Cowman42
Active member
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- Oct 10, 2023
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Who is feeding chicken ****?
- Thread starter Cowman42
- Start date
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Ebenezer
Well-known member
Sounds like a fake story. Go around any dairy and the birds and pigeons are around in flocks.
sim.-ang.king
Well-known member
>spreads chicken litter on hay field
>Bales hay from field
>"I can't believe they are feeding chicken manure to cattle!?!?!"
>Bales hay from field
>"I can't believe they are feeding chicken manure to cattle!?!?!"
OP
OP
Cowman42
Active member
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- Oct 10, 2023
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I have seen feed ration tables that include "poultry litter" from ag uni's.....This forum has a couple threads from the aughts discussing it......It's real.
Ebenezer
Well-known member
Didn't say that it was not a real option. I have fed broiler litter put through a complete heat with cracked corn during droughts. But the writer had no proof of dairies feeding litter but just spun a story off of "what if". That is not journalism based on reporting facts.
sim.-ang.king
Well-known member
The variance on litter's feed value wouldn't make it feasible for dairy use. They do use some chicken feather/bone meal but that's cooked, milled, and dry, so the chance of bird flu making it to the cow is slim to none, through that vector.
All of my life, people have fed chicken litter to cattle. Poultry is Ga's biggest animal crop. Usually it is mixed with something else., The man Clay works for has 8 chicken houses, and cleans out chicken houses for others. He mixes it with the spent mash from the Budweiser plant, sorghum silage, and cotton seeds/millings from the gin across the road. Mike used to sell it and spread it for folk's hay and pastures, but with feeding 900-1000 calves a year, he doesn't anymore. And he cleans out just about all the houses in 50 miles or so from his place, so hard to find for pastures around here. Back when we had dairies around here, I don't recall anyone feeding their dairy cows chicken litter. They would spread it on pastures and hay, though.
simme
Old Dumb Guy
Chicken litter comes from chicken houses. If those chickens in that house have avian flu, they are gonna be dead PDQ. Some first from the flu, but the rest quickly euthanized to stop the spread of the avian flu. And other houses depopulated within a radius of the infected one. For anyone who knows much about the chicken industry, pretty ridiculous to think there is much risk of cows spreading bird flu from contaminated litter they eat.
Greater risk is migratory birds and small flocks of home chickens.
Any fed litter is typically processed. It's not like you scoop up a bucket of litter and dump it in the feed bunk.
Greater risk is migratory birds and small flocks of home chickens.
Any fed litter is typically processed. It's not like you scoop up a bucket of litter and dump it in the feed bunk.
What nutritional needs is the chicken litter meant to meet? I have heard of this but know nothing about it.
I tend to agree with OP that at least at face value it is probably not the best PR for the beef industry. Is there a public misconception around this?
I tend to agree with OP that at least at face value it is probably not the best PR for the beef industry. Is there a public misconception around this?
I thought the working theory was a common water source, used by both cattle and birds, led to the avian influenza A H5N1 spread to cattle. The virus in cattle is now called "bovine influenza A virus." This is based on what I have read and seen in the news.
M.Magis
Well-known member
That article is 100% a hit piece against eating meat. Nothing more and nothing less. It cites one instance of avian flu in cattle, quotes an expert that says its highly unlikey it came from feeding litter, but then spends the rest of the article talking about litter being fed to cattle . With a LOT of facts left, but a lot of speculation. I feel guilty for even clicking on that link. Probably have should have looked at what web site it was first.
Chickens are very inefficient food processors. Probably getting about 35% of the food they eat digested. Chicken litter is about 25% protein, 24% fiber, and contains about 12 or so different minerals.
M.Magis
Well-known member
Not yet, but thats the intent of the author.
4hfarms
Well-known member
You watch too much news if you think like this.
A backyard, free range flock is exponentially better in every way.
Silver
Well-known member
I would have thought a creature that can convert a pound and a half of feed into a pound of bird would be considered pretty feed efficient.
No, lots of food passes through undigested or partially digested, That is why it makes such good fertilizer. Chicken litter tests about 25% protein. Cow manure, horse manure, etc, don't even come close to that.
Every story we don't like is fake. Everything we like is real. Thus ends the great endeavor to learn and become better.
Little Joe
Well-known member
The folks I know who have fed it did exactly that, dumped it by the bucket full into the bunk straight out of the litter shed. One told me he had to mix it with molasses at first to get them to eat it and slowly weaned off the molasses.
simme
Old Dumb Guy
"straight out of the litter shed" - Assume that is out of a litter stacking shed where the litter has been removed from the chicken house, deep stacked in a shed and gone through a heat? As opposed to direct from the chicken house? That is what I meant by "processed" - mixed some from the removal and stacking process, moisture equalized from the storage time, and heated up. A little more processed from what is on the chicken house floor.
Little Joe
Well-known member
Gotcha, when I read processed, going through a heat wasn't what came to my mind.
