Finding Farm Hard Ware

I am all for shopping locally, but sometimes you just can't find the weird little items for the farm. Years ago If you couldn't find something you needed at Brims you could find it at Darigold. Then Darigold downsized and became Papa Jacks but now there is only one local farm supplier left in the area. I'm not being critical of their stock because they simply can't carry everything for each discipline of animal husbandry. Also they have to keep an eye on their bottom line and it makes sense for them to buy from suppliers that have a broad array of what is needed, but not necessarily hard to find items. Also sometimes they have to buy large quantities.

A recent example are those white vinyl caps that you put on T-posts. I had a horse that ripped a chunk out of her butt on a sharp T-post so now every post gets covered. I just fenced in a new area and I needed more post covers. Locally I could only find them in a package of 100. I needed 47 of them and I found them on line in packages of 25. I also needed to replace two fence chargers. Locally they sell for over $100, but I found them on-line for under $40 each. Then there was the tank heater that was made specifically for 5 gallon plastic buckets and the watering nipples to water chickens.

For those of you looking for those hard to find farm and pet items try farmtek.com or even better americanlivestock.com. American Livestock also carries all sorts of medicines and treatments at very low prices. Orders over $100 get free shipping.