Archive for the ‘articles’ Category

Double Down Deer Feed & Mineral

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2022

Double Down Deer Feed at J&N Feed and Seed in Graham, Texas.Double Down Deer Feed and Double Down Custom Mineral are now available at J&N Feed and Seed.

Double Down Deer Feed is a custom blend originally created for the Holden Pasture Deer Lease.

  • Formulated with the highest quality ingredients.
  • Contains ZERO least-cost rations and ZERO grain by-products.
  • Includes a quality yeast culture to aid in digestion and support a healthy rumen.
  • Contains one of the highest pelletized TDN  (Total Digestible Nutrient) levels on the deer feed market.
  • Developed with proven attractants to draw in and attract overall consumption.

Double Down Custom Minerals  – Contains a vitamin package with increased concentrations of Vitamin A, Double Down Deer Feed Custom Mineral available at J&N Feed and Seed.Vitamin D, and Vitamin E.

  • Mineral package contains key proteinates such as Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, and Cobalt Proteinate.
  • A quality yeast culture included aiding in the digestion and distribution of Double Down® Custom Minerals.
  • Contains proprietary attractants to aid in consumption.
  • Mix custom minerals with deer corn at a rate of 8lbs DDCM to 300lbs corn.

Shop J&N Feed and Seed in Graham, Texas, for wildlife feeds, feeders, attractants, and of course firearms. We offer feed and feeder delivery and set up as well as filling services and feeder repair services.

 

Best Practices For Managing Forage

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022

Best practices for managing 4 types of forage. Capitalize on your forage management to optimize cattle nutrition.Best practices for managing 4 types of forage. Capitalize on your forage management to optimize cattle nutrition.

Each forage type comes with its own challenges and management considerations. And, honing in forage management can help support cattle nutrition needs – and your bottom line.

Take advantage of these best practices for each of the four different forage types

Cool Season Forages: Fescue is the dominant forage in the U.S. because it’s a hardy forage that can stand up to grazing pressure. However, it doesn’t come without challenges. The predominant fescue variety comes with the risk of endophyte toxicity. Endophyte toxicity occurs when livestock consumes fungal endophytes present in the seed head of grass. Fungal endophytes contain ergot alkaloids that can be detrimental to livestock, causing lower feed intake, reduced weight gain, and decreased fertility.

An easy method to manage endophytes in fescue is to clip the grass using a tractor-pulled mower before the grass heads out. You can also manage endophytes by inter-seeding legumes like grazing alfalfas, white clover, and red clover. These legumes provide additional forage sources and offset the risk of endophytes. Legumes also benefit overall pasture health by providing nitrogen fixation for the soil and extending the grazing season.

With any cool-season forage, whether it be fescue, brome, or another grass, watch out for grass tetany during the early spring flush. Feeding a mineral high in magnesium, like Purina® Wind and Rain® Hi-Mag, can help supplement your herd.

Warm Season Forages: There are many options to graze cattle effectively with warm-season forages, from improved forages in the southern U.S. like Bahiagrass and Bermudagrass to the native tall grass and short grass ranges to the west. Warm-season grasses tend to take off when cool-season grasses lose productivity. If you have access to both warm and cool-season forages, you’ve got a complimentary program.

The biggest challenge with warm-season forage is stocking density. Warm-season forages typically can’t support the same grazing pressure as cool-season forages. Maintain moderate stocking densities for your area and use a rotational grazing system that moves cattle from grazed to rested pasture. If your pastures are too large to fence for rotational grazing, consider using mineral or supplement sites to maximize forage use. Cattle will seek the pasture for minerals and supplements, which you can use to your advantage.

Another challenge with warm-season forages is that stem growth tends to outrun leaf growth as the growing season continues. When the stem-to-leaf ratio gets too far out of line, forage quality drops because there are more carbohydrates and less protein and energy. Keep supplemental nutrient sources available to cattle on warm-season pasture to ensure their nutrient needs are met throughout the grazing season. Purina® Accuration® block or Purina® RangeLand® protein tubs, along with minerals, can help extend the grazing season and make best use of forages.

