50/50Farms
Well-known member
They're not supposed to have the cell phones in most states, you need to crack down on the COs who bring them in.
Factory Farms
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Dave
Well-known member
I think that he lived on a small place in Wallowa county (Northeast Oregon) which is a very isolated area. He was most likely raised on a small farm in that area. The environmentalist used the spotted owl to shut down logging in that area which was a major source of income. It is not an area that lends itself to bigger farms. Tourism is pretty big there now as it is an absolutely beautiful area. This guy isn't geared for that kind of life. A small farm should be able to produce a living like it did for his parents 80+ years ago.
wbvs58
Well-known member
I think it is a bit of a balance between intensive farming and agriculture and being able to feed the world population. Affluent societies may like to pick up their meat from the supermarkets with all these feel good names to the brands and pay that bit more for the product but on the other hand struggling nations are struggling to feed their population.
In times like now with household budgets stressed with high inflation and rising interest rates people have no scrupples in flocking to the cheap intensively produced meats of chicken and pig and no questions asked.
I only shop for myself once a week but the opinion I have formed of Aldi is that they are the masters of deception with their packaging. Chicken comes from a particularly named farm as does beef and all produce have a farm name plastered on it. They try to give you the impression that it is a family farm with people going around with a bucket throwing feed out to the chooks, farmer Brown feeding square bales to his cows. All this to create a sense of provinence for their product where in actual fact they buy it from wherever they can get it at the cheapest price.
Ken
In times like now with household budgets stressed with high inflation and rising interest rates people have no scrupples in flocking to the cheap intensively produced meats of chicken and pig and no questions asked.
I only shop for myself once a week but the opinion I have formed of Aldi is that they are the masters of deception with their packaging. Chicken comes from a particularly named farm as does beef and all produce have a farm name plastered on it. They try to give you the impression that it is a family farm with people going around with a bucket throwing feed out to the chooks, farmer Brown feeding square bales to his cows. All this to create a sense of provinence for their product where in actual fact they buy it from wherever they can get it at the cheapest price.
Ken
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
A whole lot of market spin.
Got a lady going to Kroger and HEB and selecting the best of fruits. Then she hauls it to the local farmer's market and sells it as organic or whatever spin it is that moves it. She lives in a condo. Probably never had a hoe in her hand in her life. She's been busted on facebook but apparently enough folks are not informed. She's advertising peaches at $3 a pound and getting a lot of hits.
Got a lady going to Kroger and HEB and selecting the best of fruits. Then she hauls it to the local farmer's market and sells it as organic or whatever spin it is that moves it. She lives in a condo. Probably never had a hoe in her hand in her life. She's been busted on facebook but apparently enough folks are not informed. She's advertising peaches at $3 a pound and getting a lot of hits.
Ebenezer
Well-known member
An ag producer who labels others as a factory farm is likely or often producing one or more less head of livestock than you and out of jealousy or hopes to gain an unfair advantage over you and your market puts out labels sort of like personal name calling. Or are young and want to do hand labor as a noble cause.
The use of the terms "sustainable " and "regenerative" are modern fighting terms to replace Rodale's old "organic gardening" stuff. Both of these modern movements depend on opinion or selecting a writer or speaker to follow in lockstep. Some of the latest discussions bring in the indigenous tribes and populations as examples. But both environmental damage and change has been done for the duration.
It is all one-up-manship or a race to the biggest ego.
Urban people and non farm folks have no real clue. Unfortunately public TV and radio uses tax dollars to play the anti-farm side up as truthful and squeaky clean.
The use of the terms "sustainable " and "regenerative" are modern fighting terms to replace Rodale's old "organic gardening" stuff. Both of these modern movements depend on opinion or selecting a writer or speaker to follow in lockstep. Some of the latest discussions bring in the indigenous tribes and populations as examples. But both environmental damage and change has been done for the duration.
It is all one-up-manship or a race to the biggest ego.
Urban people and non farm folks have no real clue. Unfortunately public TV and radio uses tax dollars to play the anti-farm side up as truthful and squeaky clean.
Travlr
Well-known member
The urban definition of factory farm is anything they can claim while inventing an anti-agriculture narrative.
I hear urbanites all the time, claiming that factory farms are crowded, diseased, and commit torture... and yet when confronted with the fact that factory farms have far better survival rates and rates of productivity they change the subject or just flat out deny that truth.
I like to use this little bit of logic on them when they claim farmers torture animals to make more money.
"It is an irrefutable fact that animals gain more weight, lay more eggs, give more milk, and breed easier if they are healthy and comfortable. So why would any farmer in his right mind treat their animals poorly?"
Usually I can see their wheels turning and they sputter... but so far no one has had a decent rebuttal.
