Just saw this community pop up on the local feed. I think liberation of all sentient beings is very important, and any exploitation of human or non-human animals is antithetical to creating a more just world

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/20943177

Abstract To safeguard against meat supply shortages during pandemics or other catastrophes, this study analyzed the potential to provide the average household’s entire protein consumption using either soybean production or distributed meat production at the household level in the U.S. with: (1) pasture-fed rabbits, (2) pellet and hay-fed rabbits, or (3) pellet-fed chickens. Only using the average backyard resources, soybean cultivation can provide 80–160% of household protein and 0–50% of a household’s protein needs can be provided by pasture-fed rabbits using only the yard grass as feed. If external supplementation of feed is available, raising 52 chickens while also harvesting the concomitant eggs or alternately 107 grain-fed rabbits can meet 100% of an average household’s protein requirements. These results show that resilience to future pandemics and challenges associated with growing meat demands can be incrementally addressed

These chickens are kept to give blood samples each week to monitor for mosquito born illnesses in the community. They have a very important job to do!

The department has taken the "lowest common denominator" approach to standard of care. Most of the chickens are pecked nearly featherless with visible signs of poor health. "They're just chickens", "the coop is gross" "I just go in to feed them", ect.

I'm no expert, but this isn't right. I've lost a lot of respect for my coworkers, they aren't reliable sources of information on care.

Coop has a dirt floor, with 2-3 inches of straw bedding. Soil was hard packed before intense raking. Roughly 200sqft.

They are fed Nutrena Country Feeds 16% pellets in the feeder pictured below. When I visit, I give them a cup of the wet pellets mixed with one of their eggs (I was told this is great for them?).

I am allowed to visit my girls for 30 minutes, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I let coop #1 forage in a fenced area while I clean thei

so this is the other end of animal husbandry, but I feel it's important to know how to deal with an animal on the cutting board with skill and respect before you ever dispatch one. I'll try not to make this too long and rambly, but here's my thoughts on why you should try to learn how to properly break down whole birds.

First, respect. I find that seeing an animal in a form that still looks vaguely like an animal helps build that connection in your mind that yes, this was a living creature once. And I think that's important when we're still buying chickens from the grocery store-- obviously if you're raising your own chickens already, you're more intimately aware of that. I have a lot of issues with the meat industry, and one of those is how sanitised and detached the meat buying process is. It's a lot easier to ignore that the food you're buying was once alive when it's a plastic package of seven breasts from 3 and a half different animals.

Second, frugality. I'm not saying it's st

A really good book authored by actual experts about dispelling myths and legends about backyard poultry keeping, complete with proper scientific explanation as to why certain things do and don't work.

I am working on a story in which a group of well-organized squatters are practicing agriculture in a suburban development. They keep goats that graze on nearby grassy areas and I wanted to know what is done with herd sires when they age out of breeding. Everything I can find talks about male kids and wethers, but there’s nothing about sires except that older male goats’ meat tastes bad.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/528227

Spoiler: it's not

Rabbits seem like a good choice for livestock if you live in a more urban area. Thoughts? (This is my first post on this website. Please let me know if there are any formatting issues. Thank you.)

The subject of the research may be broilers but it should be useful for anyone who has a flock.