is corn as main ingredient good for chickens?

[yazzymon]

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Watch it soon, it's a very good movie. If my memory serves me correctly, at the end it shows how regular farmers get in trouble (get sued by?) Monsanto because either the pollen from GMO crops drifted into their non-GMO fields, and/or if they save any seed of GMO crops. Farmers in poor countries are not allowed to save GMO seed, yet Monsanto claims these type of advances will help poor countries. For me, that alone is reason to avoid GMO food products, and support my local small farmer instead whenever possible.

Now i'm no PhD, but I'm beginning to wonder why some defend corporations such as Monsanto so vehemently; might they be getting paid to do so?

I watched about a 1/4 of that show ( "Food, Inc.") and turned it off. That show was a joke.
For the ones who watched the show,
The netting on the side of the building of big chicken farms is not to keep people from seeing in. The material is a knitted shading cloth that can block up to 90% of the light but still let in plenty of ventilation. By blocking the light the chicken farm can control the amount of light the birds get.
The other thing, the reason the big chicken farms don't want you around or in the barn is do to Bio-security. Just think how fast a disease would spread in one of those barns if someone would carry in a disease from another farm.

Chris

FOOD INC - Give it another try, there is A LOT more to it than just chickens........and it's valuable to see what we are doing.....its a powerful documentary even if all the facts as you say are not exact!!

 

[spartacus_63]

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As a matter of fact, I am fairly well informed on this subject. I think if you read my comments you will see that I did not say that hybrids and GMOs were the same. In fact I stated the opposite. I did say that breeding hybrids is a form of genetic modification. The genetics of a species have been modified for a desired effect.
I am not offended by what anyone says, here or any place else. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I also will counter opinions stated as fact that I believe are inaccurate or that I simply disagree with. When folks make statements like

you think you know, but you do not.

or

The problem is that you are mixing the two technologies up in your thought processes

I look at it as an uninformed rash statement. You do not know me, what I know or my thought processes. I don't mind you expressing your opinion in regard to any topic. I also will not be discourage from expressing my opinion just because we do not agree.

To give you a little insight, my DW has worked for Monsanto for 17 years. She also participated in the global forum on nutraceuticals with Bob Shapiro. If you know him, you may understand that you are mistaken about what my knowledge level is regarding GMOs and hybrid crops. Also, I am only about 70 miles from where "King Corn" was filmed. I was born here and my family has lived here and farmed here since before this was a state. I also have working knowledge of grain and livestock farming.

My statements in this thread are my opinions based on my experiences and beliefs. Hybrid crops AND GMOs that are on the market have not proved to be dangerous to man nor beast. Corn is not only an OK ingredient for chickens, it is something they would normally eat if left to forage for themselves. Just like prairie chickens and pheasants. It provides a high amount of energy for animals that have a very high metabolism. I do not believe that corn free or soy free (regardless of it's hybrid status), is any better of a diet. I am unaware of any studies that show organic only feed is nutritionally significant over commercial feed of the same nutrient content.

By the way, hybrids (single cross) do not necessarily improve the seed or breed. They change the fruit or offspring, but rarely do they breed true, or continue beneficial results to subsequent generations. The development of a long term genetic change requires a series of double, three way or triple cross breeding. Failing that the offspring would return to the parental genetics in relatively few generations. Although it does appear to happen at some level in plants, natural selection limits the ability for animals to hybridize in nature. This is why farming has changed. We can not collect seeds using selective breeding in crops AND produce enough crops year to year to meet the needs of this country and the world. An individual may be able to produce enough heirloom produce in their garden to provide for their family and possibly have excess that can be sold at a local market, but even on the best of years, that yield would pale in comparison to the yield harvested by the family farmer who is producing commercial grain that will be used to feed livestock, fuel transportation, and put food on the table, not to mention sweetening our favorite soft drinks. And that crop that the individual took to market most likely would not cover the cost of getting it to market, let alone pay the mortgage or bills.

Someone here said, change the market with your wallet...I agree. Unfortunately, without genetically modified seed crops (hybrids and/or GMOs), there wouldn't be enough money in most wallets to make much of a difference.​

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

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Huh?

 

[Cindy in PA]

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Yea right, roundup just makes more & bigger weeds! I live next to a field where corn & soycrap is planted & sprayed every year. The roundup keeps the weeds away UNTIL the spraying stops. Then they grow to maturity by the end of the season & spread seeds everywhere with the same stupid scenario repeating itself yearly. I think we have fianlly convinced FIL that this jerk has to go. He spread sludge this year without notifying us & we are just now trying to figure out what to do. Don't tell me how wonderful round up ready stuff is.

 

[purr]

Not only does this info look misleading to me, it is NOT how the industry works. Also considering the fate of the beef, a diet of grain will not hurt them.

Well it may not hurt the steer but what is, are all those hormones and antibiotics. what are all those things being pumped into them doing to us.
Lets face it you would have to pump them with all that crap if you weren't feeding them a diet they were never supposed to exist on
When's the last time you saw a herd of cattle breaking down a fence to get to a cornfield?
edited to fix puntuation

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

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It was July, 2006 in Boone County Iowa where 55 steers broke out of their pen on a neighboring farm, it took three weeks to get all of them rounded up and returned to their pe

 

[purr]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

Quote:
It was July, 2006 in Boone County Iowa where 55 steers broke out of their pen on a neighboring farm, it took three weeks to get all of them rounded up and returned to their pe

See I knew feeding cattle corn was bad! now there like crack addicts on a binge! They need a 12 step program quick!!!​

 

[BitsyB]

The other thing, the reason the big chicken farms don't want you around or in the barn is do to Bio-security. Just think how fast a disease would spread in one of those barns if someone would carry in a disease from another farm.

You're right about the diseases spreading- when thousands of birds are packed together inside a chicken house there's feces everywhere, they are crowded and stressed, and are much more susceptible to illness.

There are small family farms that I get meat, milk, yogurt from, and they not only allow visitors but encourage them.
Rumbleway Farm in Cecil Co. MD has grass fed meats and poultry, Seven Stars Farm in Phoenixville PA makes the best yogurt I've ever had, and at Baily's Dairy in Pocopson Township PA, the grass fed milk really is better than the store bought! These farmers work hard to treat their animals well and supply food that is better for us and the planet.

These animals live a more natural life than intensively farmed animals, so they don't need the antibiotics, and their immune systems are healthier so the farmers don't have to worry about every germ around.

The backyard/local food movement is growing because people want to know what goes into the making of their food. The OP was asking what is good to feed her chickens, if corn is good. Corn itself is not the problem, it's the way it's being raised, where a farmer gets sued for pollen drifting onto his field, or if you don't roll over and use seed from one company, then your livelihood is destroyed. (If you watch the whole movie Food Inc. you'll see what I'm talking about).​

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Oh my.

 

[BitsyB]

Lazy J wrote:

This is incorrect. The farmers that have been sued for violations of the Technology Agreements, saving seeds that they expressly agreed not to save.

That falls into "the facts aren't right but the documentary was good" category.

Then why would Monsanto decline to be interviewed for the documentary? If I had a company that incorrect facts were going to be publicized, I sure as heck would have my say.

Plus it's just not nice what they do to the farmers, all those lawsuits and legal fees those guys can't afford, and following them around with private detectives. Yes I realize the company must make profits and their stock has to go up, but at what cost to humanity? It's just sad,

and it seems just plain un-American to me. sigh...​