Preaching to the choir... PICS

[Buster52]

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But I can try.

I see it the other way around... every bird or other animal I raise for food humanely on my place is one less animal I get from an industry I believe mistreats them and is completely unsustainable.

And to get back on topic, that is exactly what the OP was about: unsustainable, inhumane practices of industrial agriculture.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

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Instead of self sufficiency, you can produce a product that you are very good at and then barter among your peers for goods and services that they excel at. I do this. I give duck meat to people, and they in turn give me much needed items such as venison, homemade sausage, smoked fish, rutabagas, potatoes, cabbage, etc. This is the way we do things up here.

This option obviously doesn't work well in an urban environment, but in this rural area it works quite well.

Also, the people I've talked to at the feed mill free range their meat birds. I do know of one guy at the bar that uses a chicken tractor but he only puts about ten birds in a 8' x 10' unit. People I know don't consider cramming chickens into a small moveable battery cage all that humane.

I don't recall the OP talking about unsustainable, inhumane practices of industrial agriculture. I believe unsustainable was you and your agenda.

 

[Buster52]

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Unsustainable, perhaps, but I think the entire point of the pictures was that Shoshona felt it was inhumane treatment exhibited by industrial ag.

I still don't agree with you on tractor raising, but I do appreciate the food for thought. I was already planning a move to a combination of netting and tractor, anyway. This thread has merely confirmed for me that it is probably a good idea.

I also still support those who want to continue tractor raising their birds. I think it is a good, humane, sustainable way to raise them.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

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Are you planning on using an LGD or some other form of extra deterrent against predators?

 

[gkeesling]

They way I figure is that if people can raise thousands of chickens that have an 8 week life, sell them to people who want to buy them, and make a buck at it, that's ok. If they need to transport them to the processing plant in little cages to keep the price down then that's ok too. On the other hand, if people don't want to buy the factory raised chickens and raise their own for their own consumption , or even pets, then that's ok too. I think that's all called free enterprise and free choice. My main pain comes when the government steps in and tries to control this process rather than letting the free market system do what it's supposed to do. Myself, I'd rather grow, and eat, home raised food. But when people want to try to get the government to regulate those who want to raise the factory chickens, beef, pork, etc then I'll always vote against that. We have been regulated enough. It's time to stop now.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

This thread has me

Lots of good points though.
We raised our own meat birds last year, and we will do it again this year.
We built a huge tractor, that is a total pain to move.
When young, they were in a brooder house. At about 4 weeks of age, they were moved to the tractor.
At that point all 48 of them took up very little space.
We also had a section of the tractor that was walled off, and had a heat lamp for rainy days and colder nights.
Within a couple of weeks, we were free ranging them all day long. 14 plus hours at least.
We also moved the pen very often.
At night they went into the pen and slept all night, except for the occasional fuss.
We butchered them at 10 weeks approx.

Now, I have been told over and over that meat birds will not free range, and will not, and cannot, eat anything other then the grower mix.
Well, not so! They mowed every green thing on our property.
The end result was that we have chicken in our freezers that tastes out of this world.
It has more texture due to the free ranging, but it is not tough.
We only had two go down early due to knee blow outs.
Everyone else could outrun us, right up till processing day.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Good for you, PaulaJoAnne!!!

 

[Buster52]

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Are you planning on using an LGD or some other form of extra deterrent against predators?

Planning? I have three Great Pyrenees/Anatolian mix and a black lab. I think we share an affinity for that sort of predator deterrent.

 

[Buster52]

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I don't think anyone is advocating that in this thread, but I would like to see government involvement on in a different direction. I'd like to see a level playing field so the small operator can compete. Stop subsidizing industrial agriculture and change the regs so it is easier for a small farmer to operate and sell directly to the consumer.

But no, I disagree that unsustainable, inhumane factory farming is okay.

But this is all gist for a whole 'nother thread.

 

[Buster52]

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Which is why their access to it needs to be controlled. That's the point of the tractor and/or the netting, so you can rotate their foraging and let areas recover, moving them to good, fresh stuff when needed. Better for the bird, better for the pasture, better for your table.