What Does It Take to Feed a Farm Full of Animals?
Have you ever wondered what’s involved in feeding a farm full of animals? Most people are surprised at the amount of food we buy every month. On top of food, there are other regular and ongoing expenses like medicating and deworming, specialty care (veterinarians and farriers), cleaning and bedding supplies, utilities (for reptile heat lamps, heated water dishes, and heat panels), fuel for farm equipment, and maintenance to keep housing and fencing in strong working order. A list of supplies can be found here. It’s enough to make my head spin!
Funding, Donations, and
Why I Work Outside the Home
The Good
The rescue gets gift cards donated from customers shopping at Chewy.com of about twenty-five dollars every month. We love Chewy customers!!
The rescue also receives approximately twenty dollars a month from corporate gift giving contributions. The donors are anonymous, so if you’re one of the donors…Thank You!!
The Bad
In the past, we received around five hundred dollars a month from the Amazon Smile program. It hurt when Amazon stopped the Smile program because it really helped us.
Grocery stores and Walmart’s in our town and in neighboring towns no longer donate to animal rescues because they’re afraid the donated food will be consumed by people. If the food is less than fresh, they don’t want to be sued if people get sick. Instead, produce that isn’t pretty enough to sell is thrown away. It’s as frustrating to the store managers I’ve talked with as it is to us.
Many people ask us about state and federal grants. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any grants available to us. Most grant funding goes to cat, dog, and horse recues (we take in horses, but they aren’t our primary focus). I’ve been told more times than I can count that the animals we take in are considered “disposable” and the state would rather them be eaten, then spend money on saving them. We respectfully disagree.
Making It Work
Outside of Chewy gift cards and corporate gifts, all of the animal expenses come out of our pocket. The ever-increasing rise in costs became too much for us to handle on just Doug’s and Tabby’s incomes so we had to make hard decisions and take drastic measures. The result is I went from being a housewife and stay-at-home mom for twelve years to working part time outside of our home. It’s been a huge adjustment for all of us, but it’s helped a lot because every penny of my pay each month goes towards the animals.
Special Dietary Needs
Each species of animal, as well as individuals within the same species in some situations, has specialized diets. Feeding the animals is not only the largest expense on the farm, but it’s also the most important. We’ve seen firsthand that animals fed healthy, high-quality, species-appropriate feed have fewer medical issues and are happier.
Produce
We grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers for the animals when Mother Nature allows us to. This helps offset some of our costs and gives the animals a nutritional advantage. We believe the highest nutrition comes from food walked across our farm, rather than trucked in 1000’s of miles across the country.
We shop four times a week for produce at different stores so we don’t buy out one store and leave other (human and animal) customers going without.
Every month we buy
- 224 heads of lettuce (romaine, green leaf, and/or red leaf)
- 8 bunches of turnip greens
- 8 bunches of kale
- 4 pounds of mushrooms
- 12 red bell peppers
- 40 pounds of red delicious apples
- 192 bananas
- 4 pounds of mushrooms
- 10 pounds of carrots
- 8 pounds of tomatoes
- 108 pounds of seasonal fruit and vegetables (eggplants, peaches, zucchinis, cabbages, pumpkins, watermelons, blueberries, strawberries, etc.)
- 9 pounds of chicken breasts
- 8 pounds of tilapia
- 13 dozen eggs (when the girls aren’t laying)
Hay
Every month we buy 33 bales of timothy grass hay. At $17.00 a bale (as of November, 2026), it adds up quickly! Grass hay is the dietary foundation for the horses, goats, and chinchilla. All other feed for these animals is given to fill in nutritional gaps. Hay from our area tends to be deficient in selenium so a vitamin and mineral supplement, or pellet feed, is essential to make sure the animals are getting everything they need.
The pigs and goats are given extra hay not only to eat, but also to bed down into. They especially appreciate a house full of hay during winter to help them stay warm. Who wouldn’t love eating their bed!
Other Feed
- 400 pounds of chicken pellets (every month)
- 400 pounds of gamebird pellets for the ducks, goose, and quail (every month)
- 2 pounds of finch seed (every three months)
- 20 pounds of budgie seed (every month)
- 200 pounds of pigeon feed (every month)
- 400 pounds of pig pellets (every month)
- 96 cans of wet cat food (every month)
- 200 pounds of grain-free dry cat kibble (every month)
- 10 pounds of raw dog food (every month)
- 46 pounds of dry adult dog kibble (every month)
- 8 pounds of dry puppy kibble (every month)
- 24 pounds dry dog kibble for Bandit Dog (every 2 months)
- 25 pounds of guinea pig pellets (every 3 months)
- 25 pounds of chinchilla pellets (every 3 months)
Supplements & Extras
- 50 pounds poultry layer calcium (lasts four months)
- 50 pounds of chicken scratch (lasts two months)
- 4 large canisters of oatmeal (every month)
- 40 pounds of timothy pellets (every month)
- 50 pounds of beet pulp pellets (every 2 months)
- 5 pounds of koi fish feed (every 2 months)
- 2 pounds of bee pollen substitute (every month September-May)
- 186 Flintstone Vitamins (every month)
- 10 pounds glucosamine for the horses (every month)
- 93 glucosamine tablets for the pigs (every month)
- 6 cuttlebones (every month)
- 8 pounds goat mineral (every month)
- 40 pounds Thorvin organic kelp (every 2 months)
- 6 Salt blocks (every 3-4 months)
- Various feeders (Dubia roaches, worms, crickets, mice, etc.) – approximately $400 every month