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- #21
Quote:
As "Dirty Harry" Callahan might say, "A man (or woman) has to know his limitations."
'Free range' is something of and idyllic notion, a vision of how we would like life to be. There is some danger in such an approach.
For some, there are enough external controls, voluntary or not, to make it reasonably successful. They shrug and say, "Hey, you lose a few - its normal. I'll just raise a lot of them to make up for any losses."
In the original cited article, I offered a tidbit from Bob Plamondon about ranged eggs and their quality. It wasn't really about whether we enjoy their taste or not, although it inevitably evolves into that as we share our experiences and beliefs.
What isn't in that citation is the "rest of the story" - the fact that Bob wages a never ending war with predators and his range is monitored and carefully managed. There is nothing "free" about it for Bob, in his search for quality eggs.
In essence, ranging is a practice that should be controlled, regardless of the animal involved. We control the ranges of sheep, horses, cattle, dogs and other creatures in our care - but chickens are expected to get along fine being kicked loose into the big wide world. That always strikes me as paradoxical. The innumerable posts about "free range" birds that are preyed upon or mysteriously lost tend to support that concept needs a bit of rethinking.
So, do what you gotta, Rebekah.
As "Dirty Harry" Callahan might say, "A man (or woman) has to know his limitations."
'Free range' is something of and idyllic notion, a vision of how we would like life to be. There is some danger in such an approach.
For some, there are enough external controls, voluntary or not, to make it reasonably successful. They shrug and say, "Hey, you lose a few - its normal. I'll just raise a lot of them to make up for any losses."
In the original cited article, I offered a tidbit from Bob Plamondon about ranged eggs and their quality. It wasn't really about whether we enjoy their taste or not, although it inevitably evolves into that as we share our experiences and beliefs.
What isn't in that citation is the "rest of the story" - the fact that Bob wages a never ending war with predators and his range is monitored and carefully managed. There is nothing "free" about it for Bob, in his search for quality eggs.
In essence, ranging is a practice that should be controlled, regardless of the animal involved. We control the ranges of sheep, horses, cattle, dogs and other creatures in our care - but chickens are expected to get along fine being kicked loose into the big wide world. That always strikes me as paradoxical. The innumerable posts about "free range" birds that are preyed upon or mysteriously lost tend to support that concept needs a bit of rethinking.
So, do what you gotta, Rebekah.
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