Bugs in feed?

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tom4018

Dumb Old Farmer
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I was always told not to feed it if it hand bugs in it? What does it do if they did eat it? Small calves is what I am concerned about. Bought a bag of calf starter and fed a few pounds of it and noticed later bugs coming out of the bag when I went back in the shed.
 
tom4018":3cprncpr said:
I was always told not to feed it if it hand bugs in it? What does it do if they did eat it? Small calves is what I am concerned about. Bought a bag of calf starter and fed a few pounds of it and noticed later bugs coming out of the bag when I went back in the shed.

I wouldn't feed it and also when I got the bags would open them immediately and inspect then put them in plastic barrels with a lid is what I do for calf feed and milk.
 
M-5":2uqmpfv4 said:
what kind of bugs ??? We've fed hundreds of tons of feed that had weevils ground in it.
Really not sure but taking it back, just wondered if the few pounds fed will be harmful.
 
tom4018":1eyac9w0 said:
M-5":1eyac9w0 said:
what kind of bugs ??? We've fed hundreds of tons of feed that had weevils ground in it.
Really not sure but taking it back, just wondered if the few pounds fed will be harmful.

If its store bought I under stand.

around here when corn is gathered it will have some weevils in it and if not treated it will have it in the bins. I have unloaded it and you would have 100s crawling on you in just a few minutes straight out of the field. Even our deer corn we buy by the gravity load has them . I still have some "60's and 70's technology " for treating it to stop the infestation.
 
M-5":2opr7i2y said:
what kind of bugs ??? We've fed hundreds of tons of feed that had weevils ground in it.

All my feed has bugs, some live some dead. I put sevin dust in my mix all when I grind feed and still have live weevils when I feed it.
 
True Grit Farms":1dkzrvi7 said:
M-5":1dkzrvi7 said:
what kind of bugs ??? We've fed hundreds of tons of feed that had weevils ground in it.

All my feed has bugs, some live some dead. I put sevin dust in my mix all when I grind feed and still have live weevils when I feed it.
You feed your cattle sevin dust?
 
5S Cattle":1attmlia said:
True Grit Farms":1attmlia said:
M-5":1attmlia said:
what kind of bugs ??? We've fed hundreds of tons of feed that had weevils ground in it.

All my feed has bugs, some live some dead. I put sevin dust in my mix all when I grind feed and still have live weevils when I feed it.
You feed your cattle sevin dust?

Yes, I feed my cows FEED, with probably a minuet amount of sevin dust in it. We spray our corn with liquid sevin and other insecticides to prevent damage from weevils going in the grain bend every time.
 
The feed for our sheep comes with free weevil more often than not. We have been dusting the feed with diamatateus earth.
 
Craig Miller":cpxxs1sr said:
The feed for our sheep comes with free weevil more often than not. We have been dusting the feed with diamatateus earth.
Probably no extra charge for the added "protein". :lol:
 
True Grit Farms":2n4isedw said:
5S Cattle":2n4isedw said:
True Grit Farms":2n4isedw said:
All my feed has bugs, some live some dead. I put sevin dust in my mix all when I grind feed and still have live weevils when I feed it.
You feed your cattle sevin dust?

Yes, I feed my cows FEED, with probably a minuet amount of sevin dust in it. We spray our corn with liquid sevin and other insecticides to prevent damage from weevils going in the grain bend every time.
Gotcha. Never had heard of that.
 
True Grit Farms":3pc3eyvw said:
ALACOWMAN":3pc3eyvw said:
If I can eat weevils,,it ain't gonna hurt the cows...they aint to bad in grits after their boiled...

I'll stick with pepper.
I see your "better half" has convinced you those black things in the grits are black pepper too. :lol2: :lol2:
 
We also use diatomaceous earth in our feed. When I worked at the historic grist mill DE was used religiously in any stored grain. It is not poisonous, it does not cause any kind of reaction in people, and is routinely used by many places to help keep some of the weevils from developing in wheat. Had talked to a couple of other mill owners/operators over the years and they say it is standard practice to use it. It is also used in large grain elevator storage.
If it had bugs from the feed store, I would also return it. I don't think that little bit will have hurt the calves.
 
Craig.
DE has never killed a worm in an animal. Any and all claims that it is an effective dewormer are bogus, with no scientific support.
There is some documented evidence that if you could formulate a ration containing about 5% DE - and get the animals to consume it - that there may be diminished larval survival inside the fecal pellets/pats - just due to the dessicating effects of the DE.
However, I've also seen documented 'outbreaks' of urolithiasis (bladder stones causing urinary obstruction) in feedlot steers that had DE added to their ration as an 'organic dewormer'; they didn't take into account the mineral composition of the DE... it was a trainwreck.
 

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