Contraband in feed....what is ok with you and why ?

[greggy]

Hi All,

As per other posts, I am doing many unusual things, and, am hand feeding a lot as we are in drought.

I have been feeding various novel feeds.

Some of the feeds come in ton bins, and I pick through it all, because there is sometimes a nail, or glass, lots of plastic, well, it is a right pain in the rear, cause I have to do it all just in case of a nail or whatever...

But, wanted to ask about this....

I have also been picking out rubber bands, not the small kind for sheep marking, but the kind that will hold, say, 20k or more US bills together

I have read where some d\feedlots or farmers will truck in a load of lollies or chocolates etc, and dump it for the cattle to eat with the wrappers on it..

This seems mindless and reckless too me, but, alas, maybe I am too much of a fuss pot, I always make sure all feed is also free of plastic, rubber is prob nothing on plastic, which is nothing on nails or screws or staples....

Even if for only stopping the spread of plastic and rubber being deposited everywhere...

Tell me, and I some sort of 60's era greeny ? too worried about my cattle and sheep and my land, or am I on the right track, hell, it would be far easier to just say what the hell....but I am not wanting to give up.

PS it drives me mad when I go to some farms and they have bits of metal, fencing, plastic twine etc everywhere for cattle to chow down....at least the sheep do not eat the garbage.....

 

[kilroy60]

I don't know where you're getting your feed but if I ever found any debris as you mentioned, I would no longer buy that feed again. Too much good feed out there to be having to go through it and pick out that stuff. My advice is to find another feed supplier.

 

[greggy]

Yeah, most of the problem feed is free, so it is a matter of spending the time....

I could compost a lot, but then, would need to setup a new area to stop access ....and still do not want plastics etc in soil if I can stop it.

On another note, I have had top quality hay that I fed out slowly by hand, well you should sed what can be found in hay bales ....lol...all sorts of things, along with a few of old mates tools....

 

[greggy]

PS

Would rubber bands and, or, plastics worry you, being ingested ?

 

[1982vett]

If it can't come out the back end it shouldn't go in the front end..... :2cents:

 

[Caustic Burno]

I don't know where you're getting your feed but if I ever found any debris as you mentioned, I would no longer buy that feed again. Too much good feed out there to be having to go through it and pick out that stuff. My advice is to find another feed supplier.

Sounds to me it's time to sell the cows versus trying to feed cows through a drought. That is hard to pencil out in a good market much less at today's prices.

 

[Nesikep]

Hardware would be a definite red flag for me..
We have a stone mill, and grow our own wheat, the problem is we have old equipement (fanning mill, etc) so it's got nails and such falling out.. we have a cardboard chute that all the grain has to pass over and we have glued some strong magnets to it (find some old hard drives and take them a part, salvage the magnets).. that would at least get rid of the really bad stuff.. I don't like plastic either, but if it's a small piece like a lollipop wrapper, I could ignore that if it's not loaded with it...

 

[Banjo]

We fed some calves we had weaned several years ago and had feed delivered from a well known feed company in the southwestern part of the state. I don't know how many rubber straps i found in the feed...unbelievable.

 

[TexasBred]

There is a reason that "feed" is free and you found it I'm afraid. I would think most companies would put junk like that in a dumpster and let the garbage man pick it up but I'm sure they think they're helping someone out by giving them feed. Why not collect some of this junk put it in a bag or box and take it o them and show it to them.

 

[greggy]

If it can't come out the back end it shouldn't go in the front end..... :2cents:

That is a good point, the rubber may be acceptable, plastics, well...I dont like plastic...

There is a question what plastics may do in the food chain over time I was thinking....rubber is pretty well known at this point it seems.

 

[greggy]

I don't know where you're getting your feed but if I ever found any debris as you mentioned, I would no longer buy that feed again. Too much good feed out there to be having to go through it and pick out that stuff. My advice is to find another feed supplier.

Sounds to me it's time to sell the cows versus trying to feed cows through a drought. That is hard to pencil out in a good market much less at today's prices.

Yes, normally, that would be so.

I am doing things on a small scale too learn more, but also may have much more land to use in future....

It is also only part of diet.

 

[greggy]

We fed some calves we had weaned several years ago and had feed delivered from a well known feed company in the southwestern part of the state. I don't know how many rubber straps i found in the feed...unbelievable.

Did you pick them out, or feed as is ?

Am thinking rubber bands are not a large concern or problem in the env. As long as not large....

 

[ccr]

We fed some calves we had weaned several years ago and had feed delivered from a well known feed company in the southwestern part of the state. I don't know how many rubber straps i found in the feed...unbelievable.

Did you pick them out, or feed as is ?

Am thinking rubber bands are not a large concern or problem in the env. As long as not large....

greggy, i would not feed my cattle that crap and have a hard time believing anybody would.

curious where are you located?

 

[Banjo]

We fed some calves we had weaned several years ago and had feed delivered from a well known feed company in the southwestern part of the state. I don't know how many rubber straps i found in the feed...unbelievable.

Did you pick them out, or feed as is ?

Am thinking rubber bands are not a large concern or problem in the env. As long as not large....

