the daydream fund challenge thread

Davesnave

Is it Groundhog Day? :rotfl:

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Was just wondering how you are managing with the increase in price on animal feeds? this year i havent gone through the amount of chicken food that i normally do, as i havent hatched out a single egg this year, but it is getting noticeable now...even the tinned dog food seems to be going up every few weeks....

I am of the opinion that good nutrition saves money overtime....fewer premature deaths and vet bills and problems.

BUT I'm noticing it a lot with the birds mainly.

Our dogs have a mixture of raw meals from the freezer, and, I admit for economy a dry food. The dry food is not my ideal at all, but with one who doesn' always eat and one who'd eat her weight in food, its easier to set aside till later than raw meat/tripe. Tripe prices shot up early in the recession.....my supplier told me more was being eated by people in heavily hit countries and eastern europe and so less was availble for the frozen animal food supply. The cats have an order every three months from an inline retailer, of a wet food which works out at 67p a day I think for them, plus they get raw food too. (usually wings etc off our birds and other bits and pieces). I used to make an freeze my own raw diet for the cats but its space heavy and tie consuming and I no longer have a heavyweight grinder than can deal with bones.

The horses, ironically, are cheaper to feed ost of the year than the birds. Low stocking rate and ad lib hay, supplemented with an expensive balancer, but not at full rate most of the year. I supplement birds and horses with grass pellets when there is little grass. We save an awfu lot of money by not retricting stufffor the birds/horses...feels wrong, but the more they are wihout the re they gorge IMO. Also, I do atually spend time havig a pay once a year with marketed foods and the nutritional nees for the horses v balancing stuff ourselves and not feeding unnecessaries. Branded horse food often results in horses being fed expesively for their needs...which is a shame, there are some excellent equine nutritionists.


My biggest cost is shavings for the birds. I can't believe how expensive they have got. I'm trying to source a few tonnes of wood chip for them all in the earth floored barn for winter.....the chippings fro our trees were better than any bedding I've used before last year. I'm dreading the cost of buying wood chip.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

grass pellets?

even though our bird count is down we still use alot of food, because there is no grass now where they are, in the passed we would have just moved the fence, and once that had all gone, moved the fence back in for the area to rest, and re-grow, but with the whooohaaa with the development company wanting us off hte land after 17 odd years, i darnt do this now... I am just sticking to the area i have constantly used for all those years... so i would be interested in the grass pellets, how much are they per sack? what is the sack size? i could throw a few handfulls in their run for them to scratch around for, as this might also save me buying reduced fruit and veg etc for them

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

grass pellets?

even though our bird count is down we still use alot of food, because there is no grass now where they are, in the passed we would have just moved the fence, and once that had all gone, moved the fence back in for the area to rest, and re-grow, but with the whooohaaa with the development company wanting us off hte land after 17 odd years, i darnt do this now... I am just sticking to the area i have constantly used for all those years... so i would be interested in the grass pellets, how much are they per sack? what is the sack size? i could throw a few handfulls in their run for them to scratch around for, as this might also save me buying reduced fruit and veg etc for them

http://www.gjwtitmuss.co.uk/farming-straights/pid1845/cid335/titmuss-grass-nuts-20kgs.asp?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=pricecomp&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping

those aren't the ones I feed but give an idea what to look for. I soak them (drier for birds than for the horses to whom I serve it like soup...very wet indeed.) but mre like a meal. I don't like to give birds too sticky a food personally so rarely give mashes, but this is the nearest I get.

tbh, the chooks aways fall on the horse feed anyway and clear any spilt or left, or stuck to the bucket.

(they stand under the horses heads while they eat too, and capture any bit that spills from their mouths : the horses are saints.)

lostinrates

ha, just saved my self half a days mowing and a chunk of electric bill with the horses on the back garden doing the grass. It looks ok. Tomorrow they are coming back, should look great by then....bowling green short and only slightly dented In fact, even after today I think it looks a bit better than when I try and use the borrowed hover (which also kills me, its like trying to physically move a 11 year old child having a temper tantrum, and my back screams the whole time ''this is not right, stop it!'')

I'd love to let the gess in there too, its JUST that sort of grass they'd like, length wise.

alfie_1

lostinrates wrote: »

Does anyone know what rules exist about sub divinding fields? The ''problem'' is we'd like to plant hedges.....or at least one new hedge. RPA might object because of ''available land decrease'' as a result.

arent the powers that be supposed to be "all for" hedges being put back into the landscape...

alfie_1

before i moved here,i spent weeks touring round for the ideal place...not for me as much as for my animogs. my friends and family knew why i got this [then]run down,disgracefully junk strewn,overgrown place....cos it had space,no neighbours and freedom for all. yes it was/is tough but without my animogs i wouldnt be "me". my life has revolved around animals and i hope it continues till they carry me off..... [id smuggle a pet into a nursing home!!]

alfie_1

My biggest cost is shavings for the birds. I can't believe how expensive they have got. I'm trying to source a few tonnes of wood chip for them all in the earth floored barn for winter.....the chippings fro our trees were better than any bedding I've used before last year. I'm dreading the cost of buying wood chip.

well....if you have transport,ive got access to unlimited amount of woodchip....i use it for paths and seating areas...and its free

iv only got a 6x4 trailer!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

havent you got to watch with woodchip? meaning what type of wood it is, and if its been treated etc... many...many moons ago when i was small, we used to have a rabbit, and well all the kids in the road all had rabbits about the same time, and we used to go and get the wood shavings etc from a local wood joiners, a few months later on of the rabbits in the road died, and the vet said it had something to do with the wood shavings....and ever since then i have been vary wary about where i get my animal bedding from....my huge black rabbit called Hazelrar, ( thinking about it, it must have been when the book watership down came out) lived to a ripe old age, and was a grumpy old bunny to the day he died....:rotfl:missed him loads though the old charector that he was

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

havent you got to watch with woodchip? meaning what type of wood it is, and if its been treated etc...

If I remember correctly, years ago, tanalised wood was treated with an arsenic compound, so it's likely that could have had an effect if the shavings were used as bedding. I notice that the chooks eat shavings occasionally.

Now, the treatment is environmentally friendly; often called 'Tanalith E' or something like that, and lots of folk say it doesn't work very well! :rotfl: