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Anyone feed game feed corn?

4K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  Dreen 
#1 ·
I am just wondering if any one of feed the corn they have at TSC that is labeled for wild game. I was looking at it the other day and it is over a dollar cheaper a bag than what is labeled for livestock. I am just wondering if there is much difference in quality.
 
#4 ·
Myra,
You could compare the tag and see how it compares nutritionally to the stock feed. Then check the ingredients to see what is different in it and what is not in it that is in the stock. My guess is there is some major differences, possibly in vitamins.
We feed whole corn so that alone would not discourage me.
Tim
 
#7 ·
Aflatoxins run rampant in "deer corn" here! Yes, it's cheaper but is it worth taking the chance that it has the toxins in it??

Just yesterday I was looking in a bag of deer corn that my dad has been putting out for his deer stand. OH,MY GOD...it had corn stuck together with mold, kernels that were green. AND he had just bought the corn, went to deer camp, put some out, and stopped by on his way home....so it hadn't been sitting in a damp spot that would normally cause mold. It was in a climate controlled store.

No, thank you...I won't go there.
Kaye
 
#9 ·
you don't want to chg your goats over to corn anyway. Corn is just a candy so you use it as you would candy to a child. very sparingly for instance I use 25 lb cracked corn to my 225 lb of other grains.
 
#10 ·
Sondra,
Up here in the cold north, it is almost essential to use corn for it's energy value. We feed sparingly to younger does and does not bred, but for pregnant late term does who are on a frozen pasture and can utilize the energy with the excersize they are getting moving from water to hay to shelter, it is a very good feedstuff.
Tim
Sondra said:
you don't want to chg your goats over to corn anyway. Corn is just a candy so you use it as you would candy to a child.
Sondra said:
you don't want to chg your goats over to corn anyway. Corn is just a candy so you use it as you would candy to a child. very sparingly for instance I use 25 lb cracked corn to my 225 lb of other grains.
 
#11 ·
agree it is high energy but Tim she stated she would stick with her oats which led me to believe she was thinkg abt chging from oats to corn and that IMO would not be a good idea. Yep I use some corn but not as a sole source of grain.
 
#13 ·
Tim - Right now I am feeding oats. I have always fed oats and the girls do good on them during the warmer months - but like you said in your post, because of the colder weather here - I think the girls need a little more energy during the winter time. I am just doing some comparative shopping right now and try to get ideas so to what I can add to the oats to give them more energy. I saw the game feed the other day and was surprized to see that it was cheaper than the other bagged corn that they were selling and I was wondering why. But I will always use oats as the main grain source for their grain - just because it is easy to get locally and much cheaper than feeding corn. (Sorry for the confusion! I should have made that clear in my first post! :blush)
 
G
#14 ·
Since I used to work in deer and turkey management, and fed both corn and raw soy beans by the truck loads, let me tell you what I have seen. Kaye is very close to my way of thinking about the deer corn. The deer corn usually has a lot more "trashy" stuff in each bag, and for the most part is usually a low grade of corn. Now some years the deer corn looked just as good as feed corn, but most often that is not the case. I doubt that a little of the deer corn would kill your goats, but for a buck more a bag, I would rather buy the good stuff.
There is an old saying around here with old timers who raise goats..." a little bit of corn goes a long way" ....meaning that if they feed corn at all, it will be only a few grains per feeding, mixed in with there other grains.
I did some research a few years back on corn and deer......and many biologist came to this conclusion about feeding corn as a primary feed.....they claimed that if you put a deer in a pen, and fed him nothing but corn and grass hay, that they would starve to death.
I can tell you first hand, that when we were using the mostly corn as a supplemental food for deer, that I saw very little increase in the size of bucks racks, or the overall healthy appearance of the deer. Most deer that were harvested did have a good padding of fat atop their hips, and a good role around their gut. We really didn't see any big improvement in the herd until we dropped the corn and started using the raw soy beans. The change was so drastic, that it was very noticeable within the first year......huge racks, hair that looked like it had been waxed, color that was pronounced. The bucks when in rut, looked like they were on steroids or something.
Seeing this made me draw the conclusion pretty quick, that the corn just wasn't much of a benefit at all, other than the fact that the deer would really eat it well .
 
#15 ·
Myra adding a little corn and of course doing it gradually will help also BOS and beet pulp but corn is the cheaper of the three and doesn't take a lot or a lot of money when you think abt it.
My cracked corn here is a lot cheaper than my oats. But then again you could add corn oil or sunflower oil drizzled over your oats and add that fat and energy too. Think that is what Vicki is doing this year.

The bucks when in rut, looked like they were on steroids or something
Yep and that is possibly right as soy has a lot of hormones in it.
 
#16 ·
Sondra - How much oil would you add to a 32 lb bucket of oats? Would you just add enough to kind of "wet" it? I am looking for any ideas. BOSS is terribly expensive here. I think it is over $17.00 for 50 lbs.
 
#17 ·
I'm not 100% positive but I think that Texas A&M just completed or is still working on a study that is saying corn may not be a good thing for ruminants. Yeah they love the taste but don't digest it as completely as they should. We feed our ladies MOB-BOSS. Milo,Oats,Barley and Sunflower seeds in the milkstand. Don't now of any specifics against milo. And yes I know where molasses comes from :lol so the milo is the smallest part of the grain mix. When compared to corn in protein, TDN, NE, and phosphorus, they are about the same. However in calcium milo wins by about 5 to 1.
 
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