new research debunks trad views on nutrition

[U_Stormcrow]

Back in the 1990s I was fostering rabbits from the local humane society, and I learned essentially the same thing. The standard feed companies tailor their feed to short-lived rabbits or chickens for quick growth, because short life is expected.

Sadly, studies generally have the same bias. They tend to be very short, generally involve only commercially important breeds, and focus on the commercially important span of their lives.

Its why we know so many things are MINIMUM recommendations. If lesser amounts cause adverse health consequences or even "failure to thrive" in such a short time period, we can be reasonably confident that our usually longer kept, generally not "commercially-important" breeds, are likely to fare at least as poorly over their own lifespans if those minimums aren't met. Finding Maximum intakes (apart from Calcium) is even less studied.

Or, you can do as Perris and others do, provide true variety, and reasonably anticipate that your birds will (largely successfully) self-regulate intake. You can also reasonably decide that "less than perfect" is good enough for your flock. I do it myself.

 

[Perris]

some bad news for our American friends this morning; glyphosate is being replaced by something as bad if not worse for our health in general and gut microbiomes in particular
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/06/weedkiller-diquat-organ-damage-study

 

[Finchbreeder]

I wonder which one we use in Australia?
Cause hubby is dead kean on spraying weeds to death.

 

[Perris]

I wonder which one we use in Australia?
Cause hubby is dead kean on spraying weeds to death.

If he reads, maybe he would read J Hainze Nature underfoot Yale UP 2020 and rethink the practice.

 

[Finchbreeder]

He reads anything to do with his employment - and absolutely nothing else. No matter how much I suggest he should.

 

[Perris]

on a related subject, I was surprised to read recently "did you know that the most water-intensive 'crop' in the US is, pointless as this might seem, lawn grass? The country's lawns and golf courses are estimated to account for 1.9 per cent of the US and this grass requires more watering than American farmers expend on corn, rice, fruits and nuts put together." Sverdrup-Thygeson Tapestries of Life Harper Collins 2021 chapter 2.

 

[Finchbreeder]

Yes - I understand that we Aussies also put too too much of our scarce water resources onto our lawns. That I am pleased to say is not so much so here, as we have been steadily replacing lawn with garden since we bought the place over 30yrs ago.

 

[Perris]

He reads anything to do with his employment - and absolutely nothing else. No matter how much I suggest he should.

doesn't his chronic exposure to the toxic chemicals in the stuff he's spraying count as work-related?

 

[Finchbreeder]

Nope he does the spraying at home, and the rentals, not at paid work.
Don;t know why his rental related thinking is restricted to the building only side not the garden part. Male logic apparently - but restricted to a certain generation, as son does not suffer from this.

 

[BDutch]

I wonder which one we use in Australia?
Cause hubby is dead kean on spraying weeds to death.

My penny thought : Tell him you don’t want this anymore. And why. Bring the poison back to the shop or to the waste station as toxic waste before your husband is actually going to use it. Buy him a him a weed burner instead. Wrapped in beautiful gift paper.