Understand now?

That's the only question I have for people when I show them a picture like this.  How can you not understand the difference in pasturing chickens when you look at a picture like this.  Don't you see how pasture raising of chickens (or other animals) is important.  The pen is moved EVERY DAY - and in 24 hours only 40 birds do THIS to each days 80 square foot patch of pasture.

Between their grazing and fertilizing - the pasture clearly bares their mark.  How can you NOT see the value behind this type of farming.  The birds graze at their own pace and enjoy the sunshine, pasture and bugs - as nature intended birds to feed.  We are good shepherds by providing them a steady supplement of feed and water and protection from predators.

The alternative is chicken raised in warehouse conditions with air so acrid you can't breathe it in.  Wallowing in their own feces - never seeing fresh sunlight, a single bug, or a crunch of clover.  I'm not on a soapbox here - I'm done ranting.  Just look at the picture and I ask you - do you understand now?

Comments

[Melinda Bayne Bowman]

I love your blog about your farm, and I am quite envious of your farm indeed! I've long been a fan of the slow food movement, eating locally produced food in season, etc. So I applaud you for your good work! So sorry to hear about the tomatoes, though. It's been equally wet here in Bavaria, where we live. I guess that's good for the dairy cows in this part of the world, because the grass and wildflowers are doing well. Anyway, thank you for sharing your adventures on your farm and for your excellent writing style. Superb! I'll be checking back to read all about it.

[Andy]

Guten Tag - Bavaria!
So - question - is there an "Official" German slow-food movement like there is here in the states, or is it more cultural over there to eat seasonal and local?
As for the tomatoes - never fear... I have a plan... stay tuned :)

[Melinda Bayne Bowman]

Grüß Gott! (That's the local form of "hello" in these parts).

The slow-food movement here is strongly rooted in culture and tradition, but there is a growing awareness of eating local and seasonal produce.

Germans are skeptical of strawberries in the winter. My host mothers in Cologne tell me that they don't buy strawberries unless they taste good, which means in the summer months. So generally speaking, there has always been a deep respect for the seasonality of produce. When Berlin was divided, it was a big deal for East Berliners to bring back fruits and berries that were out of season for them, because in the former East Germany, you would have never had produce out of season. And yet, the East Berliners would often note that the strawberries in winter had no taste!

A lot of the produce I've seen in the grocery store here is from Spain, so we certainly do have out of season items because they're still growing in Spain. (Probably like how much of the produce in the US comes from California). I'd say there's a fair number of Germans who don't think much about it. But on the whole, I'd say that German society is more aware of where its food comes from, when you compare them to Americans. When I was teaching German before moving here, I had my students read an article on the organic foods and local foods movements here in Germany. The discussion was always interesting and hopefully, eye-opening for my students. I emphasized that for Germans, they like knowing that the pork they're about to consume is from the region; that organic foods are more prevalent and accepted, and that being good to the earth is seen as a positive and desirable goal. (After all, this is a country where we recycle practically everything.)

In our town and many others, at the beginning of April, a wooden stall went up on the side of the road where we could buy the prized white asparagus. It even came with its own brochure, highlighting the farm where it is grown (about two hours from where we live). When I bought asparagus the first time, the person minding the stall said that come June 24th, asparagus season was over. The same thing is true for strawberry season. On May 30th, the strawberry stall opened and it closes at the end of this month. (Also, it's really shaped like a strawberry!).

I love living out in the country where we are, because there are so many little places to buy fresh cheese/dairy, freshly-caught fish, meat products that have been prepared right there in the local butcher's shop, etc. I don't always shop at those places because we don't have a car and transportation is sometimes an issue, but I notice the difference when we buy the local products, and also the local pride is quite evident. It's pretty cool.

I assume you've read some of what Michael Pollan has written, yes?

[Andy]

Yup - I have read his and others works. One of the challenges I see (and I have a number of historical posts here about this) is that pure "organic" or "sustainable" farming isn't going to cut it on it's own to put food in the mouths of the planet... unless either the number of mouths goes down - OR - the mouths of the world eat a whole lot more plant material as the core of their diets. And frankly - I don't see either thing happening.
The more aware people are of what they eat, the season it belongs in and the "costs" associated with their food - the better I think it makes the decisions when the time comes.

[Bill]

I wonder how pasture raising 8.9 billion chickens a year would work though? That wold take a mighty big field. :)

[Andy]

Bill - thanks for stopping by. Here's some simple math (feel free to check my facts) that show just how that would work:
1 acre = 43560 ft^2
Generously spaced chickens like :2 ft^2 / chicken
Assuming you raise them for 7 weeks (less gives you a higher density) - you have them in brooder facilities for about 1/2 their life and in the field a little longer - lets say 25 days you have to move the pens.
That translates to 50 ft^2 / chicken/pasture life. So - assuming full coverage with pens and open pasture to accommodate the path for 25 days - that's about 871.2 chicken per acre.
OK - so you assert there are 8,900,000,000 chickens consumed in the US a year...
That would then - in a pasture model - require 10215794.31 acres for all chickens to live a fit life.
There are 640 acres / mi^2... so in terms of chickens that's 15962.1786 mi^2 for all chickens.

So where do you raise them? Well - for starters:

There are 158,000 square miles of land in California, and about 40,000 square miles of that area is farmland. (http://www.ecoworld.com/home-buildings/californias-land-use-choices.html)

If you used suitable farmland, between row planting pasture pens and rethought some of the existing farm infrastructure... not only could you grow all the chickens for the us on that land by itself - you could also DRAMATICALLY reduce the need for petrol-fertilizer because chickens poop at about 200 tons/acre in equivalent nitrogen.

BTW - I don't like this model as I personally don't want to eat chicken that could be raised locally... so - if you think of all the farms out there that could generate income from their own small flocks - trust me - there is more than enough land.

[Jeph]

I'm looking forward to meeting these chickens in just over a month! I wonder if they're as excited to see me!?

[Andy]

They are looking forward to meeting you too :)