Feeding The Mouth That Bites You
January 27th, 2006 by Northern FarmerIt’s been quite a week around here and it’s slowing down now to where a person can manage it without loosing it. Got some calves sold, got a cow turned into ground beef right here at home. That was kinda neat seeing three generations working on that mean old cow. That’ll teach her. Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting with JM and his youngest daughter for a couple of hours. That time went too fast for me, after he left I remembered dozens of things that I wanted to discuss and never got around to it, but such is life. When someone comes here my mind just scatters.
One thing that really makes me wonder and worry a bit is them GMO beans. John and I discussed that. Now, when I read about living simpler, homesteading, sustainable farming and the like, it’s been on my mind for months that most of the folks that do that nowadays are still supporting big ag whether they know it or not. Take chickens for example. First, most are dependant on big ag to supply the chickens. So, that’s one strike against the small raiser. But that’ll be covered many times in the future here. But what is getting the gears turning between my ears is how most people feed GMO beans to their chickens and other critters, self included. That’s what’s in every bag of chicken starter. That’s what’s in the bean meal if a person makes their own feed using chicken feed recipes written the last fifty years or so. Now, a chicken never had soybeans before WW2 in this country and they seemed to live as far as I can tell. Them were them good tasting ones according to the oldtimers here. Hogs too, same thing. Years ago we had over a hundred sows here and we had a ration with no soybeans, we ground farm raised alfalfa with their feed and they did great.
Now, chickens raised in a chicken tractor are getting a tremendous amount of protein from young plants and insects. And we still give them the beans. And unless a person has some really genetically destroyed broilers there might not be a need for the beans. Now throw the kicker in and raise some Open Pollinated corn that is around twelve percent protein compared to modern hybrids that are around eight percent and the base protein in the feed has risen sharply. This week I read a thing in an old Small Farmer’s Journal that really got me thinking. It said that some of the OP corns had variations of the same anti-oxidants as are in red and purple grapes, which are being discovered to protect people from cancer, cholesterol and aging of cells. That beats the heck out of the thousands of reports from around the world about GMO’s, eh.
So this summer we’re going to raise the White Rocks here without soybeans. The layers too. So what if for some reason they take a bit longer to grow. A person doesn’t have to push so hard for industrial efficiency on the farm. It seems the moment one does we’re supporting the very thing that is out to destroy the small farm. What a dilemma, feeding the mouth that bites us.
January 27th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Tom,
What an informative post! I quit using store bought feed many years ago - but I need to go back to my feed recipes and see what’s in them - don’t even remember anymore. I use a small, family owned feed store…I just call and tell Melvin I need a batch of chicken or goat or cow feed….they have my recipes on file….better get busy and see if I need to change things! Thanks for bringing this to my attention…
January 27th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Tom,
I’m glad your week is slowing down for you. Did you get my email? I sent one back to you yesterday morning, but I haven’t heard anything and normally I wouldn’t ask here on your blog, but I’ve been having trouble with my email lately (computer problems in general) and I wanted to check.
Gwen
January 28th, 2006 at 5:44 am
TnFG,
I’d bet that your getting GMO beans. Glad you’ll be looking into it.
Gwen,
I’ll be getting back to you soon, but everything sounded good in your note, be seeing you!
OOPS! (Tom turning many different shades of red), I was going to e-mail you this morning
Tom
January 28th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Oh dear, now my brain is beginning to hurt with all the questions I have bottled up inside! I feel so ignorant when I read your blog!
We’d like to raise chickens for eggs and meat and had planned on using the chicken tractor. What happens during the cold season (we’re in NH) when they are not grazing in the grass? Would the feed be their only rations? How do I find feed recipes that do not contain the soybeans? What about the OP corn? Can one purchase that to make feed? What about the other grains - how do we find out whether they are GMO? I so agree with you about the push for industrial efficiency - and it’s not only on the farm, is it?
January 28th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
I have steered clear of soybeans for a number of years. I am tending to buy straight barley and feeding that to my chickens. As far as I know, there are no GMO varities of barley. Plus in my area barley is usually grown as a nurse crop for alfalfa - which usually means it has not been sprayed. I try to make sure the chickens get enogh protein by giving them meat and bone meal and some of our excess milk - either skim or sour.
I am not sure that chickens actually like soybeans. A couple years ago I visited an organic farmer who had free range chickens and he also had piles of non GMO organic soybeans that had been spilled on the ground. He complained that his chickens would not eat the soybeans. I also noticed that when they combined the soybean field in the field next to my farm, my free range chickens would not eat the soybeans that were dropped on the ground.
January 28th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Emily,
In the cold season we bring the grass to the laying hens, quite simply because there is no grazing done here for months. We have our own grinder mixer for making our own feed, this is big equipment for a tractor PTO. I grind up beautiful second crop hay into their normal ration and it works good. The feed is acually greenish.It, the feed, is about %25 alfalfa and grass. Corn is easier to find non GMO than beans, but you’d have to do some investigating in your area. Maybe even buy it direct from a farmer if that’s possible in your region.
Jim,
That’s what I like about blogging, the feedback. Thanks for the input. That’s what JM was talking about the other day here, the huge waste of bean meal with his chickens. It looks like the chickens don’t even like the stuff, but we try to force them to eat it.I’m only speaking for myself here, but without the beanmeal there’s virtually no exspense raising chickens here, I’m talking direct out of pocket exspense. Could it be that GOOD?? Imagine raising “our own” chickens, “all” the feed for our own chickens, no dependence on any ag company. I get a funny feeling that will be happening here this year.
January 31st, 2006 at 12:52 am
I’m a novice, so my experience may be weird and non-repeatable, but the pastured chickens I raised last summer seemed to like the soybeans okay. I have no idea whether they were GMO or not — I just got whatever MFA (Missouri Farmers Association) feed store sold me.
I’m interested in hearing more about the mix in your chicken ration.
January 31st, 2006 at 4:43 pm
JFC,
I figure if they don’t say they are non GMO, they are GMO. I don’t know what modern broilers would require but I think it’s safe to say most other breeds of chickens have little or no need for soybeans. Right now as far as grain in our own ration it’s 50/50 corn and whole oats. With mineral mixed in. Funny thing is the mineral mix is exactly the same as our old hog rations. Also figure I mix in around 250 pounds of grass/alfalfa per 1000 pound batch. The feed is greenish. For our layers I also add a fifty pound bag of oyster sheels in the mix. That’s about it. The only thing purchase is some base mineral and oyster shells, everything else is our own. Remember, this is a winter mix. There’s no such thing as grazing on the tundra now.