This Week on the Farm

What a blessed week we had!  We had two wonderful families from the city come to visit us.  Later in the week, one family asked if they could help around the farm and insisted that they do meaningful work and accomplish results.  What a hard working family they are!

In short order, the boys and my Dylan had the entire greenhouse cleared out and prepared for the new chicks to move out there.  Without their help, we would have surely spent the entire weekend completing this project.

The girls teamed up with my mom to clear out two garden boxes which had become overrun with weeds.  They then planted new lettuce from the greenhouse which was overdue for the move.  They also harvested a ton of lettuce and spinach.

Many hands make light work, and also make for a fun day!

 




 
 We then enjoyed a nice lunch together!

 

We are so grateful for the Noel family.  (Picture with 7 of their 8 children plus Dylan and Kailyn.)  They are such an amazing example of diligence!

 Then the weekend came and we had more help from my parents, getting our 59 new chicks into their new home - the greenhouse.  They will live here until they are 5-6 weeks old, with some visits to the pasture on warm days.

Our neighbors were also busy this weekend, processing 1/2 of their meat chickens.  My mom went over the lend a hand.

Hard working ladies...  and two hard working boys as well.  A homeschool day well spent, learning to care for your own food.

 Dylan spent time with Mr. Harold, getting as much knowledge as he can about bees, as he learns to care for his own two hives.  What a blessing it is to live next door to these sweet and knowledgeable people.

 We are looking forward to a harvest of honey, garden products and many more eggs to share with our community and our homeschooling friends in the city.

 

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.

Ecclesiastes 4:9

 

 

Why Bird Flu Matters to You

Factory Farms Incubate Bird Flu

This is one of those things that can slip quietly by while we all rush on in our busy lives.  I know it would have passed me by years ago, long before I was learning to farm.  It is just one more control that the government has quietly taken over and we the people have let it happen.  If you like to eat – this applies to you!

I’ve researched this quite a bit and read many articles and some books on the topic of raising meat chickens and laying hens.  Recently, an article about the Bird Flu virus came out that really shocked me – enough that I felt I must write about it.  I’ll share parts of the article below and respond to several sections.  You can read the entire article here if you wish:  http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0NQ1VZ20150505?irpc=932

First let me start by sharing this:  The author of the book Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching calls factory farms breeding grounds for diseases: vast numbers of animals with immune systems weakened by unyielding stress, their lungs burning from ammonia emitted by decomposing excrement, and a lack of fresh air or sunlight. Put all these factors together and what you have is a perfect-storm environment for the emergence and spread of new “superstrains” of influenza. 

One of our 100+ chickens, almost ready to go
out on pasture.

This author is accurate.

Having said that, here are highlights from the article and some thoughts surrounding each one of them:

 “The U.S. government approved the use of an additional $330 million in emergency funds to help contain the worst avian influenza outbreak in U.S. history, as infected bird cases soared and hundreds of Minnesota poultry workers learned they would lose their jobs.”

“Initially, USDA had set aside $84.5 million to compensate farmers and for other outbreak-related costs. The agency can use additional funds to pay for the expected increase in indemnity claims filed by poultry farmers.”

My response:

• Over $400 MILLION DOLLARS of our tax money is going to bail out these factory farms who are suffering from their own poor practices.  Does this not bother anyone but me? 
• In other articles these same companies claim that, without their factory farms where thousands of birds are crammed into cages or large buildings, we would suffer food shortages and not be able to “feed the world”.  There are so many problems with this theory:
• First, how many people could we feed with the $400 Million dollars that we tax payers just spent to bail out these factory farms?
• Second, it is important to understand that we do not have a food shortage problem.  American’s throw away tons of food each year in waste – in our restaurants, in grocery stores, and in our homes.  And as for feeding other countries, we have transportation issues, not food shortage issues. Take Africa for example, where I have friends who are missionaries.  Africa has such corrupt leadership that anything sent there is quickly confiscated and stolen.  Even items that seem without much value typically never make it to the intended receiver. 

This is what a CAFO looks like - or worse. 
Notice they are called "cage free"
according to the labels. 

