The Old Folks Home

[Beer can]

I just read this to Dh. Oh my, he's ranting as I'm writing this. He thinks people have lost their minds. That's a terrible thing to think of what they do. I sure hope our cattle stay up here and aren't subjected to that. I'm not sure what our protocols are exactly...but I believe they're pretty strict about what can be fed to cattle here. However, don't quote me on that.

I was out checking out our cattle and taking pics the other day.

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These calves were following me around...lol. Looks like a nice replacement heifer with the white underside and the black will be one of our replacement bulls.
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In the background are two of the bulls pushing heads. The guy on the right will be four. The guy on left was old in 2010. I think he'll be 11 or 12 now. Still going strong. I like that longevity!. His heifers should be great! And the bull we kept from him.

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It may be that they only feed them this while they are in those tight packed finishing feed lots CAFO's for only six to eight months.
I knew our condensed whey was going to a place for animal feed, I didn't know what for, I imagined probably for the protein added to dog food maybe?
I was shocked when the driver explained it. Like I said everything that's food, snack or candy, packaging, plastic, boxes, five gallon pails, gets shredded in a mixer, supposedly they filter out the plastic (I don't believe it), add our 40% solids condensed whey, mix it up, spread it on a drying floor, dry it out, bust it up and load it on trailers for beef feed. Mmm yummy.

 

[perchie.girl]

Thanks Ron. Yes, they don't feed the brains/spines/offal etc.

The feeding of manure! That's just disgusting! No respectable cow person could imagine doing that. If I told someone here that...they'd think I lost my damn mind. We spread the cattle manure on the summerfallowed fields. That's what manure is for. That's scary and gives me little faith in those who are supposed to be guiding with knowledge. Those poor cattle.

I met a gal here in the back country raising Brahma Crosses... good foragers good at handling heat... all healty feed suppliments.... She sold them as organic fed. The minut they were loaded up on the truck someone went through and injected the ears with hormone tag.... and off they went to a feed lot.

 

[microchick]

@Wickedchicken6, your herd is beautiful. Such nice healthy looking animals.

Beef farming is really big around here, mainly because crop land that is flat enough to plant is scarce. Every now and then I tell DH that maybe we should think about turning a couple of weaned steers in our pasture, fattening them up by fall and taking them in to be butchered. I'm so tired of not knowing what is going into the beef we eat. We both have just enough health problems that taking on steers is just a little more than we want to tackle. Plus, black faced cow and calf pairs right now are going for about 2500 dollars right now.

I admittedly, don't eat a lot of beef. When I do it is just 93% lean ground sirloin for hamburgers and casseroles or spaghetti and prime rib once a year at Thanksgiving. I think once a year I may indulge in a nice thick steak but that's it. The rest of the time, it's poultry or fish. Sirloin chops on occasion. Every time I start loosening up a bit and thinking I need to eat more beef, I read something about what they feed cows to fatten them up in feed lots and I have a change of heart.

DH once saw something on the internet about beef being imported from China and it being 'feed lotted' on garbage dumps. I couldn't touch beef for a long time after that revelation.

I have a hard enough time now reading about poultry 'byproducts' on our pet's food after seeing them dumping newly hatched rooster chicks into grinders when they are hatched out at egg production farms. I'm too darned soft hearted.

Gout? OUCH! My mom had that and it went right to her big toe. Glad that I've dodged that bullet so far.

 

[Beer can]

This place
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...B9oQFgiXATAE&usg=AOvVaw2bS1-Bg49cKbrTb1MEPJqT
They say "One facility recycles items from the human food production stream (‘pre-consumer’) diverting it from its previous fate of entering a landfill"
Guess that makes it sound better.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Furnace works. No dripping.

I still have a turkey from last winter. We buy a bunch when they go on sale also, I love turkey.
For the price some of them I just de-bone, grind, mix in chopped onions and peppers, Italian sausage seasoning and stuff in casings.
Well, I'm done, try to get some sleep. Hear a darn rooster crowing though...
need earplugs

My room is farthest from the coops so I do not hear a thing

(shhhh, btw, got my latest test results, still in treatment free remission. I'm still my Onc's favorite! Aka, miracle patient Thank you Lord )

 

[ronott1]

@Wickedchicken6, your herd is beautiful. Such nice healthy looking animals.

Gout? OUCH! My mom had that and it went right to her big toe. Glad that I've dodged that bullet so far.

My Father had gout as well as my two brothers. I do not think my sister hast it. One of my Uncles gets Kidney stones from Uric acid build up from gout. So far I have not had anything bad but the big toe pain that I had was a symptom. It hurt while laying in bed which is a sign too. I am taking a uric acid support pill. It has lots of Cherry extract in it. I might keep taking it too!

I do not want Gout. One of my brothers has Gouty Arthritis

 

[chickadoodles]

Oh wow! I don't know how I could've done it. I suppose I could've put them in with the roosters in the big shed. That might've been ok. I have 90 some chickens and 18 guineas in a 12x20 garage coop.
Can you just imagine what that would've been like with ducks?

if you have them long enough you get attached and it's just like taking care of all the others.

 

[Arielle]

I met a gal here in the back country raising Brahma Crosses... good foragers good at handling heat... all healty feed suppliments.... She sold them as organic fed. The minut they were loaded up on the truck someone went through and injected the ears with hormone tag.... and off they went to a feed lot.

Ditto!!!

 

[Arielle]

@SCG--

 

[chickadoodles]

Nice looking herd Wicked!

My husbands mill has been making cow feed for a few years now. The ingredients are tested coming in and the finished product is tested going out. We use a bit for our cows in the winter along with their hay.

The farmers around her do not use junk like that to feed their cows and neither does the feed lot. They get good quality feed and hay fresh daily.

Chicki congrats! That's wonderful news!

Micro nice your toe is feeling better.