Due to concerns about the current cattle market and some fences being down, we have run considerably fewer cattle this year than we have the last few years. We have even gone for several months without having cattle on our property. Occasionally, Dad and I would analyze the market, and I would usually come to the conclusion that we did not need another tax deduction.
One of the downsides of not running the numbers we are use to having has been watching the pastures grow up and see our grass go to waste. We have also not been consistently feeding the bagged feed that we have on hand.
Yesterday afternoon I decided to go out and analyze where we were on our feed situation. I started by going into the shop where some of our bagged feed is stored. I entered through one of the walk-in doors, closed the door behind me, found a light switch, turned that light on, and while searching for the next light switch I realized I was hearing noise that I was not familiar with. I could best describe it as the sound of moving grain or wind blowing through leaves. Still trying to find the next light switch in the dimly lit shop, my imagination started to run wild and I started to imagine that the noise I was hearing was dozens of snakes crawling around on the concrete floor, winding around the pallets, and slithering between the bags. Having still not located the next light switch, I decided to turn off the light I had turned on and exit the shop. After closing the door behind me, I was keenly aware that the snakes were my imagination, but just as keenly aware that the noise was not. I decided to ask my mom if she would come out and listen to the noise I had heard. She said that she would later and I continued on by analyzing the pasture.
The pasture was as I anticipated. Its overgrown grass and weeds, a long way from the neatly grazed pasture of the past few summers. However, with the exception of my unintentionally driving the RTV over a water washout that I did not see and hitting it hard enough that my bottled water in the RTV's cupholder landed on the floor, it is what I expected.
Back at the shop Mom and I investigated the cause of the noise I was hearing. Mom is familiar with the placement of the light switches, and after getting the lights turned on, Mom told me she did not hear what I was talking about. She did however ask me where I thought the noise was coming from and as I started to walk to where I thought the source was I noticed that when I walked past the white feed bags (ground wheat feed mix) the noise got louder and when I walked past the brown feed bags (cattle cubes) the noise diminished. She started to hear what I was hearing and we continued investigating. Mom then started noticing small amounts of the wheat feed on the shop floor between the rows of pallets and we started seeing little brown bugs. My conclusion: Our once beautiful ground wheat feed was now infested with thousands of bugs. Mom's conclusion: A bug infestation she described as "Fascinating."
So now what to do? We have a few dozen full pallets of the ground wheat feed. Is there a way to get rid of this fascinating bug infestation and salvage the feed? Or, did we just end up with an unwanted tax deduction? Any advise and all opinions would be appreciated.
Pictures:
Water washout I unintentionally drove through.
One of our overgrown pastures.
Our bagged feed.
Feed in torn bag.
Feed on floor.
Bugs on feed bag.
Instead of all those bags of feed, you guys oughta get a bulk bin and have feed delivered in bulk, it`s a heap lot cheaper.
I am convinced that cattle prices will start increasing the day after our fats sell. 
