Cornish Thread

[varidgerunner]

Yes but that is just so the afterbirth does not attract predators to their weak and still vulnerable newborn.

That is a beneficial side effect, but the main reason is they are hungry for high protein food. I have seen some that didn't stop with afterbirth and went for ears and tails of their newborn babies. I'm sure their are many "vegans" that step off of the path just after giving birth, as well. ( If they didn't in fact eat meat during most of their pregnancy.)

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

you could be right. most I talked to said that they chose not to eat meat, not because they didn't like it, but because they found it amoral. I pointed out that left completely to themselves in nature, animals were much more cruel then a hunter (especially with the laws and regulations currently)

 

[big medicine]

Probably more common than anybody suspected,

http://www.nola.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2015/03/white-tailed_deer_shown_to_rai.html

 

[varidgerunner]

The best way to make a vegan have smoke come out of their ears is to explain the concept of "vertebrate deaths per pound of food." Considering the frogs and anoles that get smashed in the equipment used to harvest rice, there could be hundreds of vertebrate deaths per pound of food. How many jackrabbits did the farmer shoot out of his soybeans? How many pheasant chicks got smashed in equipment during the process of growing wheat? When you look at it like that, a 1/4 pound deer burger might only be responsible for 0.04vertebrate deaths per pound. It's a waste of time, because they usually aren't rational people, but it is fun.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

The best way to make a vegan have smoke come out of their ears is to explain the concept of "vertebrate deaths per pound of food." Considering the frogs and anoles that get smashed in the equipment used to harvest rice, there could be hundreds of vertebrate deaths per pound of food. How many jackrabbits did the farmer shoot out of his soybeans? How many pheasant chicks got smashed in equipment during the process of growing wheat? When you look at it like that, a 1/4 pound deer burger might only be responsible for 0.04vertebrate deaths per pound. It's a waste of time, because they usually aren't rational people, but it is fun.

Yes I kind of tried that. We are farmers, organic even. I have first hand knowledge of all the death that goes into soybean and wheat production. She wouldn't listen kept telling me she got her food from a local farmers who assured there was no loss of life.

 

[varidgerunner]

Can't make an omelet without busting some eggs. Even if you harvested everything by hand, you are going to kill animals by starvation once they built up populations dependent on the food source you provided. You can not live on this planet without impacting other life forms.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I tried going vegetarian (only for ethical reasons, not health) but wasn't able to do so. First, it was almost impossible not to be a hypocrite, and second, and probably the main reason, was that I'm a lousy cook; and the fake vegetarian stuff already made seemed downright unhealthy. I know dogs can be vegetarian but that's not species appropriate food and there I was doling out raw meat by by the pound each day for the dogs to eat............ If we were true vegetarians we'd have a giant caecum and be able to synthesize our own vitamin B. Then I read Animals Make us Human by Temple Grandin, and decided that the sanest thing to do was ensure that our meat providing animals were treated humanely, try to eat much less meat, and encourage others to do the same. If we could photosynthesize that would solve a lot of those issues I guess! I still haven't been able to eat one of my own chickens even if I've needed to cull. Maybe someday.......I know it's kind of crazy not to-. but for now I'm sticking just to the eggs.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

I tried going vegetarian (only for ethical reasons, not health) but wasn't able to do so. First, it was almost impossible not to be a hypocrite, and second, and probably the main reason, was that I'm a lousy cook; and the fake vegetarian stuff already made seemed downright unhealthy. I know dogs can be vegetarian but that's not species appropriate food and there I was doling out raw  meat by by the pound each day for the dogs to eat............  If we were true vegetarians we'd have a giant caecum and be able to synthesize our own vitamin B. Then I read  Animals Make us Human by Temple Grandin, and decided that the sanest thing to do was ensure that our meat providing animals were treated humanely, try to eat much less meat, and encourage others to do the same.  If we could photosynthesize that would solve a lot of those issues I guess! I still haven't been able to eat one of my own chickens even if I've needed to cull.  Maybe someday.......I know it's kind of crazy not to-. but for now I'm sticking just to the eggs.

Oh yes if you want to start talking about ending factory farms and working toward a more sustainable agricultural system I am fully on board. Large reason I have begun raising chickens is to limit the amount of factory animals I need to buy.
Cheap food is truely one of the worst things we as a country have created, I think it is killing us.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Oh yes if you want to start talking about ending factory farms and working toward a more sustainable agricultural system I am fully on board. Large reason I have begun raising chickens is to limit the amount of factory animals I need to buy.
Cheap food is truely one of the worst things we as a country have created, I think it is killing us.

When I do google searches on Buckeye chickens I get that nightmare Buckeye factory farm in Ohio- and it goes on and on. Sad that our western "civilization" has come to this. there's a person in Ontario who is being criminally charged for giving water to a pig on a slaughterhouse- bound truck on a murderously hot day. Somewhere as a society we've lost our humanity and we desperately need it back.
That's why I wanted some Cornish, as meat birds. They certainly will have had exceptionally good lives, if I do say so myself! They never want for anything (as far as I'm aware). I think once i have enough and I don't recognize them as individuals it will be easier to make one of them supper, one day.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

When I do google searches on Buckeye chickens I get that nightmare Buckeye factory farm in Ohio- and it goes on and on. Sad that our western "civilization" has come to this. there's a person in Ontario who is being criminally charged for giving water to a pig on a slaughterhouse- bound truck on a murderously hot day. Somewhere as a society we've lost our humanity and we desperately need it back. 

Yeah I agree. Of it is something you are really interested in I would suggest you look into your states sustainable ag group. They all have different names but if you Google you state and sustainable ag you should be able to find it. There you could find producers who would be happy to sell to you. They are not all organic, but they are all sustainable (much like the family farms you would have found in the 50s)