How much animal feed do you keep on hand??

[Nuggetsowner:)]

Watching the news about Hurricane Gustav got me wondering about being perpared. I think that I would not have a problem providing for my family is we ever ran into a real disaster. However, I realized that I usually only keep about one to two weeks worth of feed for my animals. I can't think of anything that would delay me from getting more feed for more than that but it got me thinking...How much animal feed do you keep on hand??

 

[patandchickens]

I get my whole winter's worth of hay (Nov thru April - the rest of the year the horses are on 100% pasture) in the fall, because it's slightly cheaper and because I *really* like the security of knowing it's THERE in the barn. We have occasional (well ok, yearly) worries about keeping the last of it from getting moldy or flooded in springtime, but thus far have always made out fine.

I feed very, very little grain or other concentrates so the length of my supply is basically however long 1 sack lasts -- usually months.

Chicken feed, I try to make sure I never get *below* 2 wks supply (i.e. usually there's more), because I figure that gives me margin of error to find more. That is waht I do with catfood, too. BUT I am not sure this is the safest amount of margin, and certainly if I lived somewhere that a hurricane or blizzard could knock things out for weeks on end I would want to have more. Don't want so much that it starts losing nutrient content before it's used, though.

I figure if it ever really Came Down To It, I would put the chickens on measured half- or two-thirds-rations, possibly supplemented with stuff from the house that didn't seem vital to keep *us* alive, and if worse comes to worse, I could always take care of two things at once by converting some of the "chicken feed demand" into a dinner and catfood

Pat

 

[krjwaj]

We buy the dry dog food of 40 lb bag at a time and usually about 7-10 cans wet food. I can honestly say we have ran out of both many times....sorry, biddy ")

Chickens are still on grower so we are playing that by ear. The feed comes in a 25 # bag.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I put in as close to a years worth of hay as I can each year- that would keep the horses and goats going for that long. I keep about 3 months of whole oats and alfalfa pellets in cans. Those are supplements and the animals can live without them if needed.
For the dog, I have 3 months of dog food stored beside the bag currently being used.
This was not due to my being prepared as much as all the above has been in short supply in our area at one time or another. It is not that unusual for land slides to close all roads into our area for a couple of weeks at a time or more, so having stuff before winter is good. In a real emergency, we do have a harbor suitable for large ships and barges so hopefully we wouldn't be that isolated for longer.

 

[FarmerChick]

We grow about 80 acres of hay and have 2 hay barns. We don't sell so we have about 2 years of hay in storage at least.

We buy feed by the ton. Chickens last about 5 weeks, hogs are 1 ton per week. Goats --1 ton lasts about 1 month.

Dogs and cats...I load up some bagged in the garage when on sale.

 

[Woodland Woman]

I buy a months supply of chicken feed at a time and buy more when I am down to about a weeks worth. I really have been thinking about doubling my supply though. I stock up on dog food when it is on sale so I usually have a couple months supply.

 

[heatherv]

I buy a months worth at a time, and get it when I'm down to two weeks worth. But I've been thinking maybe I should keep more on hand for winter before the snowstorms start comiing. We've been snowed in for 2 wks, and wouldn't want the chance of running out of feed for the chickens/dogs. I could always ration it and combine w/ people food too. I wish I could get that darn chipmunk to quit stealing the chicken feed.

 

[pioneergirl]

I keep about a month's worth here for both dogs and chickens. I do get snowed in on occasion, but with the kindness of neighbors with 4wd and snowplows on their 4wheelers, I'm usually not stuck in for long, lol.

 

[heatherv]

with the kindness of neighbors with 4wd and snowplows on their 4wheelers, I'm usually not stuck in for long, lol.

Hey, can I borrow those neighbors this winter? I wish we could drive our quad on the side of the roads to go get out and about when we're snowed in! It would be nice to have a snowmobile at those times.

 

[pioneergirl]

*stuffs the neighbors in the closet* NO!!!

Just Kidding! You can borrow them anytime!!! LOL