Cascade Layer Poultry Feed, Organic...Anyone use?UPDATED: Got my feed!

[Chris09]

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By-product Wikipedia
A by-product is a secondary or incidental product deriving from a manufacturing process, a chemical reaction or a biochemical pathway, and is not the primary product or service being produced. A by-product can be useful and marketable, or it can be considered waste. Water can also be a by-product when a reaction causes carbon dioxide.

So with that being said if the Wheat field is being grown for the sole purpose of harvesting it to produce Wheat germ or Wheat Flour then it would not consider it a "by-product".

Chris

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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You're comparing apples to oranges. Cardboard and sewage sludge are not feed stocks. Cattle eat grass and corn stalks are grass... Wheat midds contain wheat bran and wheat germ, the portion of the whole grain that is not milled into white flour, also useful as food. Have you ever eaten Wheaties or had a bran muffin?

 

[qbarfarm]

I was comparing the re-naming of products to make them sound palatable and acceptable. Wheat is not grown to produce wheat middlings. Middlings are the left overs from milling whole wheat. Making it a BY-PRODUCT.
If my Wheaties are made from wheat middlings, then I am surely paying too much for that product!!! And I will stop buying it if I find out it is.
I would prefer my feed be made from the whole seed, thank you. And no solvent-extracted soybean meal either. That is another By-Product.

 

[MakNugget]

Wow, has this gone OT or what? My girls are loving the Cascade Layer by the way!

It is possible to derive multiple goods out of a single product without considering any of them as byproducts.

In the most general sense, something can be considered a byproduct when there are things left over or waste generated from primary harvest. It assumes there is only one use of said product. It's really a poorly coined term.

Wheat middlings could be considered (an irresponsible) byproduct if you as a grower were solely growing for hulled seed. A responsible grower/harvester on the other hand would key in on other parts of the plant that could be used as a secondary good. Anything left AFTER that point is true byproduct.

If a strict rancher was growing cattle for meat, and had little use for milk from cows, the milk would be considered a byproduct to the grower. To a strict dairy farmer, too many steers would be a byproduct. Either one can still benefit by selling a secondary good without it being considered a byproduct.

Meaties that end up laying eggs... I would not consider an egg a byproduct, but it's not the primary good, which is the chicken meat. Eggs are a welcome secondary product. Heck, chicken droppings aren't even a byproduct if they are pastured. The only probably byproduct would be the odd feather that blows away from time to time.

Now what _I_ consider byproducts, are when you read labels to meat products that list an ingredient as ANIMAL BYPRODUCT. The undesirable miscellaneous meats mechanically separated off bone and organ meats and cartilage. Stuff they don't even bother giving details because it's beyond identification due to varying degrees of each ingredient. That is byproduct.

 

[Carpe DiHen]

This company's formula is awesome! Corn and soy free, organic, and full of the similar feed a chicken would naturally eat if it was free ranging. My chickens can't get to bugs, seeds, and grass, and I am so happy to find a local supply of feed to make my eggs and chicken healthy and part of a sustainable environment. If you keep your chickens locked in a run full time, like I do, there is only good to say about this formula. The substantial parts of the feed, listed first, are as they described.


I can't wait to get my girls on this feed (Oct. 18th)! I hope they like it as much as me!

The only way to get a better feed is to make it yourself, like many organic chicken owners resort to. I'm happy to get it made for me.

Edited to add: just want to share this article by fellow BYC about the health benefits of free range feeding your chickens:
http://www.bruntyfarms.com/health.html

If all your chickens get to eat is a commercial type vegetarian, corn and soy feed, your eggs are not much more healthy than the commercial fed grocery store eggs ....BUT, your chickens are happier!!

It's all good!

 

[HeritageHens]

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Of course it has! Qbarfarm is a direct competitor to Magill Ranch (Cascade Feeds).

 

[MakNugget]

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Of course it has! Qbarfarm is a direct competitor to Magill Ranch (Cascade Feeds).

LOL. Makes sense now I guess.

 

[WildflowerJLH]

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Of course it has! Qbarfarm is a direct competitor to Magill Ranch (Cascade Feeds).

If Qbarfarm has a comparable product, I would look at it. But trying to tear down a competitor is not the way to win my $$.

 

[jackiejck]

I've been feeding the Cascade Layer feed for a few months now. Purchased from Azure Standard. I REALLY like the ingredients. If I could make a suggestion to Cascade, it would be to look into "pelletizing" it. It's kind of dusty and the hens spill a lot. But if pelletizing would reduce quality, then I say it's not worth that. Glad my hens have a healthy option.

 

[Magill Ranch]

Wow, thank you everyone for sticking up for us!!! The wheat middlings that is in our feed is part of the ingredients list that Fertrells uses in their Organic Poultry Nutri-Balancer, which is what we use for a mineral mix in our feed. When we say we don't use grain by-products, we are meaning that we use whole grains in our feed, such as whole wheat, whole barley, etc.... I hope that clears up any misunderstandings.

We have looked at a pelleting machine, however at this point the equipment is so expensive, and would raise the cost of the bag a lot. We are keeping it in mind though. Again, I am glad everyone's hens are enjoying our feed. We pride ourselves in producing good quality feed.

Magill Ranch
Cascade Feeds