 “The funds are also approved for such uses as sanitation of equipment and the culling of infected flocks.”

My response:

This line makes it clear that we tax payers are paying for these companies to sanitize their equipment, and “fix” their problem, which they should have been doing all along.  We are taking care of all their losses for them, while they continue in their infection-breeding factory work.  They will go right back to their same practices when all this has left the media.

“Virulent H5 avian influenza strains have spread to 14 states in five months and affected about 24 million birds so far, mostly egg-laying hens and turkeys, according to USDA.

“That tally is expected to grow, as U.S. authorities confirm pending cases. The outbreak, which is also affecting two Canadian provinces, shows little sign of slowing.”

“In Minnesota, the largest producer of U.S. turkeys, state officials said almost 5.5 million turkeys and egg-laying chickens have either died from the flu virus or are set to be killed in an effort to contain the outbreak.”

“In Iowa, the top U.S. egg producer, state agriculture officials said an estimated 20 million chickens and turkeys have been affected there.”

 “While scientists believe wild birds are spreading the disease, researchers do not know exactly how the highly pathogenic H5 viruses have penetrated inside barns.”

• This last line really gets my feathers in a ruffle.  This is the USDAs way of placing blame somewhere other than where it belongs – which is right in the lap of these factory farms and their terribly unsanitary practices!  Remember, all these factories have USDA approved inspectors on site.  So naturally they don’t want to take the blame for such an outbreak and therefore need to find some other direction to point their finger.  Sadly, most Americans seem to just take what they say at face value. 

• There is overwhelming evidence that highly infectious bird flu actually originates in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), and is more than likely spread by the globalized poultry trade.  The media continues to paint a different picture, implicating wild birds or small backyard poultry operations as being the source of the highly pathogenic bird flu virus.  However, blaming backyard poultry or migratory birds simply doesn’t make sense, as small outdoor flocks of birds have a better chance of keeping viral loads down.  If highly infections bird flu virus were to infect and kill all the birds in a small flock, the virus likely wouldn’t spread and infect other birds.

• On the other hand, in a CAFO with a high density of birds, the virus can spread and multiply very quickly (as we are now seeing first hand).  Transporting the birds, eggs and other by products form these facilities can further increase the risk of spreading the disease.

• Let’s look at this from a common sense point of view:  if wild birds carry this disease, then how is it that the only flocks that are infected are the large factory INDOOR “farms” where wild birds do not have access?  This is just an insult to the public’s intelligence.
  
• As we pasture our chickens outdoors we have no concern over bird flu, even though wild ducks and geese fly over our heads regularly.  And if we kill a chicken for meat, the feathers stay right here on our farm, rather than being spread across the country while traveling on a partially open truck.

• The articles I have read continue to point figures instead of looking at the real root of the problem which is really pretty easy to see:
• Factory farms have unsanitary, unnatural practices which leaves large quantities of bird droppings, strong odors and unhealthy birds packed together. 

• To combat the unsanitary living conditions, they drug the birds with large quantities of antibiotics. Over time these antibiotics become useless against certain viruses.  These birds’ immune systems are destroyed, making them unable to fight off any virus on their own.
• Feed is many times unacceptable, containing bird droppings, chemicals, GMOs or worse. 

(Remember, this is all brought to you by the same folks who brought you Mad Cow disease.  They had decided it was a great idea to feed dead cows and chicken manure to cows as a way to “dispose” of all the waste these factories create.  That is until they found that it resulted in Mad Cow Disease.  They swept that under the rug and went on.  And that is why we now see lots of “vegetarian fed” on the labels – which is showing that they realize now the huge mistake they made.)

"We are confident that support for producers will continue to be adequately funded as needed," according to a statement from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

• This is a comfort to the chicken producers, I’m sure.  But it should be no comfort to us as tax payers or consumers.

Let’s take this current bird flu outbreak as an opportunity to stop and think whether we really want to continue allowing the poultry industry to operate in this way, exploiting immune-compromised and genetically-weakened animals and creating breeding grounds for disease that pose huge threats to humans and birds alike.

