About

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Our Family Farm has been in our family since 1863. 

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We have three generations working on farm today.  I have fed Livestock all my life.  I had 500 head of sheep for 20 years and, cattle have been on farm most of my life. 

 

What triggered it all?  

 

We have been bagging corn for several years and have always enjoyed talking with hunters and farmers about their experiences when they would come to pick up their orders. We were always listening to what they said trying to learn about their hobby/operation. What seemed to always be a common topic of discussion was animal nutrition. Now, the conversations were always a little different from a local sheep farmer compared to a deer enthusiast because of different goals, the underlying questions were always the same, and I would find myself going down the long windy road of animal nutrition, sharing my experiences and lessons I have learned from feeding large groups small ruminants for years.

 

At first, when having these conversations, I was surprised to learn that most people had a low knowledge of how a small ruminant animals digestive system works (I guess totally taking for granted my experience with feeding ruminant livestock for decades). I found these conversations were always very satisfying to be able to help others trying to guide them from making some of the mistakes I had made when I was just getting started. I found myself developing a passion for helping others achieve their goals. 

 

When I would have one of these conversations with a deer enthusiast, they were always interested in the knowledge I was sharing but I also knew deep down, they knew more about feeding deer before they came.  I also knew they were feeling somewhat lost, like a needle in a stack of needles.

 

Something I could directly relate to thinking back to when I was getting started with taking care of our family farms animals. The animals were different, but the problems were very similar, where do I find these feed ingredients? How do I feed them? How much do I feed them? "I read we are supposed to feed raw Soybeans". "Someone told me Apples make deer grow large antlers". Some things I would hear actually made me laugh a little, others made me have to think about the science of how a rumen works. Something that I have returned to time and time again with great results, "The Science behind it". Looking for a commercial deer feed I could turn these customers to that filled the need for what deer enthusiasts were telling me they were looking for confirmed what they were telling me, which I had a difficult time believing. There is lots of BS on the market today, driven off of marketing the idea of "Product X or Y grows big antlers" but when I looked at ingredients, its appears it's all about the $ and is totally emotionally driven for the consumer, building them up to thinking they are going to grow massive deer with great marketing pictures of huge deer on the front of their bag with no real content on the back. Now, I am not saying that all commercially market deer feed is junk, but there is a lot of questions on the quality or availability/digestibility of the nutrients they are using. Protein isn't protein isn't protein meaning not all protein is the same, unfortunately for the consumer, it is measured by percentage, 16% 20% 25% and so on. What isn't explained, which is critically important when the desired outcome is high performance is how the ruminant digests this source of protein and how much of this fed protein is not absorbed by the animal and passed out in the urine. Feeds that have high % of protein in them actually cost the animal being fed performance because there is an energy requirement to process this extra protein, thus requiring the animal to use important energy that should go to animal maintenance. Also, we measure feeds by percentages, 15% this, 10% that, and so on, it's the standard and it works well, but ruminants do NOT eat based off percentages. Never in my life have I seen a deer with a calculator doing math converting their diet from % to lbs. They also do not eat off of actually weight of feeds, such as a 50 lb bag of corn does not equal 50 lbs of feed to the animal nutritionally. Everything the animal eats if figured on a dry matter basis, what is a dry matter basis? It is the actual weight minus water in the feed. Take dry corn for instance. Dry corn is 15.5% moisture meaning for every 100 lbs of corn in a bag, 15.5 lbs of that weight is water. Now take that and add the complications of the differences of RDP (rumen digestible proteins) and RUP (rumen bypass protein). Confused yet? Exactly....That's why I have a nutritionist, and this is where Buck Bone Builder got its start. We built it with the highest quality ingredients from the ground up, not from a commercially driven price point to match market competition with cheap ingredients that smashed into a pellet so no one can recognize what's being used that turns to mush with a light sprinkle of rain. Matter of fact price point wasn't even discussed until we mastered the blend.  

 

When we say Buck Bone Builder was built by deer enthusiast and perfected by nutritionist that's exactly what we mean. I listened to my customers (hunters), took my years of experience feeding ruminant's, went to my trusted nutritionist and built Buck Bone Builder using superior performing ingredients, that will not only deliver what the deer needs for peak performance, but also be desirable/palatable and stand up to the elements without turning to mush. Our farm is built on trust and integrity that has lasted for 8 generations, and I had to have a product that will perform that we stand behind just like America was built, with a direct look into our customers eye and a handshake, from guys in overalls, 

 

-Our farm, even today after over 100 years of caring for livestock and personally at 40 years of the same I have resources that I depend on to help me with management decisions, I work closely with an agronomist for my crops as well as a nutritionist for feeding my livestock. We have built a great relationship that goes well beyond professional, its trust and honesty, having someone you can "bet the farm" on with their advice. 

     

-Deer are ruminant animals, just like sheep/cattle, 4 compartment stomach unlike monogastric animals such as pigs, people etc...

They process feed stuffs much differently 

 

 -Bypass protein is fed to deer during peak antler growing season to help produce trophy racks.  It is also used in mushroom production because it is a protein source that resists bacterial growth.

-Bypass’ or ‘Rumen Escape’ protein is simply a protein that is less likely to be digested by rumen microbes.

- The bacteria in the rumen provide ruminants with both energy and protein as they digest grass. If they are to produce more milk, they need nutrients beyond what the bacteria can supply.

Typical dietary supplements are corn for energy and soybean meal for protein. The ruminants can digest these feedstuffs, but so can the bacteria. Bacteria will digest 60% of the protein in soybean meal, breaking it down to ammonia, and then using that to synthesize their own microbial protein. 

As the level of supplemental protein increases, the bacteria in the rumen continue to digest it, but are unable to keep up with re-synthesizing the protein. Ammonia builds up in the rumen and moves into the bloodstream, increasing the levels also in the urine and milk, which indicates a waste of protein.

Benefits of roasting soybeans

When you take the time to roast the soybeans, the benefit from that is you get a harder soybean, so it lasts longer on the pile if you’re using it to feed as a hunting attractant.

In addition to harder exteriors, roasted soybeans also have a more attractive aroma to deer.  These beans smell like roasted peanuts and also have that roasted peanut taste. 

So, the deer love the smell, love the taste, and it’ll draw them in for your hunt! We also get pasteurization when soybeans get roasted, a process that kills molds and toxins that are in the soybeans, helping to keep your deer healthy. If you continue to feed deer roasted soybeans all year long, you will in turn help produce healthier herds. 

So, if you want to get bigger racks and healthier deer, keep feeding the soybeans to them all year long. Going back to the raw soybeans having soluble protein, opposite of that, the roasted soybean has a lot of bypass protein. Bypass protein is what is digested in the intestinal tract, and this is where a deer pushes its rack. This is where the mothers push their milk.

Roasted soybeans in action

So, take, for example, a doe that has a fawn. You’re feeding that mother roasted soybeans and the fawn has much more milk readily available for them. Now, you have a healthier fawn which will lead into a healthier adult and doing this will help your deer meet their genetic potential. Genetic potential cannot be reached if you have a sickly animal.

The other big benefit with feeding roasted soybeans to deer is the rack. So, if you have that healthy deer, the buck has a certain number of days that they will grow a rack in. If you start late, you lose some time of growth, which again, leads to smaller racks. To get that big rack, keep feeding them roasted soybeans all year long.

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