Cover Crops: It’s been trendy the last few years to use mixes of cover crops like turnips, forage sorghums, rye and clover to get more grazing from crop fields. But, grazing systems with mono-crops have existed for a lot longer. Wheat pasture, for instance, has been used to grow calves and maintain cow herds before the grain crop goes to head. Sudangrass has made efficient summertime grazing, too.

An important factor in grazing any forage, particularly cover crops, is to have mineral available year-round. Cover crops might be the lushest forage your herd has all year, but cattle may not fully utilize it. Offering mineral helps maintain an animal’s rumen microbes, which in turn impacts forage utilization and feed efficiency.

Much like traditional perennial cool-season grasses, you should feed a high-magnesium mineral in the spring and fall due to grass tetany risk. Bloat can also be a concern in lush cover crops. Feeding a mineral with an ionophore, like Purina®Wind and Rain® minerals, or keeping bloat guard blocks at the mineral site can help.

Monitor nitrate and prussic acid poisoning when using cover crops containing forage sorghums, Sudangrass, millet, and green grazed corn, or even if field edges have Johnson grass. Have fields tested, especially if forages get too far ahead of cattle before or during grazing. Drought years also increase concern for nitrates since the stalks of those stemmy plants naturally hold more nitrates when dry.

Hay & Silage: Stored forages help extend forage use throughout the year, and both hay and silage have their unique places in beef cattle rations.

Silage quality is particularly important, whether the forage is fed to weaned calves or mature cows. Harvest silage when it’s at its peak for protein and energy to maximize the quality rather than yield. Once harvested, storage should be your next emphasis. Focus on packing silage piles tight, using an inoculant to reduce mycotoxins, and covering piles to prevent spoilage.

Also, focus on hay quality. The term “cow-quality hay” is often used to describe poorer quality forages used to feed beef cows. Yes, you can feed fibrous, low-quality hay to cows, but you’re likely going to need more supplementation to keep them in an adequate body condition score 6. Putting up good-quality hay to start helps reduce the need to feed as much supplement.

Before you start feeding hay or silage, pull samples for testing. A forage test helps determine protein and energy levels. With those levels as your baseline, you can determine the amount of supplement needed to support your herd. If everything goes perfectly, you may only need to feed mineral to balance the ration. Connect with your Purina® dealer to work on a forage management plan. Please personalize this line.

Source: Ted Perry, Purina Cattle Nutritionist T

 

Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech

Friday, April 1st, 2022

Deploy Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech for season-long mosquito control!

Deploy Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech for season-long mosquito control! These non-toxic mosquito baits are safe for pets and humans.Take back your outdoor space with the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech. This organic solution is an attractive toxic sugar bait slow-release device that kills mosquitoes using our active ingredient, boric acid. It also doesn’t require batteries or electricity! Simply add water to the tube and hang 90 feet from where you play and live.

You should plan to deploy the Spartan Mosquito tube(s) as soon as the weather begins to warm up. This product creates a barrier to “catch”  mosquitoes by emitting an attractant. Once mosquitoes feed on the water solution, they will perish before they can breed again.

The Spartan Mosquito system is a uniquely effective, long-lasting, continuous mosquito control system. They last for up to 90 days. No need for batteries or electricity, just add water! The mosquito population will suffer dramatically in the first 15 days and will be up to 95% controlled for up to 90 days.

Help protect yourself and your pets from mosquito bites. Grab the Spartan Mosquito product a J&N Feed and Seed in Graham, Texas.

Learn how to use Pro Tech with this illustrated guide.

 

Take back your outdoor space with the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech. These non-toxic mosquito baits are safe for pets and humans.

