{"id":3115,"date":"2010-11-28T01:45:23","date_gmt":"2010-11-28T01:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pheasant1.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3115"},"modified":"2024-07-22T20:44:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T20:44:17","slug":"the-benefits-of-contracting-feed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Contracting Feed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The main ingredients in feed are corn and soybean meal, thus the price of feed is directly related to the commodity markets.\u00a0Higher markets mean higher feed prices.\u00a0Lower markets translate into lower feed prices.\u00a0These markets can be volatile and unpredictable at best.\u00a0For this reason, contracting feed (locking in a price for the entire year) is critical to the success of any game bird operation.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The best ally to determine when and how to contract is information.\u00a0Make an informed decision with the information available at that time.\u00a0Look at the crop reports to get an idea of acres planted and expected yields.\u00a0Talk to local farmers, as they will have a good feel for what is happening with the markets.\u00a0Look at extended forecasts, prolonged periods of rain during harvest typically mean higher prices.\u00a0The economy, stock markets, gas prices, ethanol production all play a role in determining the commodity prices.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Commodity prices are also driven by global factors, so don\u2019t be limited to local or national information. \u00a0South America\u2019s growing season is our winter season.\u00a0Keep tabs on the South American crop, as this can drive the commodity prices in the winter months.\u00a0Also, keep an eye on places like Russia and China.\u00a0A devastating flood in Russia will drive the markets up.\u00a0As China becomes more industrialized, they will produce less corn, which will increase demand and decrease supply.\u00a0Looking at the projected imports and exports of various countries can provide a good understanding of the supply and demand of the world commodity market.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Deciding on the best time to contract feed is critical.\u00a0Historically, the best time to contract feed is late October.\u00a0Harvest is in full swing and commodity prices are typically at their lowest.\u00a0Prices will typically rise over the holidays, followed by another drop in prices sometime after the first of the year, but before the spring planting season begins.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The next decision to be made is how much feed to contract.\u00a0This decision comes down to the confidence in all the aforementioned research.\u00a0If confidence is high, then only contract 20 percent of the projected usage.\u00a0If confidence is low, contract 80 percent (remember if feed is contracted but not used, it will have to be paid for anyway).\u00a0This would also be a good time to look at upside versus downside potentials in the markets.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Say corn is at $2.75 per bushel.\u00a0Chances are it is not going to go below $2.50, but chances are pretty good that it will go higher than $3 per bushel at some point during the year.\u00a0A good time to contract is when the downside is minimal, but the upside is not.\u00a0Remember, the reason for contracting feed is not to hit the lowest of the lows, but to protect against extreme price increases.\u00a0Don\u2019t feel obligated to contract all the feed at the same time.\u00a0Instead of contracting 80 percent at one time, contract 20 percent of the feed at four different times.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Contracting feed is much like an insurance policy.\u00a0It locks in the price of feed for the entire year.\u00a0Don\u2019t get discouraged over one wrong decision, because in the long run, contracting feed will save money.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The main ingredients in feed are corn and soybean meal,  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farm-management","category-pheasant-feed"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Benefits of Contracting Feed | Pheasant.com Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Benefits of Contracting Feed | Pheasant.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The main ingredients in feed are corn and soybean meal, [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/macfarlanepheasants\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-28T01:45:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-22T20:44:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"797\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"449\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"pheasant1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pheasantfarmer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pheasantfarmer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"pheasant1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"pheasant1\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c1ce31d7b7ad4fff37c8315888a5e06f\"},\"headline\":\"The Benefits of Contracting Feed\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-28T01:45:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-22T20:44:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed\"},\"wordCount\":539,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Farm Management\",\"Feed\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed\",\"name\":\"The Benefits of Contracting Feed | Pheasant.com Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-28T01:45:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-22T20:44:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg\",\"width\":797,\"height\":449,\"caption\":\"Photo of Feed Truck\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Benefits of Contracting Feed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/\",\"name\":\"MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc.\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/macfarlane-logo-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/macfarlane-logo-2.png\",\"width\":148,\"height\":151,\"caption\":\"MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/macfarlanepheasants\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/pheasantfarmer\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/macfarlanepheasantfarm\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/macfarlanevideos\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/macfarlane-pheasants\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c1ce31d7b7ad4fff37c8315888a5e06f\",\"name\":\"pheasant1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43ed8893fca33c66700bfcd1bd6da9d4c8e3ad5d2819aab174fd37288f54893a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43ed8893fca33c66700bfcd1bd6da9d4c8e3ad5d2819aab174fd37288f54893a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"pheasant1\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/pheasant1.wpenginepowered.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Benefits of Contracting Feed | Pheasant.com Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Benefits of Contracting Feed | Pheasant.com Blog","og_description":"The main ingredients in feed are corn and soybean meal, [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed","og_site_name":"MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/macfarlanepheasants","article_published_time":"2010-11-28T01:45:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-07-22T20:44:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":797,"height":449,"url":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"pheasant1","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pheasantfarmer","twitter_site":"@pheasantfarmer","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"pheasant1","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed"},"author":{"name":"pheasant1","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c1ce31d7b7ad4fff37c8315888a5e06f"},"headline":"The Benefits of Contracting Feed","datePublished":"2010-11-28T01:45:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-22T20:44:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed"},"wordCount":539,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg","articleSection":["Farm Management","Feed"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed","url":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed","name":"The Benefits of Contracting Feed | Pheasant.com Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg","datePublished":"2010-11-28T01:45:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-22T20:44:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/feed-truck.jpg","width":797,"height":449,"caption":"Photo of Feed Truck"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/about-us\/blog\/the-benefits-of-contracting-feed#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Benefits of Contracting Feed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/","name":"MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc.","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#organization","name":"MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc.","url":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/macfarlane-logo-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/macfarlane-logo-2.png","width":148,"height":151,"caption":"MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/macfarlanepheasants","https:\/\/x.com\/pheasantfarmer","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/macfarlanepheasantfarm","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/macfarlanevideos","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/macfarlane-pheasants\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c1ce31d7b7ad4fff37c8315888a5e06f","name":"pheasant1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43ed8893fca33c66700bfcd1bd6da9d4c8e3ad5d2819aab174fd37288f54893a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43ed8893fca33c66700bfcd1bd6da9d4c8e3ad5d2819aab174fd37288f54893a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"pheasant1"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/pheasant1.wpenginepowered.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pheasant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}