Trying Something Different

[bigredfeather]

I have been raising and selling broiler this year. So far I have raised, processed and sold over 300 of them. I have several customers who have inquired about a broiler that is fed a soy-free ration. I checked at my mill, and they have several rations available. I decided to order 50 chicks and do a test batch. I am also going to supplement them with the extra goat milk and Kefir I make from the milk. I figure between the soy-free feed, milk, Kefir, and the pasture, they should have some very nutritional meat. It will be interesting to see how fast(or slow) they grow on this diet. Chicks are coming next Thursday. I may document their progress and keep everyone posted on how they do compared to the usual diet I feed them (23% custom feed). The soy-free feed is about $3/50# bag more, so I will need to track costs to determine the selling price. The people interested in soy-free don't seem to care that it will cost more, so it may be an opportunity to make a little more profit, as they are expecting a higher price. One customer said no matter what it costs, it would be worth it.

I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[scubaforlife]

What's the reasoning for soy-free?

 

[SmittenChicken]

i'm really interested to hear what kind of feedback you get!

What kind of feed do you have them on? Is the protein source fish meal?

I've been transitioning my chicks to an organic feed that's milled by a local woman (just mixed in the last of their medicated starter) and didn't get a copy of the ingredients list until I bought the second batch. The main protein source in mine is fish meal, which initially surprised me because I'd always seen vegetarian-fed chickens advertised to have better quality eggs/meat. But the more I think about it, I would think there are a lot of health and flavor benefits to be had (for both the chicken and the human) if fish meal were used instead of soy. They're omnivores like us, after all! I've been told to avoid eating a lot of soy due to my family history, and it seems likely to me that some of those phytoestrogens would make their way into the meat/egg too. And I have also heard it suggested on BYC that soy-based feed might contribute to internal laying problems.

The bottom line for me is that my chickens love the fish-based feed and have really been thriving ever since I introduced it. Hope that you find the same with yours! Keep us posted please.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
There are some studies that indicate soy fed animals can have adverse effects on those that consume it. There are a few threads on here that discuss it extensively. I'm not sure what to believe. Some say soy is perfectly safe, other say to avoid. I am not taking sides, I am just going to try and fill a niche that I think exists.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
It will be a custom made feed. Protein in the feed comes from corn, alfalfa meal, distillers grain, linseed meal, Canadian peas, and fish meal. My mill said if you go any higher than 5% fish meal, the meat will taste fishy. Same thing goes for a layer ration (eggs will taste fishy). That kind of reiterates that a chickens diet is transfered to its meat or eggs.

ETA: I'm not sure how much protein the milk will add, but I would think it would really up the digestable protein level, as raw milk is very digestable. And the Kefir will add many good probiotics.

 

[petrelline]

Quote:
There's a subset of the organic/natural heath foods movement that believes that soy is at the root of a number of modern health issues (if not most of them), and that even meat is tainted if the animal is fed soy-based feed. The Weston Price Foundation seems to be the biggest proponent of this idea. I do know that people who have severe soy allergies are also affected by meat if the animal eats soy -- but they can eat soy-free meat -- so there may be something to this argument.

I also have customers (a lot of them) who have asked about soy-free meat, but I'm still figuring out the basics and I don't have access to as broad a range of mill as you do. Please keep us posted as to how the chickens turn out.

 

[bigredfeather]

My prediction is that they will outperform their soy feed based counterpart. Don't have anything to back it, just a gut feeling.

 

[Bossroo]

I hear tell that the soy bean has been tauted to be a very healthy complete food. Also, I thaught that the Asian diet was mostly based on rice and soy plus some vegies and small amounts of meat for thausands of years. I do undertand that some may have a food alergy to it.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I'm very interested to see how they do! And good for you for actually responding to customers' needs!

 

[the simple life]

I have heard Asians prepare their soy differently than we do here and that makes the difference.
Something about their methods making it more digestable or something like that.
I wish I could remember where I read that, maybe someone else will have more info.