Was doing some price checking on different feeds today seems like most have went up almost $5/bag anyone wanna share there experience,?

I don't know about you guys but throwing $200/month into feed for my pond is getting hard to justify..

Gave just over $37 for AQ500 last week. That's about $3 more than I paid last year.

I Like to feed what they feed at the hatchery so I use melic aqua feed, but the price hasn't gone up at all.

I might have to start looking into cheaper less quality feeds myself. More quantity less quality maybe.. I don't know I'm kinda bummed.. Or switch back to one feeder and just have big fish in one section of my pond lol.. Sucks I know that..

I just gave $37 a bag for AM500&600. I don't game fish chow was whole lot cheaper.

Feed prices are based on ingredient pricing. Fish meal has jumped in price due to low harvest of Peruvian anchovy and because corn prices have skyrocketed due to ethanol production. When corn prices went up, so did many of the other grains.
"Cheaper" feed is made with cheaper ingredients. Based on your goals and the species you feed, that's how to choose the best feed and work within your budget. If you want to grow huge fish, you must use a feed with adequate fish meal. If you want to grow fish for fun, or raise fish such as catfish or tilapia, grain-based, less expensive feeds may work just fine.

Basically exactly what the feed salesman told me Bob.. Obviously I have champagne taste on a beer budget lol.. I want the best for my prized BG but is there any alternative to the high dollar stuff that would still be beneficial? Or would feeding more of the "cheaper" stuff be beneficial (obviously not if its indigestable) but is there any happy mediums? I'm not knocking any of the makers and I know there products work but prices are only gonna keep rising and at some point when is it just totally not practical $50/bag $75/bag $100 they kinda have us by the bag so to speak..

BGK, exact same $37 here. I've gone to a 2/1 Gamechow/Aquamax mix for the "fun" feeder. Aquamax only for the grower feeders.

BGK, I don't know off of the top of my head, but see if you can somehow check into the level of N & P that the fish leave in the pond as waste from both types of feed. If the level is higher from the cheaper feed, you might burn up the food savings in $$ spent on weed/algae treatments.

I just bought 4 bags of AM600 on Tuesday. My price increased about $2/bag. But, since the price of diesel is higher, maybe some of the increased prices that you guys are seeing are also increased transportation costs in addition to increased raw material costs.

Transporting costs are probably a huge factor here. Everybody blamed the price of wheat on the price of bread going up.... but with wheat at $9.00/bushel.. there is a 11 cents in one loaf of bread.

Fuel charge on average is 1 cent per mile for every 6 cent increase in diesel per gallon at the pump. That covers shipping for atleast 40,ooo# of freight. The numbers I looked at last week says it currently takes a average of 58 cents per mile to haul frieght even though I show it higher in actuallity. A lot of staes allow 88,000 GVW on the back roads (Class 8 Trucks max rating is 92,500 GVW in most applications). If the federal governement would increase Interstate commerce to the 88,000 level it would instantly cut the cost per mile on alot of freight shipped by near 20%. This in turn would allow for a smaller carbon footprint, cheaper gas because demand would drop for fossil fuel.
This will never happen as the government lines its pockets by forcing transportaion to buy more fuel. Considering Diesel has to pay 6 cents per gallon more tax than gas. My figure show it takes 9 cents per mile for hauling Class 8 freight just to pay the taxes on diesel fuel in 2012. And I do not even want to make my blood boil by going into the cost of shipping increase due to EPA Clean Air over the last 10 years.
/off sopabox

First no big price change here yet. Up .60 from last year on AM 600.

BG do not have to be feed 40% + protein. I use GameFish Chow and AM 600 unless I am doing a growout program . Then I stick with AM - fry , 400 , 500 , 600 or mix them up if multisized BG. There are ample studies showing 32% protein is enough for BG if fish meal is used. Will they grow a little more using 40% , sure they will. But they still grow well on 32%.

Shipping costs due to increased fuel costs are hurting a lot of businesses in this country. Not much we can do about it though.

I would much rather use less of quality feed than more of lesser quality feed. Even just the slightest supplement of super high quality feed gives your fish an unbelievable edge.

Definitely dont just give up on your fish feeding altogether due to higher feed costs, but definitely dont overextend the budget either. The most successful longterm pond mgmt program is achieved by laying out a plan that you and your family are comfortable with. The plan is important and is based upon a budget you would be comfortable with spending on the pond annually.

A good consultant (or this forum) can help you achieve your pond goals within your comfort level of spending.

I'm considering cutting down on feeding myself this year, but it's motivated by Shawn Banks' experiment - cutting off the feed for 8 weeks and allowing his apex predators [SMB/HSB] to hammer the forage [BG]. He witnessed a significant reduction in stunted BG population [his primary goal] and his predator fish didn't appear to drop WR. I have an dense GSH and BG population which could use some additional management than I can provide via angling, cast netting and trapping.

