Brief History of the Broiler Industry

WOW !!! Jim, those statistics just go to prove how unsustainable the broiler is... why in 1925 it took a dual purpose chicken 112 days to reach market waight of 2.5 lbs while consuming 4.7 lbs of feed for a pound of gain and suffered the inhumane loss of life at 18 percent compared to the latest figures of 48 days to reach market at 5.47 lbs while gobbling up 1.95 pounds of feed per pound of meat gain and at the depressing loss of life at 4 %. It is deplorable that broiler production surpassed pork in 1985 and beef in 1992. Not only does the broiler feed our population but now Russia too.
 
Wouldn't those stats indicate that it's more sustainable than pork or beef? Beef takes about 5.5lbs feed per pound of meat while broilers are more than half that.
 
When it comes to utilizing feed then your looking at the second most sustainable animal on earth... second only to the Salmon... which the only reason why it grows faster is the fact that it doesn't have to resist gravity.
 
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But the salmon is in constant motion while the Cornish Cross is seldom in motion. I suspect the fish has an advantage in being cold blooded. But, that's just a guess.
 
I seem to recall that rabbits are about the same level of efficiency as meat chickens.

I know that farm raised tilapia is a 1 to 1 feed conversion ratio. There are other fish than tilapia or salmon that are probably just as efficient. Remember though that there is a "dry matter" factor with fish.

About beef- not so efficient pound for pound but they thrive on things that man does not utilize well. Much of the gain achived by beef comes forage plants, the "finish" comes at the last stage of their growth period and that is accomplished with grains. That is where the FCRs you hear about are derived from. Of course rabbits, geese, sheep and goats also utilize forage plants very well, unlike man.

Hogs and poultry are said to be competitors with man for proteins (they eat many things that we can utilize) but they still do very well at concentrating grains into protein that man can then better utilize.

I, too, do not understand how inefficiency promotes sustainability.


I know, I know-

"But they don't breed true"

So what.
 
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But the salmon is in constant motion while the Cornish Cross is seldom in motion. I suspect the fish has an advantage in being cold blooded. But, that's just a guess.

I'm not sure... I know that there is animals that grow faster... but as far as food intake to muscle is the salmon.

However I was reading that the antlers on animals are the fastest growing tissues known to nature... and the fastest growing animal is a Blue Whale Calf... which can grow 200lb a DAY! That's just crazy!
 
dont really no how a cornish cross is a Sustanable breed when they cant even breed on their own?? I dont agree with the cornish cross birds i think their unatural and just a way for the Now Lazy America to get food faster and cheapier ill stick my chickens that grandma use to raise REAL CHICKEN

I think its difficult to explain to someone who wasnt raised on farmyard birds - the monster crosses are just so . . . bland compared to the tastes of my childhood - for someone raised on supermarket chicken then certainly the cornish cross are far better than those, but to someone raised on REAL chicken - then the heritage breeds blow them out of the water.

Does that make sense? Its kinda hard to explain properly - its more like a gut feel - that the crosses just arent . . . well Real is the closest i can get to it. They were created to serve as a cheap meat supply for the mass market, and they certainly do that job admirably - for those that cant rear their own chickens and on low incomes its the difference between having animal protein in their diet and not - a very simplistic but important point!

I dislike the cornish cross meat because it has so little flavour - i'll agree that it is very soft, but having grown up with "real" chicken i prefer my chicken to have a stronger flavour and have a little more texture.
 
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One question! Whaaatttt?????

Still trying to understand why it is deplorable that we eat more chicken than beef or pork. I am trying to understand why a 4% death loss is depressing. Trying to understand why it is bad that we export to Russia.

I understand why some folks prefer the flavor or a dual purpose heritage raised bird to the flavor of the cornish cross, I just dont get why on the face of it there is any controversy.

In terms of sustainability I would bet that if left to their own breeding devices the cross would eventually breed itself right back into a reproducable breed if that is a concern.
 

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