Spring Garden Hazards

Friday, April 1st, 2022

As spring arrives and the first buds appear, but it can also pose some potential risks to our pet friends. Read about potential spring garden hazardsAs spring arrives and the first buds appear, gardening can be a relaxing and healthy way to pass the time.  But it can also pose some potential risks to our cat and dog friends. With care and some knowledge, these risks can be avoided.  Here is a list of potential spring garden hazards.

FERTILIZERS AND PESTICIDES:

Fertilizers containing blood meal, bone meal, feather meal, or iron can be tasty for dogs and particularly dangerous. Ingestion of large amounts of meal-containing products can form concretions in the stomach resulting in obstruction and severe pancreatitis.  Likewise, those containing iron can lead to iron poisoning causing vomiting, bloody diarrhea, lethargy, abdominal pain, shock, tremors, and potential cardiac and liver effects.  Consider using natural fertilizers available in many garden supply stores or local farms.  Ingestion of pesticides or insecticides containing organophosphates can be life-threatening even in small amounts.

MULCH:

Cocoa mulch is made from the discarded shells and hulls of the cocoa bean.  Its chocolate-like smell can be particularly attractive to dogs. Similarly, like chocolate, this mulch contains theobromine and caffeine.  The amount of toxin present can vary from product to product.  Symptoms of toxicity include vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, seizures, and in extreme cases, death.  Keep pets safe by closely supervising them or using safer alternatives to cocoa mulch.  They include rubber mulch, cedar mulch, leaves, pine needles, or untreated wood chips.  While these are safer alternatives, please remember that these can still be ingested and cause an obstruction.

COMPOST:

Gardeners love compost for its nutrient value and many have their own pile.  Compost can be toxic to pets and wildlife and should always be fenced off.  As organic matter decomposes in the compost pile, molds can grow.  Consequently, these molds can produce tremorgenic mycotoxins.  As a result, when ingested symptoms can occur within 30 minutes and include agitation, panting, drooling, vomiting, tremors, and seizures.  However, with supportive care the prognosis is good.

SNAIL AND SLUG BATES:

These are available in pellets, granules, powder, or liquid.  Most contain metaldehyde which is very dangerous to dogs and cats.  As a result, symptoms can occur within 1-2 hours of ingestion and include salivation, restlessness, vomiting, tremors, seizures, and increase body temperature.  Without veterinary care, the symptoms can last for days and be fatal, for instance.  Gopher, mole, and other vermin bates contain strychnine and are highly toxic.

FLOWERS AND PLANTS: 

Many plants can be toxic to pets.  Some can have only mild symptoms of gastrointestinal upset to severe liver or kidney failure and death.  For example, the following is an incomplete list of common plants.

  • Severe toxicity:  Sego palm, Azalea/Rhododendron, Caster bean, Cyclamen, Oleander, and Yew.
  • Moderate Toxicity:  Aloe Vera, Amaryllis, Begonia, Chrysanthemum, Daffodil, Hosta, Morning glory, and Poinsettia.
  • Mild toxicity:  Baby’s breath, Carnation, Gladiola, and Tomato plant.

CITRONELLA CANDLES:

Ingestion of citronella candles, used to deter mosquitos, can cause gastrointestinal inflammation including vomiting and diarrhea.

Above all, if you think your pet has ingested a toxic substance, contact your veterinarian for advice and treatment.  Additionally, you can contact the ASPCA Hotline at 1-888-426-4435 or the Pet Poison Hotline at 1-800-213-6680.  Both charge a fee for their service.  Several pet poison apps are available, as well.

Article provided by Nutrena.

Fire Ant Control Starts Now!

Friday, April 1st, 2022

ON07-Over-n-Out-23lb-rendering

Spring marks the beginning of fire ant season, when warm weather and frequent rains brings the ants above ground where they build dirt mounds that dot the Texas landscape like a terrestrial pox.  For us here in the Lone Star State, fire ant season can stretch well into fall. These little red pests may look harmless, but their bites can be devastating, as they sometimes overwhelm and kill newborn livestock, wildlife and can even cause anaphylactic shock to some humans.

