we picked up a ton of corn today for $5.85 a bag.

next week its going up to $6.15.

if anybody knows of a corn alternative, i'm all ears

How do you think deer would do on Bio-Diesel???????

As many things in our everyday life that are made from corn / corn by-products as there are, being able to fill a feeder is liable to start being a minor inconvinience. JMO.

cottonseed

The feed store in the town I hunt out of is $7-8 a bag for 50#.

Its going to get d*#n expensive pretty quick.

we are still buying 2x screened, whole kernel corn for 8.00 per hundred weight.

Grow your own

How much is that cotton seed?

Does cottonseed really work? I might give it a shot too. Bout how much is it? I might just "water" down my corn/soybean/sweetfeed with a little cotton seed if it is cheap.

Lora checked on cottonseed at the feed store we do business with a couple of weeks back, to replace the $6.50 corn, and the cottonseed was $9.00+ a 50.

If a person lives close to some place where there is still some cotton farming going on it might be cheaper buying it at the gin by the ton.

I just bought a tractor-trailer load for $235 a ton.

That figures out around $5.87-$5.88 a 50.

Questions are, how many tons did you buy to get it at that price and did you buy it from a feed dealer or a gin?

your standard tractor-trailer will hold around 55,000 lbs.

Thanks for the info.

But that does not really answer the questions.

Did he have to buy that much to get it at the $235.00 a ton or is it $235.00 a ton no matter how much or how little a person buys?

Also was it bought at a feed dealer or a cotton gin?

CHC, most places I've bought from will give ya a cheaper price per ton if you get the whole 18 wheeler load. If you try to go to 12 to 15 tons on a bob tail it will cost you about 4 or 5 bucks more a ton. Some places charge more per mile for a bobtail that an 18 wheeler.

You all need to research cottonseed. There is a large amount of evidence that says it will effect the deer's reproduction system and antler development. Most gossypol studies were done on cattle and the eveidence is there. A deer's digestive system is much smaller and faster than a cow's so read up on it before you pinch pennies and hurt your herd.
All that being said, I've seen deer on piles of whole cottonseed eating it like they are starving. The difference is that down here it is usually only fed roughly from December through March and that probably accounts for the no noticeable damage.
A & M was/is doing a study on it at the Sonora Ag Station, but I have not been able to find any published results.
Corn is going up because of the ethanol thing. The farmers are planting more corn and less soy bean etc. This will drive up the prices of protein pellets. I don't think diesel is going anywhere but up, so your delivery prices will go up or the bag prices will go up more.
It ain't gonna be easy. Maybe we'll have another wet year.

Thank You

That is what I was getting at about the price break down, and where it was obtained. A feed dealer should be higher than at a gin.

That is why I posted that when Lora checked at the feed store where we buy our livestock feed, the stuff was like $9.00 a fifty.

I am not going to be feeding any of it, corn/soybean/cotton seed except what I feed here at the house and corn is still the cheapest of the 3.

For folks however that either don't or can't but a semi load or are not close to a gin so they can buy in bulk, cottonseed will probably not be an economical alternative.

Also I am not sure but will cottonseed feed thru a spin cast feeder without problems??????

As for the studies you mentioned, I knew it was being investigated but had not seen any of the studies findings published.

CHC, cottonseed won't go through a spin feeder. The way the AG station in Sonora was doing it was with a V shaped holder made out of chicken wire. 4 steel legs probably about 6 foot high, with a metal frame at the top and then the chicken wire in a V. Can't remember if they had a rod or pipe at the bottom of the V to make it hold it's shape. If I remember right the frame was probably 3 feet wide by about 3 or 4 feet long.

Still not worth the risk to me, but I'm feeding other people's deer.

This may bring about some really big changes in the way people hunt deer on small leases around the state.

If corn keeps going up, along with everything else concerning hunting, some folks that have been feeding year round may have to re-adjust their strategy.

Also, I wonder if there will be an increase of afli-toxin poisoning due to folks buying harvested but uncleaned corn out of the field?

Anti's may not bring about changes in the way deer hunting is done in Texas, Bio-Diesel might. JMO.

Thanks for all the good information deerfeeder.

6.30 at Mumme's in Rio Medina today. At beginning of season paid about a dolloar less a bag.

Is there really a benefit to feeding year round? My feeder was clogged from a deer bag scrap from mid- Nov to end of Dec. No corn was being thrown. I unclogged it and the next weekend had deer at the feeder each hunt. I was normally luckily to see a deer in a weekend. Kinda made me believe feeding corn year round doesn't do much good and was a waste. I can see feeding Sept to Feb and then stop for 6 months.

Thats the way I feed them Duckman.

I get my cottonseed from a broker in Abilene. The truck usually brings 23 tons.

I have read the studies about glossypol and don't really worry about it. Deer IMO don't live off the cottonseed. It is a small part of their overall diet. I feed starting now until around September.

I use a 52" V-mesh horse wire cut in a six foot length and tied together. Then drive a t-post in the ground and place the hoop over it. Here is a picture of how it is done.

Feeding corn year round doesn't make much sense (cents). There is only about 7% protein in it and the carbs just turn to sugar. Feeding it free choice gives them a chance to founder. It's an attractant or bait, but really hasn't got much value as far as antlers go. The only other thing it might do is keep them on your lease occasionally. But, if your neighbor has acorns or other good green stuff then you are pretty much feeding coons and birds.

Corn prices will hurt big ranches too, but big ranches usually have big pockets.

Protein is the way to go, if you can afford to do it right. Assuming you can't grow a decent food plot on your land. The only thing that will take some of the sting out of the cost of protein is a wet year with lots of weeds in the spring time. About the only other thing you can do is feed a 16 to 17% ration and use minerals. 20% is good if you can afford it because it usually has better quantities of vitamins and minerals. But NOT always. Unless you have penned deer don't waste your money on anything above 20% protein. They just poop it out, system can't absorb it all.

Feeding corn or protein is actually a misnomer. You are supplementing what nature is giving you. Feeding is what happens to pen raised deer. JMO.