My father and I own a low fence ranch in Vance Texas which is in real county. We have large neighbors that rarely hunt at all. We currently are feeding free choice protien and corn spin feeders year round. There are numerous exotics along with a decent herd of whitetail. I was wanting to know our best bet for Protien, do we realy need top of the line or would a basic mummies brand do the job. Please be specific with the brand and protien%. I would appreciate any help!

It is going to be related to what your range can produce for you to help as to what you need. I like a 20% protein for all species with around 12% fiber and a good mineral package. The quality of feed you want is dependent on what you want from the animals long term. With exotics you will find that they will crowd out your whitetails from the feeders. When they do they that belly up to the bar and can eat a lot of feed. Unless you have deep pockets I would be hesitant to feed a upper end feed. A lot of exotics do not grow antlers and some do. So the feed you will need will be more for survival than trophy growth. I use Lyssy and Eckel feed and it does everything I need it to do. They have a dealer in Hondo as does Mummes.

What do you pay per 50lb bag?

I get it in bulk so it is going to be less than what you would get it for. How much are you using at one time to fill?

We fill two 800 pound protien feeders and fill a corn feeder with 50/50 mix corn and protien. And the free choice feeders do not last long at all every time my father goes up hes filling them up. We have talked about getting it in bulk and buying the equipment. Now do they come to you and fill up a large style hopper or do you go there and just fill up a auger or blower feed filler? And how much do you save by buying in bulk? Thank you for the help.

You generally save about $25 or $30 per ton when buying the same amount of bulk feed as you do bag feed when delivered. You can check with Lyssy and Eckel as they have rental auger trailers that you can use when you buy protein. I think Mummes has them also. If you are going to invest in Overhead bins and trailer you are talking lots of expense and for it to pay for itself in time you are going to have to use lots of feed to save that amount of money. Convience is one thing for having feed right there. Not sure if you ranch can hold more protein feeders but if you lease the trailer to fill your feeders then you could put more feeders out and make less trips. Distance comes into play on expenses also. Talk to the guys at L/E and Mummes I know them and either one is a good choice. They might know someone who has used equipment for sale also.

Thank you for the help. We bought all of our feed from Mummies in the past because it was near our ranch which was in Hondo But now since we have moved out towards Barksdale we buy in Uvalde. You are correct about the distance issue, Its a pain to drive all that way from the ranch into Hondo for feed.