Growing fodder for chickens

[HeritageGoose13]

Just wanted to give everyone a head's up.

Scott's seed is planning to sell different types of genetically modified grass seed at stores like Home Depot and Lowes. They went through a legal loophole so they have no government testing or approval at all. It will probably not be labeled as GMO. There is a petition and a call for a boycott, but no one knows if that will be enough to stop it.

Make sure you know get the seed for your fodder from a reliable source!

 

[amiachicknorwat]

Wow, I thought our chickens were just pecking in the grass, like between the blades, for insects and whatnot. It never occurred to me they're pecking at the grass too. Makes sense given how the take grass down in their run, which I thought was from their scratching, not pecking. Is it only a few grasses, like barley and the screamingly obvious sunflower (like who doesn't love sunflower sprouts -- the yummiest - or are there many or most grasses they'll eat? Thanks, Nick

 

[beginnergirl]

Just wanted to give everyone a head's up.

Scott's seed is planning to sell different types of genetically modified grass seed at stores like Home Depot and Lowes. They went through a legal loophole so they have no government testing or approval at all. It will probably not be labeled as GMO. There is a petition and a call for a boycott, but no one knows if that will be enough to stop it.

Make sure you know get the seed for your fodder from a reliable source!

Terrible news. Thanks for sharing this. Of course it won't be labeled. Same as the GMO salmon. No labeling required. Monsanto is spending millions to make sure GMO labeling is not required.

 

[kaycountry1016]

HeritageGoose13.... Thanks for telling us about Scott's and GMO. These days you never really know what you're getting even if you try to be careful..... Kay in NC 11.28.15

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Terrible news. Thanks for sharing this. Of course it won't be labeled. Same as the GMO salmon. No labeling required. Monsanto is spending millions to make sure GMO labeling is not required.

HeritageGoose13.... Thanks for telling us about Scott's and GMO. These days you never really know what you're getting even if you try to be careful..... Kay in NC 11.28.15

You are both very welcome. The worst part about this grass is that it will be spreading, so even if you don't want it, chances are you might get it. I am afraid this will cause organic farmers to go out of business. Someone on BYC (on another thread) said there were test plots of it in Florida two years ago, and that by now it has mixed with the native grasses there...

One state was planning to outlaw it, but the governor caved and vetoed the bill when one of the companies selling it said they would stop investing in the state if that happened.

I wish one of those big environmentalist groups would protest at the stores planning to sell this seed. That would draw attention to it. Why doesn't the news talk about this? If people knew this was happening, there would be backlash and it would not be sold, but people are completely unaware.

 

[Baby Chick Farm]

@HeritageGoose13

How unfortunate! The costs of non-organic produce is significantly lower, which means the companies can reduce the costs compared to their organic counterparts and get much more advantage. Yeah, there must be some way to speak up. Usually, the farmers that work for the companies don't really get any choice if they are to work there, but why do they choose to work there in the first place? I don't want to offend anyone (I hope I'm not) if they do, but I'm just wondering. Isn't the environment more important than printed bills? That's much more easy to say than to do, unfortunately. Even I sometimes violate what I just said. Cheaper stuff is always more appealing. I have no idea how we can ever solve this growing problem.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Quote: It is possible to eat healthy for cheap. I believe that is why many people raise chickens and have gardens in the first place.

People buy unhealthy things for two reasons: because it is cheap and fast to prepare. So, if we can make healthy food cheap and fast to prepare, people will eat healthy. Making healthy food cheap is easy once you find a way to make a productive garden. There are ways to make it fast and convenient, too. If you look up "mealprep" you will find how some people like to do it.

Here's a decent example:

http://runawayapricot.com/2014/01/m...lthy-and-affordable-meals-all-week-long.html/

This man prepares simple, healthy meals ahead of time so all he has to do is reheat them when he is hungry. The price would come way down if it involved garden produce, and that would also provide more variety. This man eats the same things for lunch all week, that is definitely not how most people do it. Anyway, that is just one example. Some people do an extreme version called OAMC or Once A Month Cooking. A family spends all day cooking, then freezes everything to be reheated later, so they only have to cook once a month. That seems much more hectic than doing mealprep once or twice a week, but I think the point is that buying in bulk saves money.

My point is healthy eating does not have to be expensive or difficult. I hope it gave you something to think about.

 

[Baby Chick Farm]

People buy unhealthy things for two reasons: because it is cheap and fast to prepare.

@HeritageGoose13

I totally agree. I mean, even I sometimes forget about my strive to eat natural and healthy goods. What about taste? People love the taste of fried foods, and I don't love it any less than them. Fried foods as well as other unhealthy foods also taste more appealing. Maybe I interpreted 'unhealthy' differently...do you mean 'unhealthy' as not organic and natural? I must confess, it is close to dinner now and my mouth is just watering from thinking about fries!!! Sorry about that. I just hope eating healthy doesn't mean eating like a caveman!

I really like all the suggestions you are giving me and the Backyard Chickens community on how to solve this problem, because I'm no specialist in this and have no idea how to solve this. Thank you so much for it! The OAMC sounds amazing! Crossing my fingers that the food still tastes okay at the end of the month! You opened my thoughts to things I never ever pondered over before! Thanks for your eye-opening reply!

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Taste is also a factor, true. I was talking mainly about fast food and overly-processed frozen dinners. Those are foods people eat because they feel like they have no choice. They think they don't have enough time to cook or that they can't afford fresh stuff. That's why I brought up those other ideas, as alternatives to that. I am glad you liked reading my post. Have a nice day!

(PS. If you are really interested in cooking once a week/month etc. check out a website called Pinterest. That is where I first heard about it. You can find lots of recipes there and find out what kinds of food keeps for how long, etc.)

 

[LynnAnd]

I am reading old posts on growing fodder. This this work well for you?