Logan52
Well-known member
My family was intimately involved in the raising of tobacco for many generations. In just my lifetime I saw it evolve from an enterprise devoted to quality, that could sustain a family comfortably on a very small acreage, to a factory style operation where quality was little valued and it took many acres to sustain a family, it you could make a profit at all.
I remember my grandparents slowly turning the stalk in their hands and carefully pulling off the leaves into five grades, allowing only the most skillful to actually tie the leaves into a hand, all so it would look good on the sales floor. I lived to see the leaves grabbed by the handful and pushed onto sheets in only one grade.
The same thing has happened across all of agriculture. It has come slower to cattle than other products, but coming it is. Low profit margins and competitive markets are not the end all and be all. They do not even benefit the consumer in the long run. People that once worked on the farm now draw a check for doing nothing. I do not think the quality of our food has improved. In fact, most of what comes out of WalMart is slow poison.
This is just my opinion; and I do not know the answer.
I remember my grandparents slowly turning the stalk in their hands and carefully pulling off the leaves into five grades, allowing only the most skillful to actually tie the leaves into a hand, all so it would look good on the sales floor. I lived to see the leaves grabbed by the handful and pushed onto sheets in only one grade.
The same thing has happened across all of agriculture. It has come slower to cattle than other products, but coming it is. Low profit margins and competitive markets are not the end all and be all. They do not even benefit the consumer in the long run. People that once worked on the farm now draw a check for doing nothing. I do not think the quality of our food has improved. In fact, most of what comes out of WalMart is slow poison.
This is just my opinion; and I do not know the answer.
I remember hearing of a man kept an iron (like for clothes) on the stove for pressing the leaves they tied the hands with. I'm in a flue area now (burley's all but gone from VA I think) and I doubt if the owner touches a leaf. The hired workers hardly do.
To Ebenezer's point, Often the ones talking about regenerative and sustainable will put down the ways of what I call the conventional farms. I don't have much patience for that. Especially since many of them made the money that pays for the farm doing something else. I do think there are some principles these folks talk about that would help the conventional guys.
lavacarancher
Well-known member
I have been reading through some of these old posts and some of them are good to remember. This one struck pretty close to the truth.
Every year for the past 20 yrs or so we have had troops of scouts come to our ranch/farm for a weekend of fun (for them). They used to be called BOY Scouts but now they are Scouts, no distinction between girls and boys. In most cases some of the Mom's and a few of the Dad's come along. I always try to show them how farming and ranching was done in years past. One year we had about ten Mom's show up and, like always, I loaded up as many as I could carry in the Mule and took them on a tour. One Mom, in particular, was puzzled about the lack of bulls in the herd. I told we had three service bulls. She says "but none of your cattle have horns" as if to imply that that's what signified they might be bulls. I told her as calmly as possible that perhaps she was looking at the wrong end of the animal. After pointing out the nut sack hanging down between his back legs she got it. I told her not to go home and point out her husbands "short coming".
So to get back to the point of this post, yes, most (a lot) of folks have no idea where their food comes from. They don't know how it is grown or raised or processed. Some believe the a brown chicken egg means it is "organic". These are the same people that are telling us that boys can be girls and vice versa. Sad where we're headed.
Every year for the past 20 yrs or so we have had troops of scouts come to our ranch/farm for a weekend of fun (for them). They used to be called BOY Scouts but now they are Scouts, no distinction between girls and boys. In most cases some of the Mom's and a few of the Dad's come along. I always try to show them how farming and ranching was done in years past. One year we had about ten Mom's show up and, like always, I loaded up as many as I could carry in the Mule and took them on a tour. One Mom, in particular, was puzzled about the lack of bulls in the herd. I told we had three service bulls. She says "but none of your cattle have horns" as if to imply that that's what signified they might be bulls. I told her as calmly as possible that perhaps she was looking at the wrong end of the animal. After pointing out the nut sack hanging down between his back legs she got it. I told her not to go home and point out her husbands "short coming".
So to get back to the point of this post, yes, most (a lot) of folks have no idea where their food comes from. They don't know how it is grown or raised or processed. Some believe the a brown chicken egg means it is "organic". These are the same people that are telling us that boys can be girls and vice versa. Sad where we're headed.
wbvs58
Well-known member
Boutique grown food might feed the wealthy but it certainly won't feed the world.
Ken
Ken
50/50Farms
Well-known member
That's not a shortcoming, if a man had a sack like a bull it'd be some pain. That's why old men slow down so much, they just say it's their joints. The truth is that to move any faster they'd have to cut two inches off of the top of their cowboy boots.
Good post, @lavacarancher. And precisely why I do the ranch tours for Creekstone Farms Premium Beef. Even a lot of butchers and chefs really have no clue where their food comes from.
