She also loves Speedy, "her" miniature horse and likes to give Speedy kisses.

Gracie and I also made snow angels in the snow. Now just for your information I look bigger than her because she is only 2 weeks shy of bigging four years old!!!

See, I told you my sexy pink coveralls makes me look like an Umpa Lumpa.LOL. Notice my cat Moo thinking there is something seriously wrong with Gracie and I!! I think my little niece is going to turn into a farmgirl yet:)

Well, tomorrow is my last day of winterbreak and back to school on Monday.......unless there is a snow day by some small miracle:)

Thinking of 2009

Words and Pictures of Inspiration for 2009 Keeping my little dream business alive and well has been hard beyond belief.....For people who spend their days trying to create a farm or a business that is beautiful and truthful, the task is daunting, but collectively, it can be done

MaryJane Butters

Really fresh farm eggs make a kitchen complete especially when gathered in an apron

MaryJane Butters
One of the things that being a farmgirl taught me was how to find fun in every job.
Edith Largent

For all of us who have or dream of having a small or even large farm in the country, may 2009 be the year when dreams come true......and perhaps even turn a little profit on that farm in the country.

(pictures are courtsey of Lang calendars and words of inspiration taken from MaryJane's Farmgirl Journal/Magazine)

New Year's Eve Day at Home

So yesterday was mud day and last night the Lake Erie snow machine kicked in. Nothing like hearing the wind rattling the windows at 2 a.m. The wind coming out of the north creates the most havoc in my yard because of all the drifting that occurs esp. with my driveway, though today there were what I call "baby drifts". Hopefully, I will not have to post "monster drifts".

A few drifts and blowing snow in the "winter" garden. Today I got 3 gardening catalogs in the mail so there is hope:)

I thought this was a nice photo of the snow in the backyard by my big barn. I think I am going to do some type of flowers in the old wheelbarrow in the spring.

The chickens were very excited to peak the snow off my boots this morning.....notice those cool pink coveralls that I am sporting:) I love my coveralls and I think they love me......though they make me look like an Umpa Lumpa.

I tried to get the chickens to come out and play but no go.....I think they were afraid of the snowdrift.

This is my very favorite kat. ewe "Abby". She loves me and always is first to greet me:)

Since I am spending New Year's Eve at home, I decide to make a few of my favorite things to eat. I made breaded city-chicken, baked potatoes, & broccoli from the garden. Then I needed a snack. So I made chocolate chip bread. This is a new recipe I found so hopefully its good:)

So I will ring in the New Year at home w/ my chocolate chip bread and a glass of milk!!

May all of you have a safe and wonderful New Year' s Eve!!!!!

My Muddy Dog

"Squirt, could you please explain why you are so muddy?" I asked

"Well, your not going to believe it, but I was being chased by this HUGE rabbit!" Squirt exclaimed.

"Wow, that must have been one HUGE rabbit! Where did he chase you to?"

"He chased me into this really big, muddy hole! And I almost got stuck in it!"

"So, that explains why your nose is so muddy, you went in nose first."

"Yep, sure did," Squirt confirmed, "but I think the rabbit bit me on the butt!"

"Now how is it that your so muddy, but your brother ReRun has no mud on him?" I asked

"Well, you know he is a little overweight so the rabbits don't bother with him and he can't run as fast as I can."

"I see. But you do know what this means, don't you?"

"Yes, you have to get a bath before you are allowed to get on the furniture let alone sleep on the bed tonight!!"

Looking all sad, Squirt says, "But I hate the blue pool, it scares me!"

"Sucks to be you. You play, you pay."

After a lot of wimpering and patheticness, Squirt was all cleaned up and allowed on the furniture.

Poor Squirt......he was so exhausted after being chased by the HUGE rabbit and the bath that he needed a nappy. What would I do without my children? I sure do love having the time to be home with them!!
Let's see, there is only 115 school days left 'till summer break minus one week for spring break, MLK Day, President's Day, and maybe a few snow days thrown in for good measure.......but who is counting?

Looking for Sun in All the Right Places

Something unusal happened here today in Northeast Ohio......the sun has been in the blue sky all day!! It was so nice to see the sun and the animals were loving it too! I got all my outside Christmas decorations down and put away. While I was doing this I noticed that my miniature horse Speedy was laying flat out under the overhang by the big barn. Of course, a horse laying flat out can only mean one thing........

Yep, Speedy was taking a sunbath!!! Perhaps, she was also trying to dry out all the mud on her belly.....she is quite the character!!

This my J-CREW!!! Enjoying the sun from left to right is my black Shetland Jasper; next to him is Josiah, the flashy gulmoget, and then my moorit yuglet Jammer!!

I have never been a huge fan of all black sheep but they are growing on me. Jasper is 9 months old, fully polled, nice fleece, and I am really liking his facial features! What do you think? If he is not sold, then I am definitely going to use him with 2 of the ewes next year as I can't pass up the polled genetics. His mom is also out of Yankee, the mioget/yuglet ram I just lost.

Johnny is enjoying his new pasture with TJ, my black Cotswold ram. Johnny has been, lets say, a pain in the butt as he has a lot of energy to get rid of as I am still working on finances to get him gelded. So, instead of stressing everyone else out in the big barn, I have moved him over to the next pasture. There is a nice run-in for him and he has the company of 2 of my rams. He is a muddy mess and is rutting things up but he can run off a lot of his extra energy. It actually is working out much better for everyone, though TJ and Samuel may think otherwise:)

Though there is only a lot of mud and maybe a stray blade of grass, everyone enjoyed the sun and blue sky today. I got the Christmas decorations put away in the house, though I left the snowmen up and I have a small alpine tree decorated with white lights and some nature like ornaments on it. I like white lights in the house. There is another high wind advisory tonight, winds gusting up to 30-40 mph. Guess I'll grade papers and check out the new Hobby Farm mag. and maybe a gardening book......after all Spring is coming in 4 ish months:)

Cheap Sheep

Black Vanilla Raspberry is my favorite fragrance from Bath & Body. However, it is never in the stores. My thoughful & wonderful sister Jen bought it for me for Xmas but she got it on-line. Problem was she never bought on-line and got me 5 for $25......all lotions in Black Vanilla Raspberry. She kept one for herself and I got 4. While I do love the fragrance, I don't need 4 lotions. I decided to keep 2 and exchange the other 2. So today I decided to go into town to get a few things done & go to the bank and stop at Bath & Body. Problem was I left the stupid bag on the kitchen table!! However, lucky me they had body cream on sale for $3.00 (got Sweet Pea) and got Vanilla Shower Gel for $3.00. They are having the Semi-Annual Sale.

And then, sitting stuffed in a 75% off bin all by their fluffy selves were these little lambies..........now seriously, how could I NOT BUY THEM?? Originally $8.00 and I got them for $2.00 a piece!

Don't they just make you smile???? See, I have no problem rationalizing a totally not needed item in my house of having way too much "Stuff".

On the other hand of my more "realistic" farming life style, the girls seemed to be enjoying the warm winter weather today. I guess chickens like taking "baths" in pine shaving because they sure were kicking up a dust storm and rolling around in the shaving today.

So, other than this silly stuff, life is moving along at Harvest Thyme. I am thinking about being productive next week.........I wonder how that will go.