Is it worth the extra $$

[U_Stormcrow]

I wonder if someone could set up a survey of all the different brands, and include cheapest, organic, etc.

There's a thread, and a web document, by one of the posters - {nope} maybe? - who was assembling info on feeds, protein amounts, calcium, etc. Costs will vary locally, perhaps quite dramatically. But you might want to at least start there.

I'll see if I can find it. [Here it IS]

Thanks to @Geena for identifying the responsible party, greatly aided the search.

 

[Geena]

There's a thread, and a web document, by one of the posters - @aart maybe? - who was assembling info on feeds, protein amounts, calcium, etc. Costs will vary locally, perhaps quite dramatically. But you might want to at least start there.

I'll see if I can find it. [Placeholder]

It was Kiki.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

@U_Stormcrow - my reply wasn’t to your post, and I don’t think anyone is arguing that it not complicated.

I think we do a really bad job of measuring the carbon inputs on all sides. Or “hidden” costs like run-off and other pollution.

I personally think organically grown grain is way harder than say vegetables and fruits. Not the place to start. A good chunk of the corn and soy we grow goes to raising animal feed anyway, but that’s a whole other rat hole!

But, I live in the east coast...I have to think we can do better than raising lettuce (90-99% water depending on type) in a desert in CA, then shipping it 3,000 miles in a diesel truck.

Massive changes in this space is hard...big business is already getting rich with the current (post 50’s) approach. Nobody is gonna get rich on compost.

And yes, there are like a billion or more additional people than there were in the 1950’s...so it isn’t easy.

 

[Geena]

And yes, there are like a billion or more additional people than there were in the 1950’s...so it isn’t easy.

Yep, IIRC the population has actually doubled since the 50s.
Current world population 7,874,965,825 x an average of 4 lbs of food consumed by each human per day = 31,499,863,300 pounds of food needed daily, or 11,497,450,104,500 pounds of food yearly.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@U_Stormcrow - my reply wasn’t to your post, and I don’t think anyone is arguing that it not complicated.

And yes, there are like a billion or more additional people than there were in the 1950’s...so it isn’t easy.

yeah, its complicated.. Actually, world population has jumped from a mere 2.6 billion in 1950 to about 7.8 billion mouths (estimated), today. Moral and ethical judgements aside, there is no escaping the math. Numbers matter.

SOURCE https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2011/demo/world-population--1950-2050.html

I am otherwise largely in agreement with you. Pistaccio farming (and I love them) is apparently even worse from a water consumption standpoint.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I knew I’d be off on the population number...sorry, should have Googled first!

The other consideration is that the US currently throws out close to 40% of the food we produce...so it’s not that we have a production problem...we have a distribution problem.

You’re never going to get to 100% used, of course, but imagine cutting that number in half?

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

On the topic of food waste and the original topic about organic....oddly enough, I don’t feed organic chicken feed, but a lot of the “real food” I feed my flock IS organic because it comes from Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, who donate it to a food pantry when it’s almost out of code. When the food pantry simply can’t distribute it fast enough, I come pick up the expired stuff for my flock and compost pile.

Scale that up and you’ll need a lot less organic chicken feed, less landfill space, and you’ll make a lot of awesome compost.

 

[Geena]

On the topic of food waste and the original topic about organic....oddly enough, I don’t feed organic chicken feed, but a lot of the “real food” I feed my flock IS organic because it comes from Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, who donate it to a food pantry when it’s almost out of code. When the food pantry simply can’t distribute it fast enough, I come pick up the expired stuff for my flock and compost pile.

Scale that up and you’ll need a lot less organic chicken feed, less landfill space, and you’ll make a lot of awesome compost.

I agree, unfortunately due to current regulations in most cases human food waste is not permitted to be fed to commercially produced animals.

Speaking of animal feed, along with the 11.5 trillion pounds of food we need for humans, we also need to feed our domesticated animals. I wouldn't even know where to begin to calculate that amount. Of course a lot of those animals will be part of the food chain themselves one day, but obviously need to be fed in the meantime. Then the numbers of pets we keep... I would imagine the pounds of animal feed needed well exceeds that consumed by humans.

Dairy cows alone - " High producing dairy cows will eat 110 to 120 pounds of wet feed a day or 50 to 55 pounds of dry matter a day. As cows produce more milk, they eat more. A typical diet for a dairy cow could include about 30 to 35 pounds of baled hay and 25 pounds of grain mix "

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Dairy cows alone - " High producing dairy cows will eat 110 to 120 pounds of wet feed a day or 50 to 55 pounds of dry matter a day. As cows produce more milk, they eat more. A typical diet for a dairy cow could include about 30 to 35 pounds of baled hay and 25 pounds of grain mix "

^^^ a small part of the reason why my 30 acres contains, and will contain, no cattle.

Still considering some small breed goats though. Somehow, I'll make the math work.

 

[Geena]

^^^ a small part of the reason why my 30 acres contains, and will contain, no cattle.

Still considering some small breed goats though. Somehow, I'll make the math work.

We used to raise steers, they're not that expensive to feed if you have enough acreage to mostly grass feed them. We're hoping to raise sheep instead starting this spring. We used to have goats as well, the only drawback to goats is keeping them contained, they can be quite the escape artists, lol.