I had cotton seed in my mix for 2 years and never had a problem. The mix I was using only had 75 pounds of whole cottonseed per ton. Like I said, I have no real backing that cotton seed is BAD, but every time I see a conversation on the subject the results are always the same. I pulled it out of my feed to be safe, but I never experienced a problem. I should also say that the buck I live bred with last year was fed the cottonseed mix for 2 years and he got every doe in the pen, so I cant say it affected his "swimmers" either.
Steve, I would go with the soybean mix. You will have to ask yourself if it is worth the risk. Our mix uses roasted soybeans. I'm sure you can ask 10 different people and get 20 answers. Good luck.
Michael Peters
Arrowhead Whitetails / Cola Blanca Deer Co.
Michael Peters
Arrowhead Whitetails / Cola Blanca Deer Co.
I use a 17.5% pellet from a local mill it is a field pea-lentil base with oats for fiber and wheat an barley screenings, full balanced nutrient and vitamin package ,the guy who owns the mill has 30 years experience pelleting feed, the pellets reach my deer with only 2-3% dust, deer don't eat dust until starving price.... $169.00 CDN trucking 40 ton $400
Joined Apr 2009
2,617 Posts | 0+
Edgar, WI
The chance that cottenseed in any style our amount is enough for me to not use it at all.
That said I used to stress out and get frustrated each and every year with my feed mix. What should the mix all contain? How much of what minerals? Is there some "secret mix" that some guys are using? What do I feed the bucks and what doe I feed the does? Pellet or loose mix? And then all the problems with the feed mills around here. They would make my feed and then later say, "oops we forgot to put you soybeans in" or some other ingredient. I finally said enough all ready and picked one mix and have it made in small (1,000LB) batches in a loose mix. I pick it up, look at the feed closely. Smell it, and feed it. I do plan to get my own mixer and mix my own feed to insure everything gets into the feed that is supposed to be in there though. I just haven't committed the money to that yet. But I have stopped chasing that "secret mix" and boy it feels good to not stress about something in my life
Could I have bigger bucks if I did something different? Maybe. But you know what? If I can raise good deer with what I am feeding now then I know my deer are big because of the quality of the genetics and not the feed. And I think that is what people want to buy.
P.S. I don't mean that others shouldn't try and feed their deer a good mix, or strive to produce the biggest bucks they can. I didn't mean that at all. I just mean it feels good to me to have been able to get past worrying about it ALL the time.
That said I used to stress out and get frustrated each and every year with my feed mix. What should the mix all contain? How much of what minerals? Is there some "secret mix" that some guys are using? What do I feed the bucks and what doe I feed the does? Pellet or loose mix? And then all the problems with the feed mills around here. They would make my feed and then later say, "oops we forgot to put you soybeans in" or some other ingredient. I finally said enough all ready and picked one mix and have it made in small (1,000LB) batches in a loose mix. I pick it up, look at the feed closely. Smell it, and feed it. I do plan to get my own mixer and mix my own feed to insure everything gets into the feed that is supposed to be in there though. I just haven't committed the money to that yet. But I have stopped chasing that "secret mix" and boy it feels good to not stress about something in my life
Could I have bigger bucks if I did something different? Maybe. But you know what? If I can raise good deer with what I am feeding now then I know my deer are big because of the quality of the genetics and not the feed. And I think that is what people want to buy.
P.S. I don't mean that others shouldn't try and feed their deer a good mix, or strive to produce the biggest bucks they can. I didn't mean that at all. I just mean it feels good to me to have been able to get past worrying about it ALL the time.
Joined Apr 2009
702 Posts | 0+
Marquez, TX
IndependenceRanch said:The chance that cottenseed in any style our amount is enough for me to not use it at all.
That said I used to stress out and get frustrated each and every year with my feed mix. What should the mix all contain? How much of what minerals? Is there some "secret mix" that some guys are using? What do I feed the bucks and what doe I feed the does? Pellet or loose mix? And then all the problems with the feed mills around here. They would make my feed and then later say, "oops we forgot to put you soybeans in" or some other ingredient. I finally said enough all ready and picked one mix and have it made in small (1,000LB) batches in a loose mix. I pick it up, look at the feed closely. Smell it, and feed it. I do plan to get my own mixer and mix my own feed to insure everything gets into the feed that is supposed to be in there though. I just haven't committed the money to that yet. But I have stopped chasing that "secret mix" and boy it feels good to not stress about something in my life
Could I have bigger bucks if I did something different? Maybe. But you know what? If I can raise good deer with what I am feeding now then I know my deer are big because of the quality of the genetics and not the feed. And I think that is what people want to buy.
P.S. I don't mean that others shouldn't try and feed their deer a good mix, or strive to produce the biggest bucks they can. I didn't mean that at all. I just mean it feels good to me to have been able to get past worrying about it ALL the time.
Thanks Roger and I hear what you're saying. I look forward to that day that I don't have to stress about the mixture of my feed
I think I'm going to just remove the cottonseed meal and go straight soybean. Will it make a difference? I don't know, but I agree that why take the risk.We feed all of our deer a 16% pellet that is a soybean based pellet with no cottonseed from a local mill but we also feed the bucks Record Rack 18% textured feed from March 1-September 1. All the pens have the pellets available year round and feed the textured in troughs. up to yearlings get 2.5#'s per head per day and 2's and up get 4#'s per head per day and never have any waste. We're topdressing the textured with oxyrack this year just to see what results, if any we get. Its kinda like Roger said, we got tired of trying to figure out what everybody else was doing or seeing this big buck on this or that feed and just picked a program and stuck with it. Our deer are happy, healthy and calm so I'm satisfied with what we have. One thing I did notice when we fed a higher protein cottonseed based feed was that our does took longer to get that "plump" healthy look back after fawing, thats what caused me to switch to soybean.
What is this stuff milk calcium????? feed addative or is it changing the physiology of the deer on it?
dennis, maybe i wasn't too clear feed $169.00 CDN/ tonne ( metric tonne = 2200 lbs) trucking costs 400.00 for a forty ton load. hope your heart starts back up again.
Just got 2 ton of custom mix pellets delivered in bulk today for $566 [$283/ton]. The price can really vary depending on the price of corn and beans. Cheapest that it's been in a year.