Moving Toward Poultry Self-Sufficiency
Posted by DJ at 7/25/2008 12:32 PM and is filed under Global Warming,Chickens and Turkeys,Reflections on Economics 
With the price of feed continuing to rise, many small farmers are getting out of the farm business. (Goat breeders across the country are selling of whole herds of champion goats at the price of dairy goats.) But Backyard Poultry magazine has a better idea. In an article titled "The Challenge of High Feed Costs" (Aug/Sep 2008), contributor Harvey Ussery writes,
How? Smarter use of resources and sustainable farming methods. And it starts with a paradigm shift: there's no such thing as waste. Ussery recommends feeding food "waste" from our table, local restaurants, grocery stores, and even other livestock to our poultry. Plus weeds, many of which are higher in protein than alphalfa, and manure, which contains food undigested by its first use. But above all, poultry should be seen as part of a process, turning raw nutrients into fertilizer, which in turn produce crops for us (and our livestock) to eat. Another element of the paradigm shift: Ussery writes, "I think that one effect of rising costs will be a new appreciation of the sturdier, more self-reliant traditional breeds" as opposed to the higher-production hybrids. Why? The hybrids can't feed themselves, while the traditional breeds (we raise Delawares, a heritage breed of chicken) can forage for themselves much of the year. In other words, high feed costs may be an incredible opportunity for local sustainbable agriculture. Not only are there great financial incentives for sustainable livestock production, but there are significant environmental benefits, too. Besides the necessary interplay between plants, microbes, and animals, sustainable livestock production has an impact on global warming as well. Consider: Most crops raised in the U.S. grow with the benefit of methane-based fertilizer, converted by way of ammonia to some form of nitrate. Besides the methane emissions from manufacture and fuel used for transportation, this hydrocarbon-scourced fertilizer use causes nitrate runoff into waterways, which destroys ecosystems. But proper manure management from non-ruminant livestock like poultry and pigs creates excellent fertilizer for crops with minimal greenhouse gas emissions and (properly used) little runoff. Indeed, poultry and pigs work well together to maximize the benefits of composting."As costs rise for feed raised through high-input, centralized agribusiness farms far away, there will be more opportunity for small, local, low-input, sustainable farms to compete successfully for our feed dollars."
The sheer volume of suggestions in Ussery's five-page article overwhelms me. Still, we've already begun the paradigm shift. We ask our local grocers for their reject produce, which we feed to the chickens. (Goats are pickier— they demand fresh food, so weeds are a better bet for them.) We feed our reject cheese to the chickens as well. Rather than mowing our weeds-masquerading-as-lawn, we now cut it with a hedge trimmer and feed the intact weeds to both chickens and goats. And we've begun to grow crops like buckwheat specifically for the animals. We haven't weaned ourselves completely from storebought food, but this article inspires me to try.
By the way, Ussery has his own website dedicated to self-reliant living. It too is worth a look.
Ussery is an excellent resource for sustainable living ideas. I just discovered him recently and have already gained a wealth of knowledge on how to make our small homestead work harder for us with less input. Now, to find more time to use his suggestions.
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