Washingtonians

[Chickielady]

So my Owl & the Pussy Cat link never uploaded ?

 

[Chickielady]

 

[pettec63]

I am in my World Issues class and there is are 2 books i have read: Safe Foods, by marion nestle. and Bringing it to the table, berry wendell.

The Safe foods has science to back it. The Table one plays more on the doom and gloom factor.... but this guys opinion (not scientific) does strike an issue that is ignored in all my agriculture classes.
This class always gets me into a 'rant', but i have no idea who to "rant" to... or what audience would really benefit from it. oh well.
All my classes focus on Sustainability, or talk about the practices of Organic. Even my Conventional and IPM classes don't touch this issue. I have read how all you are practicing sustainable practices in gardening or for a CSA, and its all good. On a large scale or commercial production (even as small as 34 acres) a grower's practice is based on tradition, finances, innovation, knowledge. Firstly driven by $$ then the tradition, then the new methods if it agrees with the finances........ I would love to present this to an MBA professor or student on how to solve the real problem of farming.

Real Sustainability: Agriculture's Dirty Secret.

I think it takes a special kind of person to do "farming". It requires someone willing to take complete risk, full debt. A sane person would look at the financial side of it and call us "crazy". People think farmers are 'rich' because we like to borrow and play with a few hundred thousand dollars. But if $400,000+ are borrowed a year for production, and you only pocket $20-30,000... That puts a person on the same or lower income level than the average american. A business person would bail, but how is this to be fixed? This is the real dirty secret about true sustainability of the american farmer.

And all you have said is VERY true! I went to the Women in Ag conference last month and there were two speakers who spoke of exactly that issue! One was a Prof from Penn State. Here are some statistics

91 % of ALL farmers work off the farm!!
In the Ag census they said they could NOT survive without working off the farm!
60% of family farms had gross sales of less than 10,000!!!! Hmmm what is the poverty level??

30% of family farms grossed 10 - 249,999 BUT averaged only 4 % of total income from farming
10% of family farms were considered "commercial farms" grossing over 250 K
averaging 70% of income from farming.

All you have to do is watch AG PHD and you can figure out what runs the nations farming, including subsides from the government
watch what commodities are on top and how the farmers have to adjust things to meet the demand or fall short!
I would be interested in hearing how an MBA would fix the problem, but like a lot of things in this country the almighty government has it's finger in it somewhere! THAT is something even the MBA's can't get around!

 

[Chickielady]

HA HA I love the song.thought it was French but NO it is Russian !

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Hello! I live in Gig Harbor area. Brand new here and brand new to chicken stuff. I don't have any yet but I can't wait!

You are now among some of the very best people you will ever know.

 

[pettec63]

OK here is something you may not know!! did you know that chicks are also Mina birds????
I have my two Turkey poults in a tub next to my two littlest Bantams, very early this am about 3 or so to be exact, I walked in to check on them I heard this sound. Turkey poults have a distinct peep, almost sing song, the turkeys were asleep, I saw them, the chicks were making the same exact sound as the turkeys only in a different octave!!!! I was absolutely amazed!!!! But, it makes sense if they have been next to them since they all hatched, they are mimicking the sound they always hear!! Cool huh?

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote: With Sheeeeesh !




That is absolutely hilarious....I was thinking the same thing. LOL....Slice of pizza.

 

[pettec63]

Quote: With Sheeeeesh !




That is absolutely hilarious....I was thinking the same thing. LOL....Slice of pizza.




ahhh haaaa!!! Everyone is a comedian!!!! LOL!! Ok I GET IT!!!

I was just tired of looking at the duck!! Ok give me a second!!

 

[pettec63]

How's that!!!! The only thing I can't figure out is how to put the Morton's Mountain View Ranch on the top! I have business card that I was able to attach it to but not on here???

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Ugg... what an day it has been already... Been feeling sick today, stomache is not happy at all. My lower back is very achey, and its making me feel nautious.
Been trying to work on the girls room as much as possible, but the rest of the house is deffinately lacking. Got one side of Chloe's toy hammock hung up, then had issues getting the second hanger into the wall! AGG!!! Just to high for this prego lady to reach and succeed. So called my younger taller brother to come rescue the wall. If I would have kept going on my own, I'm sure there would be a hammer hole in the wall by now. BUT there is a floor in the girls room again! yeay for that at least.

My sister brought over her 19 year old adopted son, to move more gravle for me. Gotta get the pile moved so I can get the trailer out for another hay run... Ugg.

Recieved a call from my equine vet this morning... she says the diareah issue Im having with my mare is stemming from salmonila. "sp?" she sudgested iether locking the chickens up full time, or getting rid of them, as they are most likely the cause.

I just dont know what to do at this point.

Wheazy's biopsy came back, and she's good to go. No cancer in the tumor. Im thankfull for that.

Im grumpy, feeling sick, and very unmotivated today. I just want to curl up back in bed and try to get comfy... Oh poo for me.

Sorry to come on and grump about my day. But the only person I have here at the moment is a 3 year old... As fun as she can be, she's not much for conversing.

Hope everyone is doing better than I am today.

I could be TOTALLY wrong...but if the vet thinks that the horse is getting salmonella from the chickens....what about all the sparrows, or starlings, or quail or pheasants (like around my house) or what about mice that may be running through everything? Can you put feed in a "container"/feeder?