We were having it dumped in a gravity wagon and hand feeding it so we would catch all the rubber straps and take it out. i guess they were falling off the tarps, maybe they didn't know it.

 

[greggy]

We fed some calves we had weaned several years ago and had feed delivered from a well known feed company in the southwestern part of the state. I don't know how many rubber straps i found in the feed...unbelievable.

Did you pick them out, or feed as is ?

Am thinking rubber bands are not a large concern or problem in the env. As long as not large....

greggy, i would not feed my cattle that crap and have a hard time believing anybody would.

curious where are you located?

I am not sure what your not feeding your cattle, any fruit and veg and other produce, or the feed with straps...that is not me.

Am downunder....doing things a** about perhaps

 

[greggy]

There is a reason that "feed" is free and you found it I'm afraid. I would think most companies would put junk like that in a dumpster and let the garbage man pick it up but I'm sure they think they're helping someone out by giving them feed. Why not collect some of this junk put it in a bag or box and take it o them and show it to them.

It is the young blokes working there, they clean the floors etc, and to save 2 steps, put it in the feed bins instead of the dumpster...ultimate in laziness and lack of care...and perhaps malice.

The rubber bands and plastic though is usually holding things together or contains produce.

I am not complaining, and is actually competitive to get, so not looking the horse in the mouth

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

If it is free - keep sorting out the "non-edibles". If the cattle eat small pieces of plastic or rubber, it can build up in them until they don't have the room for "real' food.

 

[TexasBred]

There is a reason that "feed" is free and you found it I'm afraid. I would think most companies would put junk like that in a dumpster and let the garbage man pick it up but I'm sure they think they're helping someone out by giving them feed. Why not collect some of this junk put it in a bag or box and take it o them and show it to them.

It is the young blokes working there, they clean the floors etc, and to save 2 steps, put it in the feed bins instead of the dumpster...ultimate in laziness and lack of care...and perhaps malice.

The rubber bands and plastic though is usually holding things together or contains produce.

I am not complaining, and is actually competitive to get, so not looking the horse in the mouth

Very well and they are your cattle but I wouldn't feed it at any price nor would I purchase any feed from that mill. Makes you wonder what else is going on that no one knows about.

 

[greggy]

If it is free - keep sorting out the "non-edibles". If the cattle eat small pieces of plastic or rubber, it can build up in them until they don't have the room for "real' food.

Yes, will be doing that, even if it all passed, I do not want plastics everywhere.

So you feel that rubber bands may also not all pass ?

I wont be feeding anything on purpose that is not useful feed or roughage either way.

 

[greggy]

There is a reason that "feed" is free and you found it I'm afraid. I would think most companies would put junk like that in a dumpster and let the garbage man pick it up but I'm sure they think they're helping someone out by giving them feed. Why not collect some of this junk put it in a bag or box and take it o them and show it to them.

It is the young blokes working there, they clean the floors etc, and to save 2 steps, put it in the feed bins instead of the dumpster...ultimate in laziness and lack of care...and perhaps malice.

The rubber bands and plastic though is usually holding things together or contains produce.

I am not complaining, and is actually competitive to get, so not looking the horse in the mouth

Very well and they are your cattle but I wouldn't feed it at any price nor would I purchase any feed from that mill. Makes you wonder what else is going on that no one knows about.

Most people, would not do what I entertain.

But, this is fresh produce, the biggest problem, is it is designed for humans, and humans now want everything wrapped and packaged, and then you have the junk thrown in by the young blokes, it just means, I have to sort it all, it soaks up time, but, apart from that, the animals thrive on it all, along with other waste I get, if I could get free straw, I would be down to zero cost feed, and, after mixing or doling out in parts, is very high protien and energy along with all the vit and mineral reqd.

Let me put it this way, before using this and other waste, mainly using hay, I had a number of my good ewes die, I put it down to a lack of vit and minerals, since changing to this mixed feed, I have not lost one, all are fat, as are most heifers now, not overly fat, but have moved to a nice score. No cattle were lost just on hay, but, how many may have been close or working toward that ? (that is what I was asking myself).

In the past, I have also fed good lucerne ad lib when I could get it, and they are doing much better on the waste.

The point of the post, was too see what is acceptable to some, and too see if maybe I should not be overly concerned with rubber bands, I remove them, and look real hard for any metals or plastics, the later is prob because I do not like plastic blowing around and metal, well, we know what nails and screws can do, but have read where people in the US fed lollies with wrappers ad lib, and apart from the litter on the property, I wondered if it would all pass.

As a secondary note, I have seen plenty of landholders, who fuss over great grade hay in winter and great pasture, but they have bits of metal from fencing everywhere, bits of twine and poly rope from bales, basically, lots of things they do not realise that cattle especially will chow down ! Sheep wont.

So, you can be over the top with what you feed, or spend mega bucks or nothing, but there are dangers everywhere, with many, it seems the outlook on the lifespan equals what they care about, where, I treat every animal as if it will live a full life, even though, they prob wont for obvious reasons.

I am learning, want to learn as much as I can, so I ask a lot of questions and do things that are unusual to many I suppose.

This forum, and my practical exposure, is giving me knowledge that I think a lot of cattle and sheep people do not seem to have, or, at least display....