Dolly and the steers in the shed earlier this month when it was snowing. Nessa's butt is on the right in the second photo ;)
Oh wow where do I start? First I got some pretty flowers from Patrick for Valentines' Day--he's such a romantic! :) I'm just grateful he's a "fix-it" guy that can fix most anything and build me whatever I dream up. I guess I'm just humbled he's put up with ME all these years!! :)
It's rainy today, so I'm inside doing "stuff". So much for working on my garden fence idea! Talking about the garden, yes I always have big plans (that don't always pan out....) Every year I do try something new, and live and learn with mistakes made. One is never too old to learn, that is for sure!
I worked on ripping a dude's article apart on KFC on factory farming this morning. I could do this day in and day out with many, many articles. Sigh. He didn't mention CAFO (CAFO: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) but it pretty much is factory farming. CAFO is a more 'correct' term, but its still the same thing.
People need to get on board (and the facts) about food production and monoculture's (i.e. hog confinements, dairies, feedlots, and chicken/egg production houses), and if all you have done IS a type of CAFO/factory farming, you won't begin to understand
diversity and how a monoculture isn't good for anything; land, man nor beast.
It's not renewable nor sustainable.People also don't realize that almost all of the beef they eat starts out milk and grassfed. Then they are sold to a feedlot and crammed into pens to eat a planned nutritional hodgepodge of feeds. Industry waste is a big part of this "feed" (citrus peels, chicken litter, ground feathers and other "funny proteins") because its
cheap.
Cheap gets gains just like expensive will. OK, but what no one realizes is the end product is to be uniform. Another "Industry Standard". Not ONE of my steers has come out exactly the same (nor chickens or eggs or my turkeys!). Sure I've had different breeds, but some had different beginnings in life. Some had replacer, most real milk and the best one had real milk the longest. My feed(s) and hay/pasture pretty much stayed the same. I don't expect uniformity,
because I don't raise cookie cutter animals and don't have any desire to do so.
Hogs are another thing. Raised inside all their lives to "protect" them. Yeah, I've seen some nasty disease hit, inside/outside they all still got sick. It's like keeping people inside 24/7 for their own good. ???? It's just not normal! One's immune system goes DOWN when inside all the time. It's no wonder they have to give them so many (timely) shots to protect them from issues. They are 'docked' if they weigh too much or too fatty....its the 'uniform standard' again. Animals are like people, no two are the same, and no two gain exactly the same. Industry standard strives for this, so certain breeds are preferred. (Less diversity again).
Now onto the dairies.....maximum production for the cheapest cost. OK that sounds good. Except it is at the cows' expense, which is usually the case. Many are fed high-octane "funny protein" and kept in feed-lot like conditions, its no wonder so many burn out early and end up in your fast-food hamburger.
Oh and don't forget the chickens.....many are still raised indoors, some in cages "for their own good". Bah. Profit isn't my bottom line. Good wholesome food raised by ME is. I know what they ate, what stuff was fertilized with, etc. Plus they got to be in an environment conducive to them--not just put in a pen for my convenience for feeding/cleaning/monitoring. My garden may be weedy, but that also means I'm not pouring a bunch of chemicals on it so it "looks good".
People want cheap food, and are accustomed to it, but I say stop giving it to them!! If your average person realized how much work goes into raising animals (planning, feed, time, etc),
plus the butchering work, they would realize it
isn't cheap. Factory farming (CAFO's) bring that to them. Well, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Ask me how much my turkeys cost me last year....sure wasn't no 98 cents a pound on sale......but they tasted better and didn't need 'injected' with God-knows-what for flavor enhancement.
And a chicken is more than just a white meat boneless breast (very wasteful recipes/usage in my opinion), hogs are more than porkchops and bacon, and cows are more than steaks, roasts and burger. When one does butcher (or have butchered) their own, a new world opens up to all these pieces/parts and how (and why) to use them.
As long as we have CAFO's and people depending on someone else to raise their food, they won't experience more than what they find in boxes, or cans or shrink/cello-wrapped packages at the store.
I know we can't raise
all our food, but simple steps in that direction can/will help. The more control you have growing/preserving your food the more you will understand of why "ripe" asparagus or tomatoes in the middle of January is just not normal........
Now if you're still with me after all that ;) then I will say I'm looking at getting a few more fruit trees. I've finally found the Ida Red apple trees that I've been looking for ever since I had/canned some years ago. Ummmmm ummmm good! I think I'll get my catalog back out and get my order put in before they are out. (Pat has his fruit tree wish list, too!) :)