So what can you do?  Here are a couple of ideas to start with:

• If you are able, have a backyard flock of your own!  You might be surprised how little space you need for a small flock.
• Stop supporting these factory farms as much as you are able.  Look for alternatives in your area.  Local producers can be found at farmer’s markets or at the Weston A. Price website.  Many in the St. Louis area even deliver to the city from their farms.  Purchase chicken and eggs from those farmers who you can visit yourself.  A USDA seal of approval will never be as good as seeing for yourself and knowing your farmer.  Most farmers love to have visitors and if they don’t, there might be a reason.
• If you are unable to locate a local farmer, look for organic and "pastured" labels.  Although these don’t really mean the chickens are on pasture each day, they at least ensure that antibiotics are not given on a routine basis (they may still be given when prescribed by a vet.) 



And this is what our birds look like.  Disease has a hard
time taking hold when fresh pasture, sun and rain are provided.
And contrary to what the CAFOs would like us to think,
it really doesn't take much land to do it.

Ultimately, we know that the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against Satan who not only tries to attack us spiritually, but physically as well – including through our food supply.  We can take back the lost ground if we stay informed and look for ways to take control over what our families eat.

  

 

 

A righteous man regards the life of his animal:

but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. 

- Proverbs 12:10

New Egg Mobiles

Pastured poultry requires shelter, predator protection and efficient feeding and watering.  And the fresher the pasture, the greater the quantity the birds will consume and the healthier they will be.  Just pasture is not enough.  It must be fresh!

Birds are very hard on pasture.  For one thing, they physically scratch the crowns of the plants, which is a good thing, but only for a short time.  They also provide manure that is extremely high in available soluble nitrogen.  This is "hot" manure, as it is called, and can easily cause nitrate toxicity in the soil or water.  An excess can quickly deplete humus in the soil just like chemical fertilizers.  So capitalizing on this valuable resource is important.  We want it to be assimilated into growing plants as quickly and efficiently as possible.

If you see some typical farmers "pastured chickens" on the same site in a non-movable chicken pen, you can know that the chickens have scratched out all the grass and their manure buildup has turned the soil into a brick.

Another problem for the typical commercial egg producers is parasites and disease.  But by giving chickens a new spot to lounge on each day, pathogenic problems can be virtually eliminated on the pasture.

To help us with this.... Enter... the Egg Mobile:

We took delivery of two new Egg Mobiles recently and have been preparing them to house our chickens out on the pasture.  Up until now, the chickens have been waiting patiently in the greenhouse (where they sleep during the winter months) and surrounding area where they can forage.  Finally, the day came to make the move just this week.   Only 3 weeks behind schedule - not too bad for rookie farmers like us!

After setting up the egg mobiles on the pasture, we then hand carried each chicken to their new homes and put them inside.  While they got used to the idea, we moved the electric poultry netting over to the pasture from the greenhouse.  The electric netting keeps the chickens safe from predators such as raccoons, foxes, or even domestic stray dogs who might like a chicken dinner.  It also keeps the brave chickens from wandering too far.  Lastly, it helps us manage the land and fertilization. 

By moving the chickens to new pasture within certain timeframes, it allows the ground to rest and fully utilize the fertilizer which the chickens provide via their waste.  No need to purchase chemical fertilizer when the birds do an excellent job themselves.

On one end, there is a chicken door which has an automatic door inside which opens in the day and closes after dark.  There is also a manual door for when we need to lock them in for a move to new pasture location.

 

After setting up the electric fencing, time to let the chickens out and show them how to use their door.

A little coaxing was needed for some - but once they saw the fresh clover and pasture to roam, they came right out.

The inside of the egg mobiles are set up to be sleeping quarters, snack bar and a private place to lay eggs.  The human-sized door on one end houses a feeder and place for water inside the door.  Nest boxes are located to the right with doors on the outside for easy egg collection.  Ventilated and insulated walls keep the chickens cooler in the summer and warmer in the cooler months.  It also provides good shelter from bad weather.

Electric can be hooked up from the outside in case we need to add supplemental light during shorter days (for better egg production.)

 

 

Know well the condition of your flocks, And pay attention to your herds; Proverbs 27:23