Scratch Grain- Why it's useful in flock management and nutrition

[chickened]

Do not believe everything you read from the Huffington Puffington Post. There are equal studies out there about all GMO products. If a lousy worm can build resistance so can people. Would more chemicals be a better alternative? Traditional farming cannot produce the demand that the world needs and I do not see greed as the motivation but a reach for efficiency and utilization of a finite amount of available farm land. How many acres of farm land is under cities? how many acres are set aside for critters? if the land available was put in production we would not need modern farming techniques, they were developed in response to a shrinking land base. A farmers profit margin shrinks with over production which is counter intuitive to a greed based philosophy, the brokers pay less for the product to the farmer when there is an abundance.
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[OwensMom]

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Your statement is the best argument that I know of for population control. To many people=not enough land... for anything-crops, animals, humans or peace of mind!!
Also resistence to Bt is a real problrm for all of us. Bt Is an organic insecticide that many people use in every day life to combat bugs. If insects become resistent to Bt what do we go with? This is a real dilema.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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Greed does it every time...

X2

 

[Cindy in PA]

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The reason why things like BT were so effective is because they were only used when needed. With the stuff in the corn now, it is used in all situations even when not necessary. Who didn't know the worm would become resistant sometime? Seems they just are surprised at how fast it happened. Now the BT will become useless for organic growers also. Exactly why GMO is such an unknown, but we plug full speed ahead for the sake of the almighty dollar.

 

[cottagechick]

ok...I know this topic has meandered around...I hope that is cool...because they are mostly interesting and useful meanders...We had talked a while back about using dog/cat/rabbit food and some of us expressed concerns about it... I get periodic updates on pet food recalls...I got this one. I DID NOT VERIFY because I have not used the food....but in case anyone else has....

ore Aflatoxin-Related Dog Food Recalls
Posted by: Cindy Tags: Posted date: December 29, 2011 | 2 Comments

From Cindy’s Desk:

Please read through the following information that I just received regarding “unacceptable levels” of aflatoxin (toxin found in grain) in specific dog foods. I don’t know about you, but I am just sick of all the recalls and tired of an industry that deems a certain level of toxins to be “acceptable” in my pet’s food!

I am no longer feeding my dogs commercial dog food! I am making my own dog food, easily and economically!

NOTE: Recalls are just that. AFTER THE FACT information! You could be feeding your dog a food today that will be “recalled” tomorrow, next week or as in one of these recalls below, next YEAR!

Maybe it’s time to try our simple, safe Homemade Dog Food Recipe using easy-to-find ingredients at your local grocery store and right here at Dinovite, Dinovite Liquid Supplement and LickOchops Omega Fatty Acid Supplement!

AS REPORTED BY FOODSAFETYNEWS.COM:
More Aflatoxin-Related Dog Food Recalls Revealed
by News Desk | Dec 29, 2011
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted two dog food recall notices on its website Wednesday, including one dated Dec. 12 and an “updated” alert dated Dec. 14, more than two weeks ago.
Both recalls of dry dog food were the result of elevated levels of aflatoxin, caused by fungus on grains such as corn that in significant quantities can cause liver damage in pets. These recalls are apparently related to the Dec. 7 announcement by manufacturer Cargill Animal Nutrition that it was pulling dry dog food off the market because of excess amounts of aflatoxin.
Aflatoxin, which cannot exceed 20 parts per billion under FDA standards, has been found in levels above that in dog food produced at Cargill’s plant in LeCompte, LA and in Iams puppy food manufactured by Proctor and Gamble in Henderson, N.C. Advanced Animal Nutrition recalled its Dog Power food, also for elevated aflatoxins.
All the companies have said that, to date, no illnesses or adverse affects have been reported in connection with the recalled dog food, but did not explain why dog food was on the market for more than a year before it was tested for aflatoxins.

O’Neal’s Feeders Supply of DeRidder, LA, said it has recalled dry Arrow Brand dog food manufactured over an entire year — between Dec. 1, 2010, and Dec. 1, 2011 – because it contains corn detected to have higher than acceptable levels of aflatoxin.
O’Neals said the recall applies only to dog food distributed in Louisiana and Texas with packaging date codes lot numbers 4K0341 through 4K0365 and 04K1001 through 4K1325.

