Supplement Snafu
February 5th, 2014 · 2 Comments · Posted in farming
Emily, our Jersey heifer, loves living with our sheep. That does present some issues. Because she’s still a growing girl, Emily gets a ration of grain twice a day. I feed her individually out of a bucket and try best as I can to fend off the sheep. But sheep and cows do have some different nutritional needs. They all need a variety of minerals in their diet. But cows need some copper, whereas copper is toxic to sheep.
Up to now I’ve been keeping a bowl of “sheep and goat” mix in the paddock. It has no copper in it, so the sheep can eat it as well as Emily. But what to do about Emily’s copper? I consulted with a nutritionist at the Sweetlix company in Minnesota, the maker of our mineral supplement. After explaining that I wanted something that didn’t contain the usual medications that are blended into these bovine mineral mixes, she recommended a product called “4 Percent Phos.” Luckily, she said, our regional supplier stocked it.
Or so we thought. I placed a special order at the feed store in Greenwich and was told it would take a couple of weeks. Well, a couple of weeks turned into a month. A month turned into two months. Numerous phone calls were exchanged. I visited the feed store three or four times to check for progress and eventually involved the store’s owner in what was becoming an epic battle to obtain two bags of 4 Percent Phos.
The product distributor, I was told, had assured the store it was coming, only to be disappointed by the Sweetlix supplier over and over again. Or was it the distributor who was fibbing?
Finally, I got a call saying my two bags of supplement were on their way. The feed store had insisted the delivery be expedited UPS.
I arrived at the store. The bags were in two separate boxes. We opened one box to find the bag torn beyond repair, its 50 pounds of supplement spilling all over. The second bag also had a tear, but it was fixable.
I left with the one bag, only to get yet another call from the feed store the following day. The Sweetlix distributor wanted to make a gift out of the torn up bag of supplement. Did I want to come get it?
And that’s how I got a year’s supply of mineral supplement for our cow.
Well the the deal I have heard of in a long time!! — barbara
Barbara, did you mean to say the best deal you’ve heard of in a long time? If you mean 50 pounds of free heifer supplement, I can’t argue.