Bigger is not Better

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Little racer:

The poultry industry in Canada is vastly different than that of the US since there is not a quota system fo dairy and poultry and we don't have a Socialistic economic model for livestock production.

The $0.12 US that has been bantered around is the income received by a CONTRACT grower that grows birds for a poultry operation. In some systems the contractor is paid based on "bird spaces" and in others by the lb of birds produced per turn of the barn.

The large scale poultry and pork producers have chosen to use a business model that depends on expanding the number of animals produced rather than owning concrete and steel. To achieve large numbers they utilize contract growers that own the buildings, but don't have the risk of owining the livestock. Becoming a contractor has helped maintain farm families on their land through the rapid change in commercial agriculture. I personally am not a fan of the contractor system, but it has a significant value in today's agriculture.

I completed a Profit/Loss comparison for one of my large swine customers last week. He places 1,000 pig groups each week and the projection showed a $55,000 LOSS for current groups. However, the contractor was guaranteed to receive $42/pig space this year. WE have shifted the risk.

Jim

[Editted for spelling and clarity"\\]

 

[P-F]

Wow $42/pig space that would be nice.
I am a stay at home mom we have three hog barns each w/ 2450 pigs. Those barns pay the bills.

They provide the fertilizer so that I don't have to buy as much petrolium based nitrogen.

I find it funny when our neighbors have no urban sprawl signs in their yard, I have to remind them that they are urban sprawl.

The thing we all have to remember is that at one time everyone in the country had chickens, a dairy cow or two, a couple beef steers, had a garden and some kept sheep. Mom stayed at home, Dad farmed his few hundred acres. That is not the case anymore.

I live in a very rural area, and their are alot of farms that have no livestock, the ones that do have a chicken, turkey or hog barn. No one wants to go through all the work to raise their own food. no one has the time.

My husband and I are rare, we both have college degrees, and we are full time farmers. We have a huge garden, raise cattle, and hogs farm beans, wheat, corn, hay. And my fist chicks are coming may 21 and 28.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I have not read this entire thread (I will later on tho ...am just taking a coffie break now) but I do wonder if the stench the article speaks of is from composting the dead birds...I have been reading several articles the last couple years about this practice?

 

[lynxpilot]

There are a lot of advantages to keeping it local and buying from the likes of us on this board.

We have a bizzillion of those chicken and turkey farms in the area and no sooner does one go up that it goes bust. They have trucks coming and going that smell so bad you can't hardly be around them. I've seen them driving turkeys rammed into tiny uncovered cages and driving highway speeds when the air temperature is below freezing. The farms are jam packed full and they circumvent the intended meaning of free range, organic, all natural, or any other term that you and I would be more comfortable with.

If we distribute the source of our food among several locals so it doesn't have to be shipped for miles, then we can eliminate transportation costs and pollution from unnecessary fuel usage. If chickens are pastured, free-ranged, or day-ranged, their droppings are advantageous rather than a polluting hindrance. If we mind what we feed our poultry, then end product is more what virtually any customer would prefer in terms of natural or healthy.

The saddest part of it all is the grip the industry has on the USDA and the grip the USDA has on the small farmer. We have a government-sponsored, lobbied, misrepresentation which makes it virtually impossible for small farmers to succeed. I'll put the sanitary quality and general healthiness of my meat chickens against any USDA-stamped Tyson factory any day. They may make a few jobs for a few illegal immigrants, but I certainly wouldn't welcome them near my place.