Fire ants can re-infest from long distances and the reproductive potential is great, so it is important to treat not only the mound, but also the surrounding areas in your yard to stay ahead of them! At J&N Feed, we’ve got two options for fire ant control. Treating early and often is the key to controlling these pests.

Over’N Out! Advanced – Stop the fire ants early with Over’N Out! Advanced fire ant killer from GardenTech. The deep-penetrating and odorless formula kills the pesky pest and their queen. Treat the mounds to kill fire ants fast, then apply the ready to use granules to your yard Fire Ant Controlto prevent new mounds for 6 months. The 11.5 lb. bag covers up to 5000 sq. ft.

Hi-Yield Fire Ant Control may be used in a variety of exterior settings include fields, pastures, recreational, residential and landscaped turf, for excellent control of fire ants. To get the best results, apply the product around dawn or dusk, because that is when the ants are most active.

Sprinkler System Replacement Parts

Wednesday, March 30th, 2022

Sprinker system repair parts at J&N Feed and Seed in Graham, Texas. Come see us for sprinkler system replacement parts. Have you have found a problem with your sprinkler system? A wet spot, a zone that doesn’t turn on,  water shooting straight up? Or your sprinkler system is simply not working like it used to? Then come see us at J&N Feed & Seed. We offer a good selection of sprinkler system replacement parts to get your sprinkler system up, running, and in good working order.

Before your neighbor has to be the one to tell you that water is shooting up in the air, do a check on your sprinkler system.

Turn on your sprinklers and take a walk around your yard.

  • Be sure sprinklers are aimed at watering grass, not concrete.
  • Adjust spray heads. On top of each spray-type nozzle is a small adjustment screw. Turn the adjustment screw to adjust each of your spray-type sprinklers so that they don’t spray onto sidewalks or walls.
  • Check the irrigation clock to make sure it has been reset and the timer is. Most folks tend to overwater because the clocks have not been checked since the day they were installed. Think about taking five minutes to make sure your clock operates properly. Be sure your clock is set to water before 10 am and after 7 pm.
  • Clean clogged sprinkler heads if water is not flowing evenly. These can easily become clogged with dirt over the winter months when not in use.
  • Replace broken or cracked sprinkler heads. This is where water is very quickly wasted! Here is a simple do-it-yourself guide.

Stop by J&N Feed & Seed. We have sprinkler heads and everything you need to get your watering system, hoses, and lawn in tip-top shape!

Fish Truck Delivers To J&N Feed

Sunday, March 27th, 2022

The fish truck delivers to J&N Feed this month. Looking for pond stocking in Graham, Texas?  We have a fish stock delivery scheduled soon. The fish truck delivers to J&N Feed this month. Looking for pond stocking in Graham, Texas?  We have a fish stock delivery scheduled soon. Take a look at our schedule and come get your fish.

Abney’s Fish Truck
  • Thursday, April 7, 2022, from 2:15 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Stock My Pond Fish Truck
  • Thursday, April 14, 2022, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

 

Stock My Pond Fish Truck will have channel cat, largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, hybrid bluegill, red ear bream, and fathead minnows.  Click here for pricing.  It is not necessary to pre-order the fish, but if you are looking for a large quantity or pond packages we suggest you call.  Questions?  Call Stock My Pond at 501-676-3768.

Abney’s Fish Truck will have channel cat, largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, hybrid bluegill, red ear bream, and fathead minnows. Click here for pricing. It is not necessary to pre-order the fish, but if you are looking for a large quantity we suggest you call. Questions?  Give us a call at 940-549-4631.

Stock My Pond and Abney’s Fish truck provides containers for all fish but the 11″ channel cats, so please bring your own containers for them.

