Could I feed them vegan?

[shortgrass]

Is diatomacous earth considered vegan? Its made from fossils. It is included in some feed recipes.

I wouldn't see why not... It's been fossilized back into minerals, so the organic life is gone from it... No harm mining it, as fas as I know... Greensand, rock phosphate, gypsum, lime...all good sources of minerals from fossilized remains... Plants eat it without us being able to monitor it lol, so I would say yes.

 

[islafarm]

We are also certified organic, cacao, fruits and spices, but we don't use any of the fertilizers short grass listed, and like I said I know nothing about growing grain. I'm surprised that there would be a big enough industry to produce organic feather meal or guano for grain farmers. Not disagreeing at all, just curious about how big organic has got.

If that's the case growing your own feed, or at least mixing your own seems the way to go. Niche market opportunity

 

[shortgrass]

We are also certified organic, cacao, fruits and spices, but we don't use any of the fertilizers short grass listed, and like I said I know nothing about growing grain. I'm surprised that there would be a big enough industry to produce organic feather meal or guano for grain farmers. Not disagreeing at all, just curious about how big organic has got.

If that's the case growing your own feed, or at least mixing your own seems the way to go. Niche market opportunity

Oh, in commercial grain fields, we use poop lol... Sheep poo to be exact..from our organic raised sheep Fully functioning sustainable AG we just finished wheat harvest too, over 100 bushel/acre... Organic wheat, ah so pretty

Want a mind blowing experience of organic-ness?

Farmtek and Arbico Organics are 2 places to extend knowledge of all the options we have as organic producers these days... It's getting easier by the day

 

[islafarm]

Shortgrass: Always interested in mind blowing experiences of organic-ness

will check them out, thank you!

Is the sheep poo your main fertilizer? What kind of soil do you have? You must rotate crops? Tree crops are a whole different beastie

From what I've just been reading 100 bushels of wheat per acre is pretty good!

Josh, if you only have a few hens and you have a greenhouse you might think of duckweed and / or azolla for plant protein. Duckweed would probably do fine in an English summer outdoors, but for year round production I doubt it. It does however grow like the clappers and maybe enough that you could dry it for winter. Again, only thoughts.

 

[shortgrass]

Shortgrass: Always interested in mind blowing experiences of organic-ness    will check them out, thank you!

Is the sheep poo your main fertilizer? What kind of soil do you have? You must rotate crops? Tree crops are a whole different beastie   From what I've just been reading 100 bushels of wheat per acre is pretty good! 

Josh, if you only have a few hens and you have a greenhouse you might think of duckweed and / or azolla for plant protein. Duckweed would probably do fine in an English summer outdoors, but for year round production I doubt it. It does however grow like the clappers and maybe enough that you could dry it for winter. Again, only thoughts. 

Yep, sheep poo is the main one... We have cattle, sheep, and chickens... The sheep poo is the best, cattle manure is too hot.. Most definitely rotate crops, and grazing rotation plays a key factor there... That's actually why I got chickens lol, to fill a rotational "hole" in the grazing schedule

Ie, the wheat stubble get chickens first, then cattle... Then sheep poo that's been cooking for a year gets spread, and say...corn, will probably go in that field next spring... (And yes, 100 bu/a is phenomenal, but it was an irrigated field lol, so I cheated) we have extremely alkaline soil, and a copper excess, so rye is an option so we don't overgraze the cattle and sheep...they have copper intolerances so grazing rotation is critical.

I would assume for tree crops, you guys get more benefit from cover crops and undersowing? I bet clovers are really good under nut trees, attract beneficials and fix nitrogen at the same time? Yeah, my knowledge on tree crops is about nil lol, its the SOIL im good at ha-ha

 

[islafarm]

That's brilliant! I love the beauty of efficiency and follow my leader too.

We work a lot with micro-organisms, biochar, fungi and good old mulch. Our trees are mature now, so cover crops are largely incidental, though we do interplant with a lot of nitrogen fixers. Clover, if it grew here would be sweet, we use perennial peanut which fills the same niche. Cacao is an understory tree, and our vanilla and black pepper are vines so technically understory too. The fruit trees vary, some understory, but mostly canopy - the farm is a shady place

. We just keep mulching and creating good environments for all the micro beasties. We're in the rainy season just now, a heavy one - I think we're up to 24 inches this last month. And with a heavy clay soil, we don't have to irrigate too much

I'm looking into trying sorghum - grains are really hard for us here, fodder is much easier but it's trying to up those carbs that's making me still buy the concentrate.

You must have a good number of chickens then? What are you feeding them? Or rather, what are you supplementing the pasture with? Alkaline, dry, temperate - interesting! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience!

 

[shortgrass]

That's brilliant! I love the beauty of efficiency and follow my leader too. 

We work a lot with micro-organisms, biochar, fungi and good old mulch. Our trees are mature now, so cover crops are largely incidental, though we do interplant with a lot of nitrogen fixers. Clover, if it grew here would be sweet, we use perennial peanut which fills the same niche. Cacao is an understory tree, and our vanilla and black pepper are vines so technically understory too. The fruit trees vary, some understory, but mostly canopy - the farm is a shady place  . We just keep mulching and creating good environments for all the micro beasties. We're in the rainy season just now, a heavy one - I think we're up to 24 inches this last month. And with a heavy clay soil, we don't have to irrigate too much :/

I'm looking into trying sorghum - grains are really hard for us here, fodder is much easier but it's trying to up those carbs that's making me still buy the concentrate. 

You must have a good number of chickens then? What are you feeding them? Or rather, what are you supplementing the pasture with? Alkaline, dry, temperate - interesting! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience!

Me too!!! I LOVE humates and microorhizae; I vermicompost for my own teas... Lol ooh its exciting sharing all this stuff! I picked out 2 sorghums tobtry next spring too! I got sugar drip to try for syrup, and Mennonite for feed... I LIVE sustainable too lol, so my feed isn't just for the livestock

About 120 head of cattle at present; bout the same of sheep; 26 layers, and @50 assorted other fowl; ducks, geese, guinea, quail... Wild turkey and pheasant sometimes because I hunt, so I like to replenish

Where are you located? I'm in Colorado, zone 5... You sound like you're in a warmer zone, for sure

Oh, I missed your question on pasture... Mostly native grasses, alfalfa, and make the best of weeds, kochia, amaranth, pigweed... I like to try new things; vetch and purslane, clovers of course, rye grasses, ... I like winter peas and ryes; our winters are brutal. hard to keep forage in winter, so sometimes they get corn silage shared from the cattle.

 

[shortgrass]

I am thinking of getting chickens and since I am vegan I will prefer to feed them vegan, vegetarian if I have to but preferably vegan. If you could suggest somewhere that sells the vegan feed in the UK that would also be very helpful, thanks in advance.

I apologize, Josh. I did not mean to derail your thread ha-ha

I DID, however, talk to the expert about your vegan feed (aka, the DH)....

We agree that you CSN do vegan BASED diet for chickens, but we don't think it's actually possible for it to be CERTIFIED vegan... The possibility of weevils in wheat, for instance... Bugs are everywhere, so its going to be very difficult to keep it 100%...

BUT, if you can source clean seed, or use DE to control the possible pests, it could work. Cost basis would be way out if line to make any profit unless you already had a set "contract" to sell eggs or meat.

The packages labeled "vegan" eggs are misleading, but perfectly true and legal. If the cost and work are worth it for your own consumption, then I say give it all you got

 

[HeritageGoose13]

If I were feeding vegan I would ferment the feed, as that makes the protein more available and easy to digest. You'll find lots of info on that here on BYC.