Baymule's 500 Pound Boar!

[Nyboy]

Seed that makes sense commercial AG feed good quality food. Poor/ cheap/diet would make for slow growth costing more in end

 

[ducks4you]

Commercial chicken has, IMHO, NO taste and is often rubbery. I trust buying chicken from the small town grocery 10 minutes away bc they buy their meat from the Amish. The chickens I raise have a subtle but definable flavor, alMOST a little bit gamey.
I don't think that you can make a blanket statement about commercial growers, but we are all subject to buy from them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree, you cannot make blanket statements about commercial growers, commercials feeds, organic producers, or even the Amish. You can find exceptions to anything. In my opinion most people that keep animals commercially for production understand that the most productive animal is one that is healthy and fed a good nutritional diet. Because profit margins are so thin (it is a business) they are not going to add a lot of unnecessary ruffles and flourishes, but the basics are going to be there. Of course you can find some exceptions to this. In my opinion some of those exceptions are fabricated by people with an agenda (man I'm cynical) but some are real. Have you noticed that the companies that get in trouble are usually repeat offenders.

Ducks, I agree with that flavor from our chickens. I like it. I put that down to our chickens being butchered later so flavor has had time to develop. Especially with cockerels and their hormones kicking in, but I notice it to a smaller degree with pullets and hens.

 

[ninnymary]

There is a place about 10 minutes away that charges $5 to process your chicken. I think that's very cheap.

Mary

 

[ducks4you]

VERY cheap!!
That price is worth it bc I can only butcher up to 6 birds/day, so it's an effort.
BTW, I keep the liver which I cook down with the bird, grind up in my blender with cooked juices, add milk and pepper and make my gravy that way.
ALSO, my GS pup is growing so fast and doesn't care for her Blue Buffalo large puppy dog food, so I have been boiling down meats, like chicken necks, to make a broth that I put on her food, fed 2x/day per my Vet's instructions (for the rest of her life, she told me). Seems to help, but yesterday morning Eva wouldn't finish Her food, then attacked the cat's (el cheapo meant to inspire mousing) food, so she went into her crate for an hour.

 

[bobm]

My wife's cousin has a large commercial hog operation . He must be doing something right since he has a University degree in Animal Husbandry, then successfully farmed his father's farm that he inherited for the last 60 years. He raises corn on his 1000 acre farm and buys other grains from his neighbors. His ingredients are analysed at a commercial lab and if any nutrients are lacking, the lacking ingredients are added at the mill for a complete nutrition diet for optimum growth. Biosecurity is practiced year round. He has a Veterinarian that makes regular weekly farm visits and any animal that may die is autopsied at a University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. How many back yard animals have that type of care ?

 

[Nyboy]

I dont cook for myself I am not cooking for my dogs. A healthy dog will not starve himself to death. I am from the school when he gets hungry enough he will eat it. My mother was same with us children, She made diner if we didnt want it, we go hungry till next meal

 

[ducks4you]

@bobm, we would all Hope that animal husbandry is practiced like that. I did a (loan) closing at a local pig farm recently and although they are smelly, I could see that his animals had outside lot time and the ability to move around. The rest of the his property was spotless.
I cannot understand why people think that pigs LIKE walking around in their own filth!!!
They like MUD, AND they like grass. So do my chickens, so I periodically till their run and remove it, then add the straw and hay I clean up off of the barn floor (from the horse bedding) in the winter so that they don't have to walk around on hard, frozen dirt. I sometimes add leaves from DD's yard, if they bag them up for me. Makes the BEST garden fertilizer!

 

[baymule]

@bobm I don't have room to raise animal feed or corn, I buy it. I buy a balanced pellet from a reputable feed mill so the pigs I raise are getting what they need. When I am feeding pigs, they also get boiled eggs, milk, garden clippings and other treats. Then I finish them on soured corn for optimum flavor in the meat and fat. A vet does not make weekly farm calls, but would come if I called. I have never had a pig die from any cause other than slaughter, so have not had to deal with autopsy.

So, for backyard pigs, mine have a good life, they are well fed, well cared for, given shelter, dirt to root in, plenty of water to drink and to wallow in and they live a good life.

Large farms are necessary in order to feed our population, but small producers of only a few are necessary too. We feed ourselves and several other people who are more than satisfied with the quality of their meat. Often times, people come to the farm to meet or pick out "their" pig. I am happy to have people come to see how their meat is raised.

 

[Nyboy]

Kind of like picking your lobster from tank