CATCHING UP!

          Doesn’t it just feel like this year is flying by? We have had several projects going on here to keep me busy! For example finishing up our front yard conversion from lawn to a patio and pathways. To conserve water all the plants are under drip irrigation. The entire project took about 9 months and we are still putting the final touches on it. I felt like I needed a deadline to help me get motivated on this project so we scheduled with Kirk Atkins to do a Farriers Clinic and demonstration on proper hoof care to be held on the not yet finished patio! That did the trick, along with not wanting to be stuck working on the project in weather like we are having today....106 degrees! We got the patio ready and the seminar was a great success with around 65 attending. Kirk is now retired from UCD and owns Ethiquotics, supplier of horseshoeing tools and specialty shoes. If you missed this seminar and you have a chance to attend one of his lectures it is time well spent. He was the Farrier at UCD for many years and had the benefit of seeing X-rays before and after he worked on a horses hooves! How many farriers have this benefit? This gives him special insight on horseshoeing and he enjoys sharing it! Good stuff!

Here are a few pictures of some of you enjoying the seminar.........

          Other projects we are still busy with are the addition of a breezeway cover between our hay and feed barns, installing the fire sprinkler system for it, and still in progress is the installation of the sprinkler monitoring system now required by code. Whew! Almost done!

 

WHAT DOES THE CURRENT MARKET REPORT HAVE FOR US??

 

          In past newsletters I have discussed Market Reports and how they influence feed prices. In a nutshell a little negative news and prices climb, much the same way that negative news causes the Stock Market to decline. Normally feed prices quickly rise and are slow to come down. Recently the corn and especially soybean (protein) prices began climbing. A positive report came out and products with corn quickly came down, items that contained soybean probably will come down in the next month or so. Good news for any that buy feed. Hay prices are stable and lower than in previous years. Alfalfa and Rye quality are good. Oat and Three Way (Oat Mix) are lower quality than other years....having some yellowing and thick stems due to late rains. The Mountain Grass is some of the best we have ever seen, and the price on this hay still is high. Orchard Alfalfa is good quality.

 

EVENTS

 

          Recently we had our first Chicken Seminar. We had a group of 30 or so that enjoyed hearing Dr. Maurice Pitesky DVM from UCD talk about small flock health and diseases. This proved to be a quite educational evening and was well worth attending. I learned a lot! We will have to do it again!

The next event will be in October.....our annual Customer Appreciation Day! This is our yearly big event where we pay the sales tax for the day! We will have the usual goodies and Denise will be wowing everyone with her inventive appetizers! This is always a lot of fun for us and a great way for us to thank all our customers!

Thank you for your business!!!!!

 

Roland

SUMMER IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

     It’s hard to believe but spring is winding down and blink your eyes....it will be summer! The off and on showers we have been receiving in between some rather warm days have me confused as to what time of year it is. Anyway, some things to think about ..... It might be a good idea to tackle that fencing or repair project you have been putting off before the weather really turns hot! Next time you come in the Feed Store driveway check out my landscaping project! Two years ago we stopped watering the front lawn so it has looked kind of dismal. Last fall we finally poured a stamped concrete patio and now we are almost finished with the whole project! Wow, am I ready to be done!

     I think it is looking better than it has ever looked too! It has been a fun and rewarding project. Since I am not a landscaper we have been kind of making things up as we go. Denise and I had the basic vision of what we wanted but it has changed quite a bit from the original plan, in a good way I think. For example we would be thinking of a certain plant or bush, consult with our friends at Lemuria Nursery out on Serpa Lane who would advise us against certain plants that won’t do well in our area. Also I don’t want any more plants that take off and require constant pruning or they get out of control! Lemuria always guides us in making the right choices! By the time you get this newsletter ( yes, it is a bit late! ), unless you read it on our website we will have had our first event on the patio. Kirk Adkins will put on a Horseshoeing Clinic May 22. That is a Sunday from 3-6. We have some nice refreshments planned.....be there! Kirk headed up the Farrier Dept. at UCD VMTH for many years. We are looking forward to his expert advice!

