While I hastily take all credit for this
particular invention, I’ve found that many unscrupulous characters
have stolen my ideas even before I had them. Therefore, these items
may not be as easy to find as one might suspect. You could probably
substitute some sort of plastic tub you’d find at Wal-Mart, for these
heavy black plastic jobbies, but you aren’t likely to get anything so
tough and long-lasting.
As I mentioned in the beginning, these tubs
are designed as feeders for beef cattle, so the best place to look is
at your local feed store. I called several places looking for the
source of new tubs and I finally tracked them down to the
manufacturer, Adventure Plastics of Ackley, Iowa.
I didn’t speak to them though, because I got
all my information from the company that fills them with molasses and
resells them. Another Iowa company called CTI. (Sorry, I didn’t get
their address) but I spoke to one David Linhart who told me that the
new tubs cost them around $6.50 each, but that, being so light as they
are, shipping would probably cost more than that (CTI buys them in
batches of 3,000). He also told me that a considerable secondary
market has sprung up where used, licked-out molasses tubs were selling
for about $3 each.
So if you don't know a rancher feeding
molasses to his cattle, see if your feed dealer doesn't have a few on
hand.
