I may be growing my own food for the chickens after all, due to genetic editing

[saysfaa]

Why would you want to grind bones?

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Anything can be turned to mush if you throw enough money at the equipment. The yield will be a lot better if you can grind the bones and all. Grinding chicken and fish bones isn't so bad and there is equipment oriented toward raw dog diets. But, grinding deer bone is going to be expensive. Easily several grand.

When I get the clutter cleared away in my barn, I may look into an industrial grade grinder. I might can pick one up for a reasonable price at an auction. Meat processing is a big industry around here (Pilgrim's Pride is one of our biggest local employers). Heck that might even encourage me to raise trash fish in one of my ponds. I bet I could make some hellacious garden beds with ground fish sludge.

 

[Cryss]

Boil those bones with a splash of ACV them simmer overnight for collagen rich bone broth. Easier than grinding. Then bury them in the garden.

 

[saysfaa]

More stashing, simply because I find them interesting, not because I think they are likely to be very helpful for this project.

From 1940. Minerals in Poultry Nutrition

And from 2014... Nutrient requirements of poultry publication: History and need for an update - this covers things such as: "Additional changes ... including bird genotype; feed ingredient composition, as genotypic and phenotypic selection has occurred (e.g., corn with lower protein...); enzyme supplementation; as well as realization and quantification of different nutrient and energy digestibility coefficients in growing birds..."

It has a section "what is a nutrient requirement" that Is quite comprehensive.

 

[saysfaa]

I found source for how much MET in a given food that I found easier to use and fairly complete

://brendadavisrd.com/methionine-restricted-diet/

The few I checked are close enough to Feedopedia and USDA sources that it seems a good source.

 

[saysfaa]

Life got quite crazy this spring so I did not get any grains planted.
My farmer-advisor says it is still in season to plant millet or grain sorghum. I intended to eat most of the grains myself this year since I'm not ready to move from feeding commercial chicken feed. I really don't like millet and have never cooked with sorghum. So, he advised planting oats and spring wheat anyway since it is such as small plot and it doesn't really matter how much it yields. They like cool weather but it is likely the moisture they like rather than the temperature per se. I can water this much. And they can't compete with the warm season grasses and weeds. I can weed this much.

I have oats. I stopped at the co op for spring wheat seed. They only have winter wheat. I got some; then we looked up what happens if you plant winter wheat in the spring. It will grow very well but will not head out. The term for it is vernalization. In this case, it means needing cold to flower.

I have several kinds of wheat for making bread but I don't know if any of it is spring wheat. If it is, I might still try some this year, expecting it to not do very well.

Later. Ah, the kalmut is spring wheat. So is the Bronze Chief. Yay.

The rye from last year is heading. Usually, I just disc the rye under but this year I will try to harvest enough to see how it goes.

 

[Sally PB]

The rye from last year is heading. Usually, I just disc the rye under but this year I will try to harvest enough to see how it goes.

Please let us know.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I strongly encourage you to try sorghum - based on raw nutritional numbers, its not at all impressive - but there are numerous demonstrated cases of birds subsisting on a heavily sorghum diet in better condition than would be anticipated.

Which isn't to say its a superfood, merely that for some as yet undiscovered reason it appears to be slightly more than the sum of its parts - at least in combination with other common chicken feed ingredients. Which is why I keep trying to get it to work.

See, for instance. (Basically a corn substitute - particularly as the average protein levels of corn continue to be reduced)

That said, sorghum tends to do better "down South" - where it was used for all kinds of things, from making flour to making syrup to go on pancakes made from the flour...

 

[saysfaa]

More information on the effects of planting winter wheat at optimal planting date and each month after that until it doesn't flower at all. They looked at mature plant height, number of heads per plant, number of kernels per plant, and grain test weight
Link

University of Wisconsin says, "Winter wheat in WI should be seeded between September 20th and October 5th. Planting wheat too early can lead to more incidence of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) due to feeding and disease transmission by aphids. Aphids such as the bird cherry oat aphid can vector BYDV to wheat in the fall. Their ability to feed on wheat and transmit the disease is limited when temperatures are cooler. Waiting to plant wheat until later September shortens the potential aphid feeding time. Planting too early can also lead to excessive fall growth and potential smothering of the crop. There are also increased risks of planting too late. If air and soil temperatures get too cold, wheat will not germinate and emerge well in the fall."

Michigan gives some general information on when to plant winter wheat
Link

Canada has different conditions/advice but explains why they advise as they do via how wheat grows
Link

 

[Matejka]

The reason I believe there are no side effects is that DNA is ultimately irrelevant during consumption. All that matters at that point is chemical composition of the thing you are consuming. If you are comparing a tomato that is of the current non-GMO standard vs a GMO tomato and they are chemically identical but the GMO one is bigger, then I can firmly say that anyone who wouldn't have had a reaction to the non-GMO tomato also wouldn't have had a reaction to the GMO one.

We have the tools to break down items and test for chemical composition, so this gives me good confidence that these tests are being done and the GMO items are safe for consumption. Or at least just as safe as their non-GMO counterparts.

To flip your question back to you - why do you believe that GMOs are harmful?

I am not a scientist expert or anything like that. GMO's scare the squat out of me. Why?
I know we have been crossbreeding seeds etc.. improving etc...
THIS IS HOW I UNDERSTAND, FROM WHAT IVE READ.
GMO IS different. Labs are adding growth hormones for more crop yield.
Adding insecticides (or whatever it's called) to determine pests and prevent yield loss.
I'm not comfortable eating a product altered with growth hormone or a poison that kills bugs etc.. .
Farmers also take the stalks from corn , wheat, soy, whatever (leftover after crop is harvested) and use as feed for their livestock. So a cow eats it. GMO contaminated now?
If the government is convinced GMO is safe? Why are there warnings a product contains it?
20 years from now, scientists may be slapping the side their head asking "what were they thinking-to create gmo"?