OK this is not good. Two more feed stores have closed their doors, both sold Purina as their primary feed with lower cost feeds as well. They were little family owned stores on the back roads here for many years. Gone. The one remaining that I use also sold Purina but will no longer carry it. I went to buy my feed yestarday and my feed man could not fill my order. He cannot afford to stock Purina any longer. Seems the problem is two fold: The first one being that Purina keeps driving up their costs and people here are refusing to pay it. The cheapest feed in the store was Omelene 100 at $12.95. Now why would anyone pay that when they could go 1/2 mile north to the local farmers Co-op and buy their best food for $8.50? Its all about the money, not the quality. He can't compete. The people will just no longer pay the prices.
The other problem is that last year, this area sold out most of their cows and horses due to the drought. There are empty pastures and barns everywhere that once were filled with horses and foals all over the place but no more. The major stables that were thriving up until about three years ago also closed and sold out. Usually there are wagon trains and horse back riders going up and down past my house constantly and I haven't seen any all summer long. Gone. Horses, mules, cows, just gone. For instance, there are only three people left on my road now that have horses including me, when there used to be about 30 horse owners on my road. My friends walking horse farm went from 60 head to 4 within the past year. So of course the feed stores aren't doing well when they are no longer equine around here to feed. Yes I am in a poor area, but this state is primary rural farming state so this is most definatley not good news. So far, things are not bouncing back in my area. I don't think this is temporary.
I also noticed that on the sales board, seems more farms than ever have liquidated for good. Usually we see a lot of "must sell to make room for new foals" but not this year. I'm seeing more farms just quitting for good.
Scary all around and just plain sad
The good news is that there is a surplus of hay now due to lack of horses and cows to feed. But it still is sad to see these things happening.
The other problem is that last year, this area sold out most of their cows and horses due to the drought. There are empty pastures and barns everywhere that once were filled with horses and foals all over the place but no more. The major stables that were thriving up until about three years ago also closed and sold out. Usually there are wagon trains and horse back riders going up and down past my house constantly and I haven't seen any all summer long. Gone. Horses, mules, cows, just gone. For instance, there are only three people left on my road now that have horses including me, when there used to be about 30 horse owners on my road. My friends walking horse farm went from 60 head to 4 within the past year. So of course the feed stores aren't doing well when they are no longer equine around here to feed. Yes I am in a poor area, but this state is primary rural farming state so this is most definatley not good news. So far, things are not bouncing back in my area. I don't think this is temporary.
I also noticed that on the sales board, seems more farms than ever have liquidated for good. Usually we see a lot of "must sell to make room for new foals" but not this year. I'm seeing more farms just quitting for good.
Scary all around and just plain sad
The good news is that there is a surplus of hay now due to lack of horses and cows to feed. But it still is sad to see these things happening.