Why soy free?? (And the effects of soy)

[highcountrychickens]

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may need to find comfort in denial of it, but I was shown this science when I was only in high school by an MIT professor who had nothing to do with the government... pretty matter of fact about it, actually.
(apologies for going off topic!)
Back to the soy show! I'm gaining an education...

 

[CARS]

a bushel of corn is 65 pounds IIRC. So I need to fudge my figures a little, but at $3 something a bushel for corn v/s $35.00 for 50 pounds of wheat....

The $10.00 for 20 pounds for organic when I can get 3X the corn for a third the price.... (my math may not be right, but you get the point.)

I truly believe what you are saying, but darn, there is no way I can afford chickens with your plan. Like I said, I loose money the way it is. I just enjoy my birds and raising them as healthy as I can.

I don't want to turn this into a right and wrong way of living discussion. I don't have the answers. Researcher's only post what they are paid to research. (or they get a job on the other side

) I'm just here to absorb info and apply it to my life.



(Lazy J still watching???

)

 

[bibliophile birds]

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it's hard to know, definitely. the thing i find really helpful is to look at studies done not only in the states but abroad as well. many other countries are much stricter about their regulations and will ban something LONG before the USA thinks it's bad for you. most European countries are much less controlled by Big Agribusiness so their studies are often less tainted by corporate pressures.

the most helpful facts about soy come from (surprise) Asia. Asians don't use soy the way that it is used here in the states. Asian friends of mine are often the quickest to refuse something because it contains modified soy. they have understood for centuries that soy needs to go through certain processes to make it a valuable food source (hydrogenating and turning it into additives are not included in those necessary processes)- processes ignored by Western manufacturers.

no need to go to jail over soy. as consumers we have a TON of power over issues such as this: vote with your wallet. when people start refusing to buy products that contain unhealthy soy, producers will have NO CHOICE but to remove it. just like our decisions to raise our own chickens takes us out of the industrial egg chain, not feeding soy to those chickens helps take us out of the industrial soy chain.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

a step that should equal about a million: boycott Monsanto altogether. don't buy their chemicals, their seeds, or their B.S., and avoid companies that source from them. yes, that practically means going completely organic, but Monsanto really is bad news.

 

[nnbreeder]

Now spring is drawing ever closer too so have you ever considered planting a grazing crop for the birds? Millet, Haygrazer, Vetch or Clover are all good things to plant and Hard Red winter Wheat will stay green all winter. That can help suppliment the feed bill.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

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Oh, the corn is not for the chooks

We feed locally grown barley and local fishmeal for protein.
Just for fun, you can see if you can buy barley and field peas to mix together, in bulk.
And of course, allowing as much free ranging as possible is best. We even free range our meat birds, and get far better meat out of them, then just grain feeding allows for.

It also takes finding how many you can raise at a set cost for others, to help offset your costs.
Our meat birds cost us about $8.50 per bird, and we are going to try and lower that this summer,
by having a few broodies start them out at first.
Have you looked at Joel Salatin's methods yet?
Its very encouraging to study on.

 

[highcountrychickens]

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*sigh...* I wish we could do that... -40 and or snow from October through early April... But What a great recommendation for someone who can!!

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

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Ours is for human consumption.....should have clarified that...
And, we live in Alaska,

I would love to move back to the midwest, and have my own true agrarian farm.
we pay $27 for 80 pounds of local barley and fishmeal for the birds.

 

[bibliophile birds]

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i'm seriously not trying to be the harbinger of nutritional doom on this thread, but corn is not an optimal feed for chickens. it's fine in moderation, but it is much fattier and starchier than is good for chickens (that's why a lot of mix-your-own recipes will add extra corn in the winter). corn has been the basis of feed (which is being replaced by soy now) because it is cheap, not because it makes nutritional sense.

I don't want to turn this into a right and wrong way of living discussion. I don't have the answers. Researcher's only post what they are paid to research. (or they get a job on the other side

) I'm just here to absorb info and apply it to my life.

none of us have all the answers. and everyone is certainly free to make decisions for themselves about all this. we just all like to share the information we have in case it helps someone. if you want to see BIG discussions on things of this nature, swing over to Everything Else Sufficient Living on SefficientSelf.com (BYC's sister site). you'll see many familiar faces from this thread. we're talking non-stop about, well, food mostly.

 

[squeakyballs]

Soy is bad? But I love tofu.

 

[nnbreeder]

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*sigh...* I wish we could do that... -40 and or snow from October through early April... But What a great recommendation for someone who can!!

They raise cattle on wheat in your country through the winter. Might have to brush off a little snow though. LOL

One winter here we got a bale of Cow Pea hay for the horses because it was down around zero for a couple of weeks. As the horses ate the hay some of the peas fell out and the chickens got them. Everyone stayed nice and plump through that cold snap.

Ok back to the task at hand. What is a small square bale of Alfalfa going for in your area? If it was cost effective one could get a five gallon plastic bucket with a lid and then cut a hole in the center just large enough for the stem of a weed whacker to go through, then cut a slit out to one side so it will go around the weed whacker. Put a flake of hay in the bucket, install the lid and use the whacker to grind it up. When I find cheap hay that was how I used to grind it to use for mulch in the garden.

The secret to buying hay or grain is to do it as it is harvested when prices are the lowest and stow it away until needed.