Mobile Chicken House Construction
Animal Housing, Bird Life, Building, Fencing, Land, Livestock, Working Animals — by Paul Kean July 8, 2010
by Paul Kean, aka ‘Ringo’, who, incidentally, recently returned from Afghanistan.
Several years ago I was living and working at Dalpura Farm in Moriac,Victoria a 100 or so acre silvapastoral project. The client, George Howson, was interested in implementing an aquaponics system so we all went for a day and a half trip to Melbourne to attend a seminar on the subject.
Leading up to this I had started gathering chickens and roosters from the local area, from people giving them away for one reason or another, to start using as workers on the farm. At that time I had sourced 21 birds, a third being roosters. The plan was to eventually separate them into tractoring groups to reduce the competition and fighting between roosters. Long term they would go into a set of 4 cell grazing areas and rotate with crop systems. Even longer term the roosters would be our meat source and hens kept for egg production. (I have always been an avid poultry enthusiast and had raised a good flock in past years in Humpty Doo, NT. I always loved to just sit and watch new chicks making their way and learning from their parents. The breed I had were ‘Old English Game Fowl’ and the hen (Ruby) and rooster (Rudy) were a fantastic pair for parenting and protection of their young.)
We had always been present on the farm during the day and the chooks would free range after being let out of their house in the mornings. Everything was great and eggs were coming daily and the animals seemed happy. Unbeknownst to us though, there was a menace lurking.
Comments (2)How to Make a Home Made Chicken Feeder
Animal Housing, Bird Life, Livestock — by Peter Dilley June 23, 2010
Photo copyright © Craig Mackintosh
In the old days, farmers would have lots of left over pieces of galvanized tin sheeting. To make a chicken feeder they made the tin into a tube cylinder and suspended it above a plate and hung it in the coop.
Today, unfortunately, most people forget how easily people made these things for a dollar or less. I went to our local Feed Store and they wanted $70 to buy a galvanized chicken feeder. I was so angry.
Comments (11)Sad Truth About Sow Stalls
Animal Housing, Animal Processing, Consumerism, Livestock, Society — by Doron Francis June 17, 2010
by Doron Francis, CERES Food Connect
Sow Stalls, legal in Australia
Recently I was chatting to a bunch of seemingly well informed people about Food Inc the movie. One of the comments made was that the film was about industrial agricultural in the USA, so wasn’t ‘relevant’ to Australians. It’s interesting to see how very little we actually know about where our food comes from, how it’s produced and how we are willing to believe that it ‘couldn’t happen here’. The truth is often obscured because it’s ugly and bad for business.
Comments (2)How Cows are Treated in India
Animal Housing, Consumerism, Livestock, Society — by Craig Mackintosh March 8, 2010
We’re having a stimulating discussion about our relationship with animals in Lindsay’s recent ‘Meet Red‘ post. One side thought amidst the discussion prompted me to take the opportunity to share what may well be a little known fact about the treatment of India’s supposedly sacred cows.
Many people think that in India cows are almost universally worshipped, and treated better than your pampered collie or russian blue. But, the reality is that although killing cows is illegal in all but two states in the country, these laws are poorly enforced, and local officials are often bribed to turn a blind eye to both the cruelty and slaughter of these animals. And where they aren’t killed in states where it’s illegal, they’re forced to walk vast distances until they reach the states where killing is legal, or they’re crammed like sardines into trucks and train carriages in stifling hot conditions and taken there. Because of the distances involved, the herders often have to resort to extreme acts of cruelty to ‘encourage’ the animals to continue their trek – like breaking their tails and rubbing hot spices into their eyes, and worse. An example of ‘worse’ is making them drink water laced with copper sulphate. It destroys their kidneys so they can’t urinate, so while in agony upon arrival they are also heavier and fetch a better price.
This article gives you a bit of a start on the topic, and the video below is well worth a watch. Warning – extreme animal cruelty footage:
For me, scale is always the source of our problems – be they environmental, ethical or otherwise.
Comments (3)Chicago’s Chicken Ordinance
Animal Housing, Bird Life, Comedy Break, Livestock — by Craig Mackintosh January 30, 2010
This is a rather amusing look at Chicago’s ‘Chicken Ordinance’.
The moral of the story is if it’s not on paper, it doesn’t exist.
Comments (4)All Pigs in Egypt to be Culled
Animal Housing, Health & Disease, Livestock — by Craig Mackintosh May 1, 2009
Continuing on from yesterday, where we revealed some pretty concrete links between H1N1 (Swine Flu) and corporate factory farms, and where we bemoaned the fact that the small-scale backyard farmers are likely to suffer because of the actions of this large U.S. industry, now we see that all the pig farmers in Egypt are going to lose their entire stock (around 300,000 – 400,000 animals in total). Apparently there is talk of ‘compensation’ (we’ll see…), but pig farmers would have to relocate their fresh new stock (when they’re allowed to restock is unknown) to locations away from birds and humans – arguably an impossible task for most. This will likely leave a great many families without a means of income.
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Pandemic Ahoy?
Animal Housing, Consumerism, Health & Disease, Livestock — by Craig Mackintosh April 29, 2009
Factory farming is back in the spotlight….
 The 1975-77 TV Series ‘Survivors’ |
I’m showing my age here, but I was today reminded of an old British TV series called ‘Survivors‘ that was very popular in the late 1970s (nothing to do with modern reality shows!). It was a bit like Mad Max, but set in Britain, and after a pandemic rather than a nuclear war. The pandemic was, incidentally, a man-made affair. A lab experiment went horribly wrong when a test-tube crashed to the floor releasing a deadly virus. The scientist subsequently spread the contagion around the globe as he flew from convention to convention. Very few individuals survived.
Comments (2)Porkine Putridity in Profusion
Animal Housing, Consumerism, Health & Disease, Livestock, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton — by Craig Mackintosh
If you wonder what it’s like in and around the world’s largest pig production empire, please read this. And if you don’t wonder what it’s like in and around the world’s largest pig production empire, please read it anyway. It’s very well written, and extremely enlightening.
The One Duck Revolution
Animal Forage, Animal Housing, Bird Life, Breeds, Food Plants - Annual, Plant Systems, Working Animals — by Bill Mollison March 7, 2009
PIJ #58, Mar – May 1996
 Aigamo ducks in rice paddy |
Mr. Takao Furuno’s modest business card reveals that he is a farmer in a world where “one duck creates boundless treasure”.
He farms rice very successfully in Japan and is a private aid volunteer, working in Vietnam when I met him. He had a message for all rice farmers, perhaps all wet paddy farmers, and gave me his book (all in Japanese) on the duck-rice paddy design he has perfected. Luckily I also have a condensed translation.
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