It said retailers have already been instructed to remove the following affected brands and products from store shelves:
– ARROWBRAND 21% Dog Chunks SKU #807 40 lb. bag
– ARROWBRAND Super Proeaux Dog Food SKU #812 40 lb. bag
– ARROWBRAND Professional Formula Dog Food SKU #814 50 lb. bag
Consumers may return the recalled dog food – in opened or unopened packages – to the place of purchase for a full refund. For more information contact 800-256-2769 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Petrus Feed and Seed Stores, in what was described as an updated alert, said it has recalled its dry dog food- 21% Protein Dog Food in 40 lb Petrus Feed bags because the product was manufactured with corn that tested above acceptable levels for aflatoxin.
The company said the affected products were manufactured by Cargill in LeCompte, LA between Dec. 1, 2010 and Dec. 1, 2011.
The recall is only for 21% Dog Food, packaged in 40 lb. Petrus Feed bags, with the packaging date codes (lot numbers) 4K1011 through 4K1307. Updated lot numbers are 4K1011 through 4K1335. The affected dry dog food was distributed in Petrus Feed and Seed in Alexandria, LA.
Consumers may return the recalled dog food - whether in opened or unopened packages – to their place of purchase for a full refund. For more information contact 318-443-2259, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Both companies advised that pets that have consumed any of the recalled products and exhibit symptoms of illness including sluggishness or lethargy combined with a reluctance to eat, vomiting, yellowish tint to the eyes or gums, or diarrhea should be seen by a veterinarian.

 

[Erica]

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Resistance isn't in-built. It comes over successive generations from the death of non resistant organisms. The remaining tough ones breed, and hey presto, all the successive generations are resistant. In insects and worms this can happen incredibly quickly because of their fast reproduction.

How many people should die in order to produce this resistance?

 

[chickened]

Far less than those who have already starved to death because of no food. Famines were quite common in history and whole cities died. Shall we return to those times? The starving will eat anything.
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Resistance isn't in-built. It comes over successive generations from the death of non resistant organisms. The remaining tough ones breed, and hey presto, all the successive generations are resistant. In insects and worms this can happen incredibly quickly because of their fast reproduction.

How many people should die in order to produce this resistance?

 

[Erica]

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Resistance isn't in-built. It comes over successive generations from the death of non resistant organisms. The remaining tough ones breed, and hey presto, all the successive generations are resistant. In insects and worms this can happen incredibly quickly because of their fast reproduction.

How many people should die in order to produce this resistance?


GM foods won't save anyone from famine if transport links fail. There have been global famines (e.g. the 'year without a summer') and GM crops wouldn't have helped there either. When the Irish were dying due to potato blight the English were eating well. Again it was a transport (and goodwill) issue.

Current agricultural science is changing whole crop genomes, and the safety science is run by the profiteers. I can't imagine why anyone would think that's okay, let alone think that it's all right to kill people as long as they have full bellies.

 

[giggleboxfarm]

If we learn from history, then we learn from the Irish famine that monoculture is BAD. Planting fields upon fields of the same thing. Only that lesson isn't being learned here. Monsanto's GM corn is making that worse. If you ignore everything else, there is still that. 65% of pretty much the exact same crop, when there is an insect problem (which the article was saying is about to happen) is going to be catastrophic. Abandoning traditional farming methods and heirloom crops is not the way to go. And its happening for greed.

 

[chickened]

Most crop failures are from disease and insects that carry disease not weather related. Modern crops are monitored heavily and research (motivated by greed as some suggest) has kept up with the traditional problems. The basic argument is some have this idea stuck in their head that natural is best which it is not always the case. All opinions that are on that side of the fence sprout their arguments from that ideology. I have read most facts about the GMO and there is too much misinformation on both sides to draw any conclusions. It is the classic big guy versus little guy battle going on and I for one have seen no compelling data to really say GMO foods are bad only chicken little syndrome scenarios that never pan out.

Fact: we need cheap produced food for our populous and the world, naturalist have not stepped up to the plate to offer this, Monsanto and others have.

Population control is absurd China does that, do we want to model after China? China's problem is not over population it is for the most part an undeveloped nation with no real infrastructure to support its people. Most rural villages are still accessed by river and their farming methods are for the most part still done by hand and/or primitive methods by our standards. California exports almost all its rice to China and Japan and actually produces more rice per acre than China does on the same ground.

The patato famine was caused by not following basic crop guidlines like crop rotation and 7 year fallow practice, which is not being followed here and that I would agree, would be greed based.