$35 for AM500. Trying to grow HBG like you and Spark.

Bob is right. The corn has forced my company to look for alternatives. Not just carbs, but protein too. Nothing is going to get cheaper.

TJ most of the food will be eaten by the BG so reducing that will hurt the entire BG population. Best idea is to reduce feed size if predators are eating food. That way the BG still eat enough of the smaller pellets and the predators hammer the BG. In short feed the forage and not the predators.

TJ, you can greatly reduce the feed and still do as Ewest says to get much better results than simply shutting it off altogether...

You can bump down to 400 and 500 and change up the feed times and locations...

Good call guys.

Yeah I just paid 37 bucks a bag myself for the am400 and 600. I paid 30 last year. So yeah prices are going up for sure. I just compensate by reducing my feeding times some and make those fish actually work for some food once in a while!! Plus maybe I will catch a few more too when I go fishing!!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have to ask this and please don't take it the wrong way. For those of you that are putting a few hundred dollars worth of feed a month into your ponds is it really necessary? How many pounds of fish do you need in your ponds? Do you really need to to feed and catch a few thousand pounds of fish every month, and do you even have time to do it even with the help of family and friends?

I just moved temporarily to a holding pond about 350 trophy size yellow perch, over 100 trophy size bluegills, and have had up to a 100 or so adult feed trained smallmouth in my .62 acre pond, and I feed at the most two bags off feed a month. I wouldn't even have this many fish in the pond if it wasn't for the fact that I sell them. I also only feed once per day vs. the recommended twice per day and my fish are still too fat!

Pumping in large amount of feed has its downsides too, as in increase filamentous algae and macrophypte production.

Just saying and I hope I'm not going to make someone mad, but we sometimes have a tendency to do things in excess an I'm definitely guilty of that. Fortunately budget constraints have caused me to take hard look at where I'm doing things in excess and I'm cutting back.

Its about management ! Each to his/her on liking. From my perspective its called Supplemental Feeding. We don't do aquaculture but others do. Who am I to tell them they are wrong. A good discussion though. It really does "all depend" on the situation on the ground/pond and ones goals. I will say each of us needs to understand all the +s and -s and make up their own mind.

Cecil, I experienced this exact thing happen last Fall. I have one particular area in the big puddle that holds tons of CNBG, and this was the FA problem area also. I went to 6 one second throws a day and had far better results. I know that the 15 minute rule is the standard, but wind and waves really stacked $37 Aquamax on the banks with the longer throw times.

Besides, it kept the CNBG very handy for fishing.

Cecil, for me a pond is for sport fishing ....period!!!
Like Eric says.."Its about management ! Each to his/her on liking."

I want to grow my fish as fat as I can and quick as I can.
When I can go to our ponds and catch numbers of trophy size CNBG and a 4 or 5 lb HSB each trip, it don't get any better than this.

Yeah, I overfeed at times but manage with tilapia and
"state of art" aeration systems but can't control drought shrinkage water body but have a blast with my flies...

Never eat my pets and not a "aint that pretty pond" guy - strictly sport fishing for me.....
Cull a lot of fish to little pond tho...

By the way, just switched to Cargill feed - Texas Hunter feeder won't handle those big AQMX 600 pellets - Overton checked feeder - spin plate on max setting.
G/

I too go through about 2 bags in about a month in a half actually. So I am spending a little over 300 bucks over the whole feeding season
which stops for me about mid October or so. Course if you have a larger pond with multi feeders in place I could see where it could add up quick!!

RC

Absolutely and I didn't want to imply aquaculture or my way is the right way or whatever. I just think it's easy to get caught up in the feeding and before you know you've got a monkey on your back.

Or expensive fatty livers. But you could also end up with very nicely conditioned 125 RW fish to catch , sell , take pics of and be proud of (it's not bragging if you can do it) !

Or maybe even a fish or two with Wr over 150%........and I feed once a day, by hand.

sprkplug you don't have fish you have pigs/hogs !

.......I'd spoon feed em' if I thought it would help!

Other than keeping a certain "group" of money/tax grubbing folks out of a job....

I think that you will find, when it comes to money/tax grubbing, the "group" list is exhaustively extensive!

George,
Let me know how your bluegills like the cargill feed or if you notice any difference at all in feed activity from the switch....

No change in normal feeding activity Nate, but they have been off and on with these big temperature swings.
Just ran out of Cargill so will be back on AQMX this order - they better have the 600 regular size this time!
G/

George my last AM 600 purchase was back to normal. You should be ok. Still hand feeding the old big stuff.

I sure hope so Eric - loyal Purina AQMX customer for all these years and they pull a stunt like this in peak feeding season and no one to hand feed - they should have had a recall - I'm still hacked..
George

I was not to happy myself and had to make other arrangements as well.