[AlpacaTalk] RE: Stock feed or sweet feed
<<<The scratch grain that we buy consists of the following mostly whole
grains. Wheat, oats and a small amount of cracked corn, with the wheat
being the most abundant ingredient. A mineral and vitamin supplement is
fed separately and free choice.
There is a small chance of choking with this feed, mostly with over
eager crea. We have had one minor case of choke in, I think, four years.>>>
I am fascinated with this; it is the first time I have ever heard of
anyone feeding their alpacas chix feed! Personally I have gotten away
from corn for all my animals. I feel it is a toxic feed (due to GMO).
But this has been such a cold winter here that I have broken down and
gotten some cracked corn to throw out for the chickens. The alpacas
LOVE it and I am always running around trying to shoo them out as I
thougtht corn would be just horrible for them. Did I read that
somewhere or dream it up?
The other questions would be about possible copper toxicity? But
perhaps the scratch is not fortified as the feed is come to think of it.
One of my females LOVES the chix pellets; we have had to fortify and
re-fortify the chicken pen gate to keep her out; she is always watching
for us to forget to close that gate securely (we now have to prop a
stick up against it so she can't push it open) and takes every
opportunity to stretch the bungy cord that holds the door almost closed
(we leave it open just enough for the chix to get in, but not anyone
else.) and go in and eat all the chix pellets she can gorge on before we
discover her and run her out. I am always terrified she is going to
bloat or have some sort of intestinal blockage and die on me. But
there is no denying she loves that stuff.
So should I stop worrying about them eating chix feed and scratch
corn? I"d love to hear more input about this.
When you say small chance of choke - do you mean there is a minimal
chance of choke? Or there is a chance of choke, tho small, more so than
with with pellets?
I picked up a bag of sheep minerals at Tractor Supply today; just got
home so haven't had a chance to get it out and try it yet.
But after seeing Heather mention the Stillwater 104 vitamin and mineral
supplement I would be interested to know more about that product - price
and where you get it. I would like to get mine off the pelleted
feed/grain altogether and move to a more natural option with the
addition of vitamins and minerals. Maybe the chix scratch is the
answer. The formula I am buying is cheap; but I am tired of having to
drive to the next town to pick it up and I just don't see that it can be
any good for them as cheap as it is....and the label says basically
nothing about what is *really* made of. If there is a more natural
formula that is also cheap I would prefer to go that route.....and
chicken scratch is certainly cheap.
I have been looking into growing my own chicken feed - Amaranth and
comfrey are the 2 plants I am planning on at this time and still
gathering info. It would be great to be able to grow some fresh greens
for the alpacas as well. My guys absolutely adore privit and I have a
lot of it around here, but it also makes good honey so don't like to cut
too much of it for them until after the bees have worked it and it has
stopped blooming. I wish I had the acerage, the equipment and the
knowledge to grow my own hay - that is definitely the best way to go.
But it is my go to plant whenever one of my guys goes off feed. If I
offer a privit branch and they are interested and eat then I breathe a
sigh of relief. If they turn their noses up at privit then I know
immediately I have a serious problem. One of my boys, and the biggest
alpaca I have, stands on his back legs to eat out of the tops of the
privit that is out edging their woods. He is a sight to see. He can
stand up on those 2 back legs forever nibbling privit high up. And when
he was born his back legs were paralyzed for the first several days, so
it is a special treat to watch him dancing the 2 step on them!
Janice
posted by Chaddo at 4:50 PM
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