Local Feed Stores.... Dang it

[j-bird]

I try to buy local if I can. Being in farm country it makes it easier as I have 2 larger seed/fertilizer/chemical co-ops at my disposal as well and 2 other places where I can buy forage type seed as well. Sure it's not fancy deer seed, but the deer don't seem to really care. I also have 2 large farm retail stores close as well if I just have to have something from a pretty bag.

The internet and the Bigger is better idea of retail has killed the small town business owner in many cases. Best thing about staying local is that you can often times get seed better suited to your area AND get some advice and help beyond the sale....from someone who knows what they are talking about. Try getting some help in a big box store sometime....

 

[bigbluetruck]

Y’all are lucky you don’t live on the coast. Being close to the ocean causes land prices to sky rocket. My family farm sold for $10k plus/acre (uncles didn’t want it so had to sell) and another family property is under constant threat. My aunt sold 8 acres to a neighbor for $20k plus per acre. The land is priceless to me, but not the rest of the family.

Theres good farmland that goes for $10k/acre around here, then theres pasture that brings $2k, and then the nutjobs that spend $5k/acre for swamp along the river, theres a piece my buddys uncle sold probably 10 years ago for that to some big shot out of Omaha, had a 1 room cabin on it, and the rest is swamp. Now theres a huge house and shed not 50ft from the river. But I know that house had at least 10ft of water in it this spring from the flooding. I wonder how much it cost to fix it all.

I try to buy local if I can, but sometimes their price is kind of out of line, I bought 50# of radish and PTT for some cover projects, cost me over $2/lb, but I can get it from Green cover seed for $1.65/lb, makes a big difference when it comes to large cover projects in our fields, saving say $1.50/acre on 300 acres or more can start to add up in a hurry.

I know I'm going to talk to the local COOP and see if we can work on the prices some more.