Feed Stores Offer Livestock Feed to Farm Animals

By Kristen Davenport
Published on September 1, 2006
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The Country Farm Supply feed store provides its customers with their every need – hay, tack and the latest gossip.
The Country Farm Supply feed store provides its customers with their every need – hay, tack and the latest gossip.
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Eduardo Grajeda, 14, carefully chooses a chick to add to the 33 chickens he already owns.
Eduardo Grajeda, 14, carefully chooses a chick to add to the 33 chickens he already owns.
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Chris Cortez, 22, of Country Farm Supply, carries bags of seed to a customer's truck.
Chris Cortez, 22, of Country Farm Supply, carries bags of seed to a customer's truck.
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Rancher Antonio Duran, left, shops at the Country Farm Supply feed store with the help of Omar Almedia.
Rancher Antonio Duran, left, shops at the Country Farm Supply feed store with the help of Omar Almedia.
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While his father is shopping, Justino Diaz, 4, looks at wild turkey chicks, which are sold for grasshopper control in the dry days until Thanksgiving.
While his father is shopping, Justino Diaz, 4, looks at wild turkey chicks, which are sold for grasshopper control in the dry days until Thanksgiving.
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Antonio Duran, rancher from La Jara near Cuba in northeastern New Mexico, walks beneath a rafter of feeders.
Antonio Duran, rancher from La Jara near Cuba in northeastern New Mexico, walks beneath a rafter of feeders.
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Chris Cortez, 22, hangs out while waiting for customers. Cortez is quick with the quips and the candy bars.
Chris Cortez, 22, hangs out while waiting for customers. Cortez is quick with the quips and the candy bars.
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The task of weighing seeds for a customer is carried out intently by this feed store employee.
The task of weighing seeds for a customer is carried out intently by this feed store employee.

Feed stores offer livestock feed to farm animals. Welcome to the small-town feed store — retail the way it used to be.

Española, New Mexico — You have to be careful when you walk in to the Country Farm Supply feed store on the main street here. Maybe you only stopped by for a bag of hen scratch — but you could end up going home with a donkey. Or maybe several African geese, a handful of guinea hens, a billy goat, some fancy turkeys, a llama . . . and a donkey.

These things can get out of hand. Feed stores offer livestock feed to farm animals. When you spend too much time at the feed store, animals just sort of happen, much like the proverbial poop (which we’ll get to later).

Take, for instance, Arturo Medina, who drove 20 minutes down from Chimayó to the Country Farm Supply feed store here on a balmy May morning for an $18 Sweetlix block to keep his donkeys from bloating on the new spring grass.

He leaned against the counter — the glass countertop is the perfect height for leaning and chatting — and popped the question. “Anyone want to buy a donkey?”

Hay prices in the Southwest are through the roof, so Arturo, who loves his donkeys and even sings his grandma’s old Spanish songs to them, has decided to sell a few. Several people jot down his phone number before heading home — at $150 for a 6-month-old donkey, it’s a good price.

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