Home-grown cornishX tastes better, but WHY?

[matthewschickens]

Also maybe they are better because you worked hard to raise them.
Whatever you put work into you are going to like the outcome better then if you just buy it.

 

[feetsoup]

Quote:
Crazy how that works, isn't it? I knew this in the back on my mind for years... I'd read a book when I was in 6th grade about factory farms. But I went right on eating fast food and whatnot... For some reason reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" when it came out is what flipped a switch in my brain and brought it to the forefront of my mind. I think seeing that a positive alternative was possible is what lit a fire under me.

 

[theOEGBman]

Quote:
You don't reckon since you were an animal science major the university was taking you to (and Fosters Farms inviting you to) their showcase farms, do you?

I'm sure different companies have various scenarios and relationships with the growers, but the situation I described does in fact exist because I heard it from the producers mouths. As to how well the birds are cared for in factory farms and how humane it is to treat any animal like a cog in a machine...

Im sure they did clean up somewhat, but dont most people clean up when they have a visitor? I worked in a layer facility on campus that houses 1,600-1,800 hens and can say that those hens are treated extremely well. And I would, without a doubt, eat eggs from the caged hens way before I ate eggs from the cage-free girls. I think most people are just extremely biased and are fed wrong information. But that is just my opinion, everyone has their own.

feetsoup wrote:

About antibiotics - the antibiotics themselves aren't what is bad; I don't imagine they affect the meat much if at all. The problem is why they are given constant antibiotics: they pretty much live in a cloud of their own filth. They sleep in their own crap and there's fecal dust all over everything, in their food, water, lungs... and thus they would all quickly die were it not for the constant antibiotics they are fed. And you better believe that affects their taste. And then there's the unsanitary ways they process them... any big meat processing plant regularly get fecal matter and intestinal contents on the meat, but with poultry, things are made even worse because they all soak together in a chill tank and all that crap basically get marinated into the meat sickbyc I don't imagine chicken crap adds anything good to the flavor.

That's why I haven't eaten chicken in years, and I can't WAIT to get my own meaties! big_smile

As for this....

The birds arent given constant antibiotics. They're vaccinated for the same things your birds and my birds are; Marek's Disease, Newcastle, Coccidiosis and what not. Also, the birds are cleaned quite well before put in the chill tank, and in recent years many processors have upgraded to doing a type of fast freeze instead of soaking because people believe soaking them to put on a little more weight is not fair to the consumer.​

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
Well, gee. What can I say? I guess we could go back and forth all day with "yes they are/no they're not", but I don't find discussions like that all that helpful. I do know for a fact that growers medicate birds in these big barns on an ongoing basis, because I have heard them say it. Maybe not all of them, but these folks seem to think it is the case with most. Which makes sense, when you think about it. Monocultures of crowded plants or animals are especially vulnerable to disease and parasites. For me, I have no way of knowing which do, and which do not, and would just as soon avoid them altogether.

And yes, the birds are cleaned before putting the birds in the chill tank... by soaking them in a chlorine solution. That is a verifiable fact. Getting back to the OP, that no doubt affects the taste of store bought, factory farmed birds, as well.

As to eating eggs from caged birds versus free range, well... all I can say is the proof is in the tasting. Or even seeing. Visit a friend who free ranges her layers with a couple of your anemic eggs from a cage farm, break them into bowls side by side and then come back to tell me which is the better egg. If you tasted both there could be no doubt which would win out. There is absolutely no comparison.

I think the key is in the bolded statement above. I have a friend who is a third generation rancher (the first using alternative agricultural practices) who changed his major to zoology in college because he felt the thrust of the ag program was toward conventional agriculture. Upon graduation, he elected to instead do a year's apprenticeship at Polyface Farm under Joel Salatin for his real education.

It all depends on the bias of the system one learns under, and what information one is actually given. I'm inclined to believe my friend is much better informed about all aspects of framing than most.

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Well, gee. What can I say? I guess we could go back and forth all day with "yes they are/no they're not", but I don't find discussions like that all that helpful. I do know for a fact that growers medicate birds in these big barns on an ongoing basis, because I have heard them say it. Maybe not all of them, but these folks seem to think it is the case with most. Which makes sense, when you think about it. Monocultures of crowded plants or animals are especially vulnerable to disease and parasites. For me, I have no way of knowing which do, and which do not, and would just as soon avoid them altogether.

And yes, the birds are cleaned before putting the birds in the chill tank... by soaking them in a chlorine solution. That is a verifiable fact. Getting back to the OP, that no doubt affects the taste of store bought, factory farmed birds, as well.

As to eating eggs from caged birds versus free range, well... all I can say is the proof is in the tasting. Or even seeing. Visit a friend who free ranges her layers with a couple of your anemic eggs from a cage farm, break them into bowls side by side and then come back to tell me which is the better egg. If you tasted both there could be no doubt which would win out. There is absolutely no comparison.

I think the key is in the bolded statement above. I have a friend who is a third generation rancher (the first using alternative agricultural practices) who changed his major to zoology in college because he felt the thrust of the ag program was toward conventional agriculture. Upon graduation, he elected to instead do a year's apprenticeship at Polyface Farm under Joel Salatin for his real education.

It all depends on the bias of the system one learns under, and what information one is actually given. I'm inclined to believe my friend is much better informed about all aspects of framing than most.

I most heartily concur with your last paragragh of your post!!!

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
I most heartily concur with your last paragragh of your post!!!

Thanks. Nice to see we agree on something.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Food Inc. does an excellent job showing exactly how the commercial poultry are raised, and what the pathogen levels are due to the raising and processing.
All commercial poultry is soaked in an ammonia bath to kill off the pathogens. That absolutly affects the taste, never mind how they are raised and what they are fed.

The USDA did lots of testing to try and prove that Joel Salatins method of processing was unsanitary, but the funny thing was, they could only come up with a few hundred fairly standard pathogens with his birds, versus the commercial side, which had literally thousands upon thousands of pathogens.

If you have a Netflix account, you can watch Food Inc instantly.


I also have to agree with the statment about not wanting to eat cage free chicken eggs if I had to buy store bought.
I do not want to eat eggs from a chicken that wallows in its poo on the floor

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I agree with the taste being much better. My question is does anyone know how I would find a processing plant in my area to process my cornish x if I get some this summer. I was thinking about ordering about 30 of them. I live in King William county in Virginia. Any Help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Buster52]

D'Angelo N Va. :

I agree with the taste being much better. My question is does anyone know how I would find a processing plant in my area to process my cornish x if I get some this summer. I was thinking about ordering about 30 of them. I live in King William county in Virginia. Any Help would be appreciated. Thanks

Contact the VA county cooperative extension office in your are...

http://www.pwcgov.org/default.aspx?topic=040083​

 

[Brunty_Farms]

It all depends on the bias of the system one learns under, and what information one is actually given. I'm inclined to believe my friend is much better informed about all aspects of framing than most


Hey I can frame very well but I like to think I can farm chickens ok.... LOL..