     With the days warming up I have one more reminder. The shelf life of feed, especially feed with molasses in it is much shorter during the warmer part of the year. If your feed is stored in cans or barrels make sure it can breathe by leaving the lid a little loose and not allowing direct sunlight to hit it. If there is any moisture in it at all the heat causes it to sweat, and mold sets in quickly. Be careful how much you buy so that you can use it all up in 30 days or less.

WHERE DID THE RAIN GO?

          Dixon has enjoyed a nice series of storms that have given us up to 10 inches +/- of rainfall so far this year. I think average is around 16 inches so we sure do need more! Forecasters are saying second half of March should be wet......Let’s hope so. Due to the drought we decided to stop watering our front lawn and to eventually replace it with a concrete patio. We took advantage of the recent dry spell to get the patio poured and will be spending the next couple of months landscaping around it.

          It is really nice to move forward with the project and get rid of the ugly mess we had in our yard! We did this of course to save precious water, but a fringe benefit is we plan to use it for future feed store events! Stay tuned.......

WE HAVE PLANNED OUR FIRST EVENT FOR 2016!

          Mark your calendars if you like the sound of this one. May 22 we are planning to have Kirk Adkins (former UCD Farrier and Instructor of Equine Science) put on a horse-shoeing clinic. This event will consist of a lecture, demonstration, and question and answer session. Kirk lectures all over the world on this subject, so we feel privileged to have him do one here. Kirk is a Certified Journeyman Horse-shoer and owner of Equithotics, Inc. (a manufacturer of horse-shoer and farrier equipment). More to come on this one!

ALL MARKETS ARE CURRENTLY STABLE

          Should I say it? I am hesitant because the last few times I put it in the newsletter things started changing even before we went to print! Almost all markets that affect the feed business are relatively stable at this time. We receive monthly price updates for feed and are seeing little to no change. Our hay supply is excellent, and pricing is stable as well. Fencing, gates, and wire pricing are seeing little to no change.

31 YEARS IN BUSINESS..... IN JUST A FEW MONTHS 32 YEARS!

     In the past couple newsletters I have enjoyed sharing tidbits of information about our business, going all the way back to the beginning in 1984. This time I thought it would be fun to talk about Scott and his history with us.

     In 1993 we were looking for a delivery person and put a help wanted notice up at UCD. Scott was a student there and put in an application. I remember a very persistent young man who contacted me several times asking if we were ready to hire him. Actually, I was kind of impressed by his tenacity while thinking to myself, “this kid is really pestering me!”

     Scott’s side of that part of our story is even more humorous. He tells me that he just couldn’t understand why anyone would not hire him. After all, he’d been hired on the spot for all his previous jobs! In his words, “I was so naïve I thought it would be that way no matter where I applied for work!” The story wouldn’t be any fun if we didn’t hire him... right?

     Scott worked here until early 1997 when he accepted a position with a local hay press (we have four in our local area. A hay press company takes a regular hay bale, double compresses it, then loads the bales on ocean containers for overseas shipment). What kind of an employee was Scott at that time? He was one of, if not the hardest working individual we had ever hired. He took care of our equipment and kept it all in good repair, and just flat worked hard!

     I remember one occasion when we were doing a delivery together. I was on top of a stack and he was feeding bales of hay up to me on a hay elevator. Back at that time there weren’t many people that could out-work me on a stack of hay. That day it was hot! I remember we were nearly finished and I wanted very badly to take a break for water and to rest a bit. But stubborn me... I would always wait for the other guy to cry “U N C L E!” then we would stop! Well, Scott didn’t say a word! I was getting all cotton mouthed (when your mouth dries so bad you can’t swallow) but I stuck it out until we finished, whew!