How long can the fish be in the bag? No longer than 1 hour! Determine how far a drive you have before purchasing your fish. Transport the fish in a cool and shaded area of your vehicle.

 

Sandbur Control With Prowl H20 & ECGrow

Monday, February 28th, 2022

sandbur controlIt’s time to map out your sandbur control plan for your pasture and lawn. Here’s a good rule of thumb to follow: if you had a sandbur problem last year and were unable to control it, there is a good probability it will be back this year. The way to control sandbur that is already established is to use pre-emergent herbicides. This must be done in early spring before the soil temperature reaches 52 degrees Fahrenheit and seeds germinate. A second application should be put down in June. At J&N Feed and Seed, we recommend Prowl H20 pre-emergent and ECGrow for the control and prevention of sandbur.

Like all pre-emergents, Prowl H20 must be applied before the sandbur emerges. In southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, the most common application time is February or early March before the grasses break dormancy.  Rainfall must occur within two weeks of application or efficacy will be reduced dramatically. Please note, there is a 60-day haying restriction and a 45-day grazing restriction when using Prowl H2O.

If you miss your window for applying the pre-emergent for sandbur control, come see us for post-emergent solutions to your sandbur problem. Let our educated experts help map out your pasture-management plan today.

 

 

Special Order Spring Chicks at J&N Feed

Monday, February 28th, 2022

J&N Feed and Seed is now accepting orders for specialty spring chicks.  Not sure what type of chick to order? Give us a call at 940-549-4631 or stop by the store and talk to us about the different breeds of chicks available. It’s hard to believe it’s time for spring chicks!  J&N Feed and Seed is now accepting orders for specialty spring chicks.  Not sure what type of chick to order? Give us a call at 940-549-4631 or stop by the store and talk to us about the different breeds of chicks available.  We are happy to help!

Before you bring chicks home, make sure you’ve prepared. Raising chickens is a great experience for the whole family. One of the primary requirements is providing housing that is comfortable for your backyard flock. Young chicks can be raised in a variety of structures, but the area should be warm, dry and ventilated, but not drafty. Also, make sure it is easy to clean.

Before you bring them home:
Several days in advance, thoroughly clean and disinfect the brooder house and any equipment the chicks will use. Doing this in advance will allow everything to dry completely. Dampness is a mortal enemy to chicks, resulting in chilling and encouraging diseases such as coccidiosis (parasite infection).
When the premises are dry, place 4 to 6 inches of dry litter material (wood shavings or commercial litter) on the floor.

Warming:
Small numbers of chicks can be warmed adequately with heat lamps placed about 20 inches above the litter surface.
Bigger groups of birds in a large room, such as a shed or a garage, should have a supplemental heat source such as a brooder stove.

Feeders and Waterers
It’s important to ensure your chicks have access to fresh feed and water. Positioning the feeders and waterers along the edges of the comfort zone will:

Keep the water and feed from being overheated
Help keep water and feed cleaner (chicks milling and sleeping under the warmth source often scatter bedding and feces)
Encourage the chicks to move around and get exercise
Be sure to have plenty of fresh feed and water when the chicks arrive.

Cattle Mineral Quick Tips

Monday, February 28th, 2022

If you’re using a mineral form of fly control, like Wind and Rain Storm Fly Control Mineral, consistent intake is key. Calculate consumption to know if cattle are eating enough mineral to control the flies. Aim to hit the target intake listen on your feed tag. The target intake for the loose mineral is two or four ounces per head per day if you are using either low salt or complete cattle mineral formula. Mineral tub target intake is six to eight ounces per head per day.

Remember, the active ingredient in Wind and Rain Storm Fly Control Mineral, Altosid IGR only prevents the hatching of new flies. It does not control existing flies. If you start using fly control mineral after flies are present, you’ll need other methods to combat adult flies. Work with your veterinarian or animal health supplier to find another method like spray or pour-on.

Source: Purina Checkpoint – By Kent Tjardes