The feed truck pictured here, has been in use for about a year now at MacFarlane Pheasants. In the past we had feed delivered from a third-party vendor. The feed truck purchase has definitely improved our ability to take charge of our feeding schedule and costs.
Our truck holds 15-18 tons of feed in its 6 compartments. We analyzed the cost benefit of owning our own truck and found the yearly savings for feed to be at about 35%. Owning our own truck means we have complete control of where our truck goes and what goes into it. This eliminates many bio-security issues and our birds always benefit from added safety features.
Now that we have our own truck, we take it to the feed mill and pull under a chute that fills the truck from above. The truck sits on a scale and is weighed, after being filled, in order for the feed mill to bill us for the contracted feed. We immediately enter this information into our own reconciliation spreadsheet.
Once we get the truck home we use it to feed our outside birds by filling their feeders directly in the pens. We feed our inside birds by filling the feed bins that are then brought inside. This is a daily job so our feed truck is in constant use!
Everyone on the farm benefits from the feed truck. Obviously, it is a lot easier to drive our truck around the property to feed the birds. It is also a much more efficient use of employee time. Because feed is our 2nd highest annual cost and labor is our number one cost, we all benefit from the efficient use of a feed truck!