BTW, glad to see you posting again!
BTW, glad to see you posting again!
devonian
Well-known member
Yeah theres a reason for that. My main beef (no pun intended) is with commercially grown pork, where pigs live in conditions worse than that of chickens which doesn't seem right given how intelligent pigs are as animals. But each to their own I suppose some people like their meat from penned up animals others like it from animals with space to roam and closer to how nature intended. I'm just saying lets do a better job of labelling food accordingly and see how we go from there.
Lucky
Well-known member
Home grown Beef, Pork, and Chicken is definitely better than store bought if it's done right. The "done right" is the issue though. Some people like grass fed but, I'm not a fan. We like grain fed at our house. The only way to ever get a real feel on what the public wants and is willing to pay extra for is by labling products correctly. I'm affraid with our current markets and rules this will never be truely done on a commercial scale.
I read an article this week on Strawberries. The article stated that if you took 5 pounds of commercially grown strawberries and smashed them up, the amount of pesticides in the juice would be enough to spray 5 pounds of growing strawberries. This sounds crazy to me but you never know. The intent of the article was to get folks to only buy organic fruits and vegetables. There's no telling how many people threw out their stuff and switched over after reading that article. The real deal is what percent of the general population really cares though. Is 5,10,50, or 1%. At my age I'm probably doomed from all the chemicals in food or my body would go into shock from the lack of, who knows.
I read an article this week on Strawberries. The article stated that if you took 5 pounds of commercially grown strawberries and smashed them up, the amount of pesticides in the juice would be enough to spray 5 pounds of growing strawberries. This sounds crazy to me but you never know. The intent of the article was to get folks to only buy organic fruits and vegetables. There's no telling how many people threw out their stuff and switched over after reading that article. The real deal is what percent of the general population really cares though. Is 5,10,50, or 1%. At my age I'm probably doomed from all the chemicals in food or my body would go into shock from the lack of, who knows.
DNelson
Well-known member
hard to educate sone cityiots.
TexasJerseyMilker
Well-known member
Organic Scamic. I buy the regular fruit and produce and wash it before using.
A lot of these $8 a dozen "free range cage free" eggs - I've been to those farms. The uncaged hens are in 50,000 bird houses with a few little outdoor porches attached. They have the top part of their beak burned off because they pick each other to death.
Sure country people raise their hens that eat greens and bugs but the vast population of the cities have to 'feel good about their food' and fall for this bunk.
A lot of these $8 a dozen "free range cage free" eggs - I've been to those farms. The uncaged hens are in 50,000 bird houses with a few little outdoor porches attached. They have the top part of their beak burned off because they pick each other to death.
Sure country people raise their hens that eat greens and bugs but the vast population of the cities have to 'feel good about their food' and fall for this bunk.
Logan52
Well-known member
Even the garden seed companies get in on this. They will list organic radish seeds alongside the regular radish seeds but at roughly twice the price. I would be surprised if there is any real difference between the two. It is a true saying that a fool and his money are soon parted.
Much of the criticism of factory farms is virtue signaling, like the attendee at a global warming conference who arrives by private jet and is escorted to the meeting by limos on either side while he rides his bicycle.
Still, the existence of such scams does little to deny the truth that our system of food production has its problems.
Much of the criticism of factory farms is virtue signaling, like the attendee at a global warming conference who arrives by private jet and is escorted to the meeting by limos on either side while he rides his bicycle.
Still, the existence of such scams does little to deny the truth that our system of food production has its problems.
Chicken and pork lend themselves to factory farming pretty well due to feed conversion, cows are just not very efficient in that aspect. However, cows can convert grass into all kinds of usable products and this is true of most ruminants but we only really want to eat one
Mark Reynolds
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The 'factory farm' is one thing. I'm more concerned what 'lab grown meat' is going to do to the industry. I know nothing about 'lab raised meat', but neither does anyone else. There has to be some kind of waste produced by this meat as it grows that is the equivalent of manure or urea as it 'grows' as everything living has products that are 'waste' produced in the growth process, but right now these aren't seen by anyone. What happens to agriculture with the advent of this 'pollution free' meat production?
Lucky
Well-known member
I saw a pic of a big feedlot online the other day that said "Stop Factory Farming Now!!"
This stuff has to lead the general public into thinking calves are born, raised, and slaughtered in a feedlot. I'm not sure what the beef checkoff dollars we all pay are going to but, I doubt it's educating people on how beef is raised.
This stuff has to lead the general public into thinking calves are born, raised, and slaughtered in a feedlot. I'm not sure what the beef checkoff dollars we all pay are going to but, I doubt it's educating people on how beef is raised.
