Farmers' Helper ForageCakes™
We bring free range into the coop with Farmers' Helper ForageCakes™!
Available in Original for Chickens or Optimal for Mixed Flocks. Click here for instructions on using Farmers' Helper ForageCakes™.
Decades of research by our team of experts in the fields of animal behavior, animal nutrition, and animal husbandry have been harnessed by partnering with state-of-the art feed manufacturers resulting in the creation of our premium Farmers’ Helper ForageCakes.
ForageCakes are a nutritional supplement specifically formulated to provide nutritional supplementation, maintenance reduction, behavioral stimulation, disease prevention, and sustainability. ForageCakes are also specifically intended to yield more solid and manageable droppings, with reduced odor. Quality ingredients like dried catfish meal, crustacean meal, dried fruits, nut pieces, seeds, grains, and specially formulated Resolve Sustainable Solutions UltraKibble are pressed into each cake.
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| ITEM#: CS06303 2.5 lb. Farmers' Helper Original ForageCake™ Supplement |
ITEM#: CS06300 2.5 lb. Farmers' Helper Optimal ForageCake™ Supplement |
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| UPC CODE: 0-18222-00303-7 | UPC CODE: 0-18222-00300-6 | |
| CASE UPC: 00018222013036 | CASE UPC: 00018222013005 | |
| CASE WEIGHT: 18.36 lb. | CASE WEIGHT: 18.36 lb. | |
| CASE PACK: 6 | CASE PACK: 6 | |
| CASE CUBE: 0.61 | CASE CUBE: 0.61 | |
| INGREDIENTS: Proso millet, cracked corn, UltraKibble (corn gluten meal, corn, soybean meal, linseed meal, catfish meal, dicalcium phosphate, crustacean meal, yeast culture, dried vegetables, vitamin premix, salt (NaCl), choline chloride, cinnamon and assorted spices, DE, primalac, lysine, selenium), oats, gelatin, corn syrup, dried cranberries, black sunflower seeds, zeolite, vegetable pomace, vitamin supplement. | INGREDIENTS: UltraKibble (corn gluten meal, corn, soybean meal, linseed meal, catfish meal, dicalcium phosphate, crustacean meal, yeast culture, dried vegetables, vitamin premix, salt (NaCl), choline chloride, cinnamon and assorted spices, DE, primalac, lysine, selenium), millet, cracked corn, gelatin, corn syrup, dried cranberries, sunflower hearts, nut pieces, cinnamon, zeolite, vegetable pomace, DE, vitamin supplement. |
INSTRUCTIONS: Feed ForageCakes in conjunction with daily maintenance ration. Place in secure “no-tip” feed-tray off the ground. Please visit Frequently Asked Questions about our products for more information on how to use our ForageCakes.
Please visit our Glossary for further explanation of many of the terms discussed below. We are still working to link terms used below to corresponding entries in the Glossary.
How do ForageCakes work?
The design and function of ForageCakes is five-fold:
1. Nutritional Supplementation
2. Maintenance Reduction
3. Behavioral Stimulation
4. Disease Prevention
5. Sustainability
Photo of Farmers' Helper Optimal ForageCake™
1. Nutritional Supplementation
A ForageCake is a solid feed block composed of nut pieces, dried fruits, seeds, and grains: a stimulating mixture of nutritious items birds find very attractive and tasty. While chickens enjoy treats of all kinds, they are neither herbivores nor granivores. Chickens’ wild ancestors are omnivores, with a large part of their diet composed of invertebrates and small animals. In other words, what chickens need in order to survive and thrive is high-quality animal protein.
In addition to nuts, fruits, seeds, and grains, ForageCakes contain vital portions of our custom-crafted UltraKibble. UltraKibble provides animal protein in the form of farmed catfish meal. UltraKibble also contains spices with antioxidant and antibacterial properties (turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne), as well as elevated levels of dietary fiber, trace minerals in the form of crustacean shell meal, and dried vegetables including watercress, celery, beets, and spinach, which provide carotenoids and other phytonutrients. Furthermore, UltraKibble’s extrusion process itself gelatinizes starches to increase digestibility.
2. Maintenance Reduction
The removal and management of manure is perhaps the biggest task to occupy the time of animal stewards and animal managers.
ForageCakes provide probiotics and naturally sourced vitamin E to support digestive tract health, which promote more solid droppings: greatly reducing manure removal efforts. ForageCakes also contain diatomaceous earth and zeolite to assist in mycotoxin reduction, odor control, and ammonia moderation. Disease prevention also plays a large role in reducing the maintenance efforts of animal managers (see item #4 below).
3. Behavioral Stimulation
Birds confined in small areas can quickly get bored; possibly leading to aggression and other destructive behaviors like feather pecking and egg eating.
It’s important to provide fowl with appropriate facilities where they can maintain themselves in the most natural manner possible. In other words, for optimal health, give the bird something to do: keep them busy with opportunities to exhibit beneficial behaviors. Given the opportunity, domestic fowl (like many other galliforms) scratch and dig with their strong feet and powerful bills: uncovering and securing favorite food items.
The premium ingredients embedded within our ForageCakes provide stimulating and nutritious targets for birds to peck and uncover over an extended period of time.
Chickens and their wild cousins tend to search for food in special flocks called foraging parties. When the foraging party discovers a potentially rich food source (such as the ground beneath a fruiting tree or a termite nest), all the members of the flock assemble, working together to exploit the larder. The entire foraging party will often stand shoulder to shoulder, diligently digging with their bills.
ForageCakes enable captive birds to work in synchronicity and even cooperation. This facilitates social bonding and prevents aggression. It may take 10 minutes or even half an hour for two birds to release an embedded treasure such as a nut piece or dried cranberry. This leads captive birds to conduct activities that are both stimulating and familiar.
4. Disease Prevention
Another top priority of an animal steward is disease prevention: reducing mortality, increasing reproductive fitness and hatch rates, and preventing infectious disease.
In addition to the strategic benefits of ForageCakes discussed above that aid in disease prevention, the UltraKibble embedded in ForageCakes contains omega-3 fatty acids to support immune and reproductive functions, as well as probiotics and naturally sourced vitamin E to support digestive tract health and overall immune function. Generous portions of diatomaceous earth and zeolite in ForageCakes help birds keep their bills in top condition: smoothing off rough, cracked edges. Diatomaceous earth and spice oils are also useful in helping keep parasite levels low.
Photo of Farmers' Helper UltraKibble™
5. Sustainability
For a market producer, there is usually very little profit margin in the sale of eggs or meat. For an average family, times are tough these days. Efforts to produce food by keeping backyard birds must be efficient and cost-effective. Resolve Sustainable Solutions has developed husbandry solutions (including ForageCakes) that can help animal managers save money and time, while increasing the quality, health, and longevity of their stock, when used as suggested.
Nine different forms of dietary fiber embedded in each ForageCake help to slow the rate of digestion, enabling birds to better utilize nutrients in their daily maintenance ration. In doing so, satiation is aided, which in turn helps to reduce overeating. This leads to savings in feed costs.
Our special formula of quality, sustainably sourced natural ingredients, combined with the activity and time required by birds to seek embedded feed items, results in a fuller crop, supports improved muscle tone and gut health, and targets optimized nutrition. Savings are reflected over time, with birds consuming up to 10% less maintenance ration per day.
