Feed Change!

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I recently learned that the feed order mix-ups at your local stores may not be their fault. They are ordering the correct feed but being shipped the wrong thing. Apparently there has been a mix-up and the product numbers the feed stores have are different from those at the Purina mills. My feed store recently order me a case of the Fibre3 and he received the garden mix with the veggies in it. The code he has for Fibre3 shows up at the mill as the code for the garden veggie mix feed, so that is what they sent. He has had lot of problems with it lately and finally called Purina to figure out what was wrong. This is what they told him and that they are trying to fix the problem. The new changeover in feeds has also not helped the situation and they hope to have it under control in the next 6 to 8 months. It is a problem in several areas, so this may be the situation at your local feed supplier. If you really like your supplier and their prices are good, talk to them to see if this is the problem. They may need to make a phone call to their mill to get the correct product codes so everyone is on the same page.
 
My problem is that my feed store claims they are putting in my order and then they conveniently forget. This has happened 6 times this year. One time I was literally down to crumbs. This last time was them ordering the wrong feed, or getting the wrong feed. Who knows. All I know is that they have been messing up more and more and they just shrug it off.

GAH!
 
My biggest issue has been with mill dates. Ronda in Hermiston, OR (3 hrs away) can get feed that is only a few weeks from the mill date that comes from the same mill as my feed. My store (right here in the same city as the mill) tries to send me home with feed that 5+ months old. They've also sent me home with bags that are ripped open and wet inside (partly my fault for not inspecting bag as they loaded, but still). They'll take back anything I have an issue with without any trouble, but it happens way too often, along with a couple other little things.
 
I have also had the same problem with mill dates. Not as much lately, but about 6 months ago I had to get them to send 3 bags back.
 
arf2184 said:
Manna Pro is a different brand. I was given a bag of Manna Pro Sho by mistake once and decided to try it....the chins wouldn't touch it.
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I use Manna Pro and my chinnies love it. All gained weight when I switched and I'm still seeing weight gains, some are as small as a garm but its still a weight gain lol

Glad Manna Pro is for sure a different brand. I would have cried if it wasn't. There are no feed store near me that carry anything other than Manna Pro or Mazuri.
Had a bad ordeal with the Mazuri carriers and had to switch the chins after waited about 3 months on a bag of food I order a month before the chins ran out. Would hate to go back to them.
Besides, what I now pay for 50 lbs of Manna Pro, I was paying $3 more for a 25 lb bag of Mazuri. 50 lb bag last longer hehe
 
Pretty sure the Purina mill is on Trent. Aslin Finch has a mill on Sprague--they distribute Purina feeds at their stores, but also make their own line of feeds (under brand names LMF Horse feed, Golden Harvest, and Palouse Feed).
 
arf2184 said:
These are all the same 'brand' (Purina). Just different formulas/feeds. The new Show formula looks promising as the one you should buy. The Fibre3 (the one that is supposed to be available in 7 lb bags) looks promising as well. Now it's just a matter of trying them out to see if they are as good in practice as they are on paper.
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I just want to make sure none of the brands have anything that is specifically bad for chins. I don't show or breed my chin, so I'm not too worried about her having top notch fur or anything like that. All I care about is that she's healthy and happy.
 
Yeah Essentia, that sounds like a feed store that doesn't care if they keep your business or not, and that's a shame. Arf, some of the tractor supply stores around here are like that too. I went to one tonight and they had bags of feed that were milled in march. I don't understand why they order feed and keep it stocked when they're not selling it. They should stock a feed that sells and special order anything else as people need it. But I guess that would be too easy! I don't know what I'm going to do for feed now since I haven't been to find what I want. I will probably just change them over to Manna Pro Sho since TSC stocks it.
 
Ok, I picked up the bag of Rabbit Chow Show this morning. My husband carried in the bag and stated as he dropped it on the floor that he thought it smelled exactly like PANR. I open the bag and literally stuck my entire head in it to sniff. I found it also smelled like my normal bag of PANR. I gave all the chins a small bowl of the new stuff as well as their regular bowls of PANR. Only one chin went to the new food and actually took a piece. The rest so far have turned their noses up at it. I can't say much off that alone though because they did the same thing when I did the switch from Mazuri to PANR. So far we are getting these reactions: 1-ok, 5-meh. Hopefully it gets better over this next week.
 
Update: They seem to be starting to eat it, though I am definitely going through more hay. We'll give it some more time and see what happens.

Tara, how is your herd doing? I know you were having a rough time as well.
 
Mine are either ignoring it or dumping it. Going through roughly a pound of hay cubes each per week now. I'm not sure what I'm going to change to yet.

Edited to say I picked up a 20lb bag of Complete to try last Saturday, mixed it 50/50 with the new Show. It smelled the same and they haven't touched it either.
 
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I just picked up one of the last two bags of PANR in stock at my feed store today. I should've bought both but I figured when it comes to it I'm going to have to switch no matter what so I got this last bag of PANR and when I'm halfway through it (in a week or two) I'll grab one of the new ones and see how my chins do.

I'm not thrilled but we'll see.
 
so frustrating because i just finally got all my boys on PANR. I am hoping my feed store has one bag left that will last me a bit until I hear some good feedback stories!
 
i just ordered a bag of PANR 16% last month they didnt say anything about it being discontinued. i got the bag the last week in november...... this sucks because they all eat it better then tradition pellets.
 
My feed store didn't know anything about it beforehand either. They actually ordered me Purina Advanced Nutrition Show Formula because that's what they were used to ordering. When the food arrived it was the Rabbit Chow Show Formula, which is when they found out the other had been discontinued. I fully expected it to be the new formula, but I had my fingers crossed that they might have still had a few bags of PANR left.

On a side note, they are still nibbling the new stuff a bit, or just eating the PANR out of the bowl. I can't tell because the new and the old look exactly the same. All I know if the bowls are going down the tiniest bit. I still have my fingers crossed.
 
I currently have three open feed bags here: 1/2 bag of PANR (milled in Sept), full bag of Fibre3 (milled in Nov), full bag of Rabbit Chow Show (milled Dec 14th). I'm switching half the herd to Fibre3 (9 chins, varying ages) and half to the new Show (9 adults, 1 with kit) to see which (if either) I like better. It's only been a few days, but the chins seem to like the Fibre3 better.

The Fibre3 smells a bit stronger and seems to be a firmer pellet. The Show smells the same as PANR. While the pellets are the same size in diameter (likely just because they're from the same mill), the Fibre3 pellets hold together better than the Show or the PANR making for more longer pellets in the bag. The Fibre3 is slightly darker in color than PANR. The Show I have is darker than both the PANR and the Fibre3.

Of the 9 chins that are switching to Fibre3, 8 acted like I was giving them a treat when I first offered some Fibre3 pellets. The 1 that didn't show much interest is not keen on new things, but I did see her chowing down after the Fibre3 had been in her cage for about a 1/2 hour.

Of the 9 adults switching to the Show, only 4 seemed excited about it in their initial response. 1 took a pellet, tasted it, then dropped it. The other 4 showed little or no interest.
 
sorry Michelle but they are selling the new stuff now - I went on Friday to Rosedale Mills and that was what they. I still have a 1/2 bag of the PANR so I won't know how my chins react to the new stuff for a week
 
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