Haven't been here lately. Not that I don't have plenty to say, I just don't have the time. I have been spending a lot of time tending to my chickens. Now that I have 30, there is a little more to do (a lot more poop). They obviously drink more water and eat more grain. Plus my chickens are pretty spoiled. I make sure they have lots to do so they don't get bored and start attacking each other. I really like taking care of the chickens and all that it entails. I don't even mind shoveling the shit! I can see however, why mass production and factory farms came about. The more chickens you have, the more time consuming and expensive they become. If I was raising my chickens just for income from the eggs I would be broke by now. $2.00 a dozen does not even begin to pay for the feed and supplies I need to properly take care of them. If I wanted to make money, I would make my operation more efficient; leave out a lot of the amenities that my chickens enjoy and charge more for my eggs. If I do that, I decrease the quality and value of the egg. Factory farms are around for the simple fact of supply and demand. A low income family is not going to pay $2.00 a dozen for eggs from me. They will buy them at the grocery store for $.85 a dozen on sale. This is one time however that you get what you pay for. You can buy "organic" "cage free" "free range" eggs in the grocery store and pay over $3.00 a dozen. Most of the times in that case you are not getting what you paid for. All of those terms are very ambiguous. There are definitions of all of those by the USDA. The producers can get around those definitions by interpreting there own version. For instance, "free range" requires the chickens to have access to the outdoors. My chickens definitely do. They run all over my yard. Mass producers can get away with calling their eggs free range if they have an open door that in theory the chickens can get outside. That door may be on one end of a chicken house that houses 1000 chickens. Yeah, the door is there and they have access to it, but the chickens at the other end of the chicken house are never going to make there way to the door to get out. Even if they do get out, there isn't room for them to do anything and there is no vegetation for them to forage in. It's kind of like interpreting the Bible. People will skew the facts to how it will best serve them (that is whole other story I won't get into). Product labeling is really a joke. It's all about marketing and making money. The only way to decipher the labeling is to read the ingredients list and know what you are looking for. In the case of eggs you have no real way of knowing if the labeling is correct short of visiting the facility that produced them.
Am I promoting my eggs? Not really, I can only serve a dozen or so people because my farm is very small. What I am promoting is education regarding the food we buy. Everyone (including me) runs to the grocery to get a few things with little regard to how it was made or produced. We are letting these big corporations take over our lives and control our basic needs of nourishment. We don't concern ourselves with how the cow was raised and processed for the hamburger we are buying. We just know we need hamburger to make our chili. I don't propose becoming fanatic and boycotting everything. I just think people should be making more conscious choices about the food they eat. If you have a choice to buy your food from local farmers do that instead of getting it from Walmart. Changes don't have to be big to make a difference. I probably won't become a vegetarian anytime soon. I love meat too much. I have however started to buy from a local farm that has grass fed beef. It makes me feel better when I can say I made my own decision about what is good for me to eat, not what big factory says is good for me.
3 comments:
Well stated and I have to agree with you 100%. One problem that has come out of this though is the US Humane Society. They want to control everything about food production from animals and they have gone somewhat overboard. Like you said the producers bend the meaning of things to suit their purposes. The HS goes the other way and is basically just causing a sharp increase in food production prices. Guess who will be paying for that in the long run. In my opinion its political correctness gone mad. They need to back to taking care of cats and dogs. Oh yeah and don't ask them for help in controlling the feral cat problems. They don't want to hear about it.
We have a coop locally that is primarily Amish. They produce vegetables pretty much year round. You can purchase a membership that gets you fresh local produced crops. They let you know when things are ready and you can pick them up at the farm or at designated pickup points around the county. its done on a monthly basis. Were going to join next year.
PETA is another one of those overboard organizations. Those people are crazy!
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