Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Aquamax local pricing, just curious.

Mike, I'll call Bar MM Feed in Culver tomorrow.

Update:

Bar MM Feed doesn't have AM600 right now, it'll be Tuesday until they get their next shipment. They do have 400 and 500. Pricing is the same as last year. $29.60/bag of 500 (plus sales tax if applicable).

GFC - $19.75
AM 500 - $33
AM 600 - $33

AM 500 $37

$37 without tax

I'm gonna have to move! $48.75, plus tax, for 50 lbs., of AM 400 here! Actually, I'm going back to Li'l Strike and Big Strike just because of the cost difference.

How does Lil Strike and Big Strike compare as far as protein and price?

Where could I get some of it?

You dont want the big strike 32% protein too big a pellet. I sell as one of our options little stike for $19 and pay $16 for it. 36% protein and 6% fat 1/8" pellet 40 lb bag. No where near as good as Aquamax 500 but then again much cheaper. Hope that helps.

So it is around the same as GFC then?

I plan to start feeding AM 500 when they can order some for me and get it in.

Thanks

In WI it takes 2 weeks to get - why so dang long? Still waiting on the price.

Yes I think little strike is similiar in content to GFC but not the various sizes of GFC.

Timing really depends on what feed store is ordering they are not going to get you a few bags of food. They get it with other orders so it might take a few weeks to have enough other stuff for them to order. There are times also where the supply is limited as well.

Here are the tags from bags of Aquamax 500, Lil' Strike, and Big Strike.

For me, Aquamax 500 -- approx $50/50 lbs, or $1 per pound. (Edit: In fairness, if we use an average AQ-500 price of $35/50 lbs, that is about $0.70 per pound)
Lil' Strike -- Approx $20/40 lbs., or $0.50 per pound.
Big Strike -- Approx $17/40 lbs., or $0.43 per pound.

Aquamax 500





Lil' Strike


Big Strike

It'd be interesting to see just what "Animal Protein Products" are...........

It is the the stuff that is even too disgusting to put into hot dogs!

And Catmandoo chowder!!

Scott -- that may have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis!

Things like venison nose and redhorse suckerheads probably aren't USDA approved either, but . . .

That is some good eatn'

The redhorse suckerhead soup, especially when prepared with wild rice, is not quite as thick as a chowder, but it is a great soup/stew based dish.

As a kid, I ate a lot of mojakka/kalamojakka that was made from the skeletons and remains of fish that had already been pretty well picked over.

Today, in the US, only a few of us crazies still eat this stuff -- but it sure is a lot more appetizing to me than Aquamax or Big Strike.

Found a new local feed mill that will get AM 500 for about $34 compared to the $38 I was paying at another feed store. Even better when I walked in and stood at the counter guess what pond management magazine was lying there among the farm publications for the customers to see?

I do contract work at Omega Protein, a very large provider of fish meal and can tell you this, the price of fish meal has gone up considerably in the last two years.
The boats and planes that go out for the Pogie fish have had their fuel bills triple, just like everyone else.
So far, this looks like a pretty good year for fishing as the boats are coming in full, verses several years ago when fishing was poor.
Corporate is squeezing the plants to be as efficient as ever, as the costs to run the plants are becoming very high.
No different then any other facet of our lives, prices are going up for all the reasons that we know are true, yet our government tells us inflation is in check, sure.

I wonder why the Strike products don't say Fish meal if it is in there. Anyone know if they use fish meal ?

Bob Lusk spent a weekend of teaching/tutoring in our neighborhood earlier this year. During a visit to a neighboring farm he asked if we knew how to read the label on a bag of fish feed. We all admitted that we didn't really know what it truly meant. Like me, this other farm used Lil' Strike as their primary feed. It is what most of us use due to availability, and especially since it is about half the cost of Aquamax in our local area -- if we can get the local dealers to even order it for us.

I don't want to be wrong, or mis-construe what Bob said, but I believe that he said that we probably could not exceed bluegill weights above 1-1/2 pounds on Lil' Strike, while we probably could achieve bluegill above 2 lbs, possibly 3 lbs. on Aquamax.

I'd love to have a regular supplier of Aquamax. We have four supposed dealers in our local area. Two are Tractor Supply stores -- they apparently are not allowed to sell Aquamax due to some kind of contractual/territorial issues. We have two other independent feed stores within 50 miles of me who sell Purina products. As I've posted above, Aquamax cost me over $50 per 50 lb. bag. That dealer is about 40 miles away. The other Purina dealer, about 30 miles away, simply won't talk to me when I ask about Aquamax. I've been at the front counter at this dealer, and when I ask about it, they say they know nothing about Aquamax. My e-mails and phone messages have gone unanswered from this dealer.

It would be great if Pond Boss could put pressure on Purina to better distribute fish feed across the lower-48.

Dang Cat, I can get any AM product I want in about 2-3 weeks, and I'm way out here in the Pacific!

Ken, have you tried calling Purina themselves and expressing your plight?

I talked to the Purina Reps at the Conference. The Dealer has to order what they think they can sell. Purina just doesn't push the product out there.

Cat you are paying way too much. Check for alternatives.

That is disturbing. I lived in Wahiawa a very long time ago. I was one of the few haoles who broke into the Filipino neighborhood on Ohia Street. I was happy to just get Portuguese sausage and rice for breakfast, and lumpia for lunch. Mainland products were rare and a real luxury to find in the local businesses. We had to go to Arakowa's in Waipahu to get mainland tools and agriculture products. Where you live was basically off-limits because it was the local water supply. It was very dense jungle. Now and then I'd find my way to the water's edge. It was filled with millions of big tilapia.



Scott -- the last time I seriously talked to anyone from Purina about this, it was Mark Griffin. He basically referred me to their website. He left shortly after that.



I too have talked to Purina reps at the last two conferences. I think of it as being similar to where I work. I work for a company with 125,000 world-wide employees. At my level, with more 40 years in this business, and with a multi-million dollar annual income for the company, I'm not even a dot on the earnings charts. I have six levels of management above me! The top five levels have no idea what I do. They have no appreciation for the importance of what my team does, nor even how much profit I bring them. They just always want more money. Our CEO got $37 million last year. I'm guessing that Purina is a lot like where I work.



Eric -- you are absolutely right. I have some Aquamax left, but, I've gone back to Lil' Strike. I'd love to get Aquamax, for its quality and because Purina has been such a great supporter of Pond Boss. But, it is just too much of a hassle to get it ordered, to get it picked up on time, and it is way too expensive.

Ken, the next time you are going thru the area, let me know and I'll make sure that I have all that you want.