It's no secret that the center of the country is in trouble. Every night on the news is another shot of crops dying in the fields and rivers drying up to nothing. With all of that comes higher feed costs for us, and for the homesteaders out there, our critters.
Living in the south we saw what the Texas wild fires did to hay prices last year. We were amazed and then appalled by the number of animals going for cheap or free because even in our state, hay prices had doubled in some areas, if you could find some at all. We were lucky that we bought early and from a guy that we've been buying from for years. I shudder to think what we might have had to fork out if not for a very kind and honest hay producer.
The last two trips to the feed store have seen an increase. From April, feed at our local feed mill is up over 15% and will continue to climb for the foreseeable future. With three goats, two donkeys, two dozen turkeys, a dozen ducks, 60 chickens and seven llamas, I am concerned. Not to mention the two humans, a cat and a dog that also live here. And yes, be ready, because the pet food industry has said that it's foods are getting ready to increase as well.
As a homesteader, our answer on the poultry front is to downsize, and for us that means butchering. 18 of our chickens are roosters that were already marked for the freezer, but with feed prices what they are, my older hens will be next when the pullets start laying in October.
Being a prepper means that I've been able to spread out the increases, but with no end in sight I have to be careful about cutting into our reserves. I am adding two more trash cans for feed, and increasing the amount that we have on hand. The drought today means that even if things turn around next year, we won't see a return to lower prices until next fall at harvest time at best. And I wouldn't count on that.
On the human front, we have enough stored to weather the drought until next year when we can grow and put up more of our own.
With one in six people in our country now on food stamps however, I am worried that a long term drought is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. As the prices continue to increase it's going to be harder and harder to stretch those government assistance dollars. Frustrations spill over, and the desperate.... well, they do desperate things.
If you don't have some food put away, please do yourself and your family a favor and start. Things like this are what we preppers have been preaching for awhile. The world doesn't have to be coming to an end to make what we do pay off. It's the hard times that are the bigger threat.
Just some food for thought.
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