Sorry. I had to think thru all the natural birds and they are all meat eaters: owls and roadrunners. Makes me wonder what their food is? Definielty not a lot of grasses or bushes, and very few animals per acre.I have a major problem if grass is required. There is no grass on my desert property. I envy all of you that post pictures of your lush green yards, and trees with real leaves on them.
I think you misunderstand the article. THese are not way out of date. IF anything this kind of thinking is gaining ground. Our commercial food animals are fed less than desireale feeds and are at best sources of protein but no longer have the higher levels ofVItA etc. I myself am not interested in eating Beef derived of newspapers. ( Mother Earth) Having grown lamb for over 20 years I ws not surprised to find that lamb is considered one of the better choices on the market as they rarely are fed in a feed lot but go right to slaughter off the fields.These articles are way out of date ! Last time I checked chickens are omnivores , NOT herbivores. With the cost of land, equipment, housing, labor, Govt. regulations, the high predator populations, lack of rainfall ( we get 7" per year translated to brown dormant grass) , no irrigation water, high cost of water, as for bugs- we have sparse numbers of bugs including some ants and stinkbugs ( bugs that our chickens will not consume ), and HIGH cost of feed ... in my neck of the woods , if I followed this advice, I would go broke pretty fast.
Your model might work in Mass. on a small farm , however in Ca. and the West NOT SO ! I have raised commercial sheep into the thousands ... 60-75% ( depending on rainfall ) of the lambs were slaughtered straight from the pasture , The rest I had to feed out in a feedlot for 90 days using grains and alfalfa to bring them to market weight prior to being auctioned off and sent to slaughter. One learns quite a few lessons in the school of hard knocks . AS the old Scottish proverb goes... " the eye of the master fattens the cattle." As for commercial chicken feed, the feed companies use scientific data gleaned from research to formulate their feed for optimum growth. Just how balanced a ration is from getting leftovers from the garden and if they find a bug or two or any worms ( in my area of Cal. , one would be lucky to count numbers of worms on one hand ( if that many) in an 10' x 10' area ) after their first invasion of a garden or pasture. We use fly predators to control fly populations, so the flies are virtually non-existent. Show us some scientific proof ( NOT some publication with an axe to grind or slanted point of view) where a Beef producer is feeding newspapers to their cattle and any benefit for doing so ??? I hear tell and seen cartoons where goats eat paper , and tin cans, so I guess that is true too. Around here, if anyone raises hogs in their pastures, that pasture looks like a B52 dropped their bomb payload onto the field and it would cost a small fortune to regrade it. Just go see some video of feral hogs night's rooting skills anywhere in the country especially in Texas where feral hogs are an epidemic. Michigan even has strict management requirements regarding pigs. Vermont isn't the only one that supports agricultural indeavers , have you ever heard of UCD, Oregon State, Washington State, among the rest of the land grant schools of higher education ? I worked at the World renowned University of Cal., Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, Pathology Dept. for many years. I was personally involved and seen many scientific studies done on animal research and management that actually works for best nutrition for the animals as well as humans.
