New feed ration

So, we've switched our feed for our meatbirds to a better ration. We're getting our feed from a source a couple of counties over. The ration is ground on spot, in the grinder above. In addition, the most of the ration is (relatively) locally grown, being grown in North Central Arkansas in the Ozarks.
The best thing about this stuff is that it's 1oo% from nature. GMO free, but beyond that, the protein in it comes from fishmeal. By the way, did you know that Certified Organic Chicken feed typically uses a synthetic, powdered protein manufactured in a lab? Yeah...well, that's true for the stuff you buy from the major organic producers that use defunct conventional chickehouse at least...

The feed above smells so great...meaty, almost like a really thick beer. It smells wholesome and really nutritious. I'll have to raise our prices around 15-20 cents/lb, which I would have had to do anyways with the sky-rocketing corn prices. We're very happy with this move.

Not Getting Crushed by Barrels of Feed

We've switched rations for our meatbirds this year - we're going to a GMO free, locally grown blend of chicken feed that I can get two counties away, from a private mill tucked away in the Ozark Mtns around 70 miles away. That's a whole another story...but I get the feed loaded in 55 gal drums, and they weigh A LOT. Unloading drums out of the back of the truck with a dolly and a ramp, was pretty laborious and turned out to be really dangerous - a 350ish lb drum out or control down a ricketty ramp. I've learned if you do something dangerous enough times, at some point I'll get hurt.


At the same time, Carla was helping me, and we were both starting to get on each others' nerves, so we took a break from unloading, and each other. I happened to look over at two square bales, and well, one thing led to another and this is how we now unload heavy barrels of feed! Just roll the barrel out of the back of the truck onto the square bales. The hay cushions the barrels, and there's no opportunity to get crushed by anything round and metal. It's also really fast...sounds like a win to me.