Alternative Feeds for Livestock

[Kathy]

What do you plan on feeding your birds, livestock, pets if there is a major collapse of our way of life/SHTF scenerio?
No cash available to buy food or maybe there's still cash but nothing at the feed store to buy. Crop failures, devaluation of our currency, trucking strikes, etc could lead to shortages or the disappearance of livestock/poultry feed.

I think this is a situation many will face if things go bad, so maybe before it is a reality, together we can discuss what can/can't be fed to our critters and alternatives to the boughten feeds that most use.

Even if you grind your own from boughten grain, assume you can't get the boughten grain for this discussion.

Free range isn't something we all can do, either due to predators or restrictions due to our location.


Put on your thinking caps & let's get a good discussion going.

[kyosa]

I'm thinking that many who live with zoning or other restrictions on free-ranging (primarily a chicken scenario here) probably also live in fairly close proximity to grocery stores or restaurants. Those may be a source of vegetable 'waste' that could be collected as at least a partial substitute for unavailable commercial feeds. I'm told that some (many?) stores have policies against giving away waste products, so maybe collection would have to be done on the sly.

ETA: Chicken tractors could also be used to allow chickens to semi-freerange in a suburban yard while still being confined. Perhaps this would still satisfy zoning restrictions and also supplement the chicken's diet.

[Kathy]

kyosanim said:

I'm thinking that many who live with zoning or other restrictions on free-ranging (primarily a chicken scenario here) probably also live in fairly close proximity to grocery stores or restaurants. Those may be a source of vegetable 'waste' that could be collected as at least a partial substitute for unavailable commercial feeds. I'm told that some (many?) stores have policies against giving away waste products, so maybe collection would have to be done on the sly.

ETA: Chicken tractors could also be used to allow chickens to semi-freerange in a suburban yard while still being confined. Perhaps this would still satisfy zoning restrictions and also supplement the chicken's diet.

Chicken tractors, I forgot about those!! I was trying to figure out how to scrounge feed especially protein for any birds I may get.

I was also toying with the idea of using a bug zapper-situate it over the birds outdoor pen area, as the bugs are zapped, they'd fall into the pen for the greedy little hens to devour.
Even if the power was out/off, I think one could hook up the zapper to a small 15w solar panel and storage battery.
I don't know about other areas, but we have a lot of night bugs here, maybe a zapper would be a valuable & free source of chicken proteins. ;D

[momo]

I am concerned about what to feed the chickens if the stuff at the feed store becomes too expensive or even not available. Dh says it is tough to crack your own corn without having the right equipment. I have heard you need to add alot of thing to the corn to keep them healthy. I admit I haven't done much research on it because DH buys the stuff at the feed store and it hasn't been too expensive until now.

Right now we don't have any cows or pigs. We do have a horse though. He does real well on grass and a bit of oats.

[Kathy]

I found this site with recipes for chicken feed; both modern and more traditional versions!!

Even if I can't get all of the ingredients, at least I will have some idea about alternatives if there's no feed available or it's too expensive.

www.lionsgrip.com/chickens.html

[momo]

Thanks Kathy..I'll go look at that.

I found a recipe once in a magazine to make for chickens. It was so complicated and had so many ingredients in it that I knew I couldn't find easily. I need something corn based that has a few ingredients.

[Kathy]

momo said:

Thanks Kathy..I'll go look at that.

I found a recipe once in a magazine to make for chickens. It was so complicated and had so many ingredients in it that I knew I couldn't find easily. I need something corn based that has a few ingredients.

That's ironic, I need something that's not corn based since there's not much corn grown around here-rice is King in this area.

[momo]

I make my dogs a rice based dinner. I have to buy the rice from Arkansas.

We grow plenty of corn around here, so I figured I can always grow enough to feed the chicks.

[Deleted]

I am going through this problem right now...I have eight horses to feed and cannot find any hay!

I have been feeding them a pelleted feed that contains alfalfa...and tying them out to graze on what little grass is coming up.

The chickens are doing great on the surplus grains I got from the storehouse; outdated whole wheat, etc.

The rabbits would do good on cut and dried forage along the fence rows if things did get that bad.

My main concern is that people will come to my place and try to get fresh meat, eggs, etc and take my livestock! If people get hungry, they do some risky things and it would be a great risk if someone got caught stealing one of my critters!

[Deleted]

Grains that are easy to harvest, produce a high yield in small spaces, and can grow most anywhere are amaranth grains. They're also highly nutritious. Greens and seeds are both good stuff. Many grain varieties also make awesome landscape plants, so they work in urban/suburban landscaping.

How necessary is corn, by the way, for any livestock? Aside from the lysine, which I'd bet you could find in other grass-type grains....

I'd focus on stocking up on the minerals the animals need, and seed that stores well and has multiple uses---sprouting, human use, livestock feed, forage seed, etc.

Poultry--consider coturnix quail. They have a great feed-meat ratio, lay tons of eggs (omg, so many eggs) and use little space. If you're in an area where you don't want to flaunt your flocks, so to speak, you can easily raise a few dozen quail in an urban-sized lot, or garage/workshop/barn. Use good ol' dirt as litter in runs or trays, and compost the droppings.


Having well-maintained worm composting bins helps break down whatever food scraps don't go to animals, and the resulting fertilizer doesn't burn plants and makes a great seedling base, fertilizer, moisture retainer for soil, etc. Excess worms (they multiply fast) can be fed to stock fish and poultry.

Speaking of fish, stocking a pond of any size with mosquito fish (tiny minnows you can often find at pond supply stores, or even through metro areas fighting mosquitos in standing water) can provide a supply of protein for animals. These fish don't need additional feed, they're very hardy, and they multiply like mad; I started with 10 a few years ago for a small pond in my yard and ended up with thousands within a year. Grind 'em up, feed 'em to your pets/poultry/unwary inlaws, and you're good to go.

Mangel beets, tyfon, amaranth (quinoa in cooler/higher locations), dandelion greens, sunflower (seedmeats), buckwheat, sprouts, etc. are all relatively easy to grow...especially those @*&#^ dandelions!

[Kathy]

Wow Lupine, what great suggestions! My neighbor in AR raised quail, he said they were very prolific and tasted great too.

I'm in the 'burbs' now but I'm working on finding a farmer that will rent me a spot to raise a few birds. The main farming area starts less than 5 miles from my place so taking care of them wouldn't be a hardship.

Some of your suggestions are doable even for suburb dwellers; thanks!