Since we have discussed
milk with some detail I thought I would talk about eggs. First off raising your own eggs is much easier then milking a cow a couple times a day, and if you live in a city and they allow you to keep hens it is worth it for the eggs alone.
Again I have to mention how it is important to know where your eggs come from- a running theme- know your farmer.
We have just under 50 hens and get about 3 dozen eggs a day. Our chickens are locked up at night and let out around 10 am (most if not all eggs are laid by then). The chickens have full access to the farm, and they do take advantage of this. We have a mobile coop that moves behind the cows, the idea is that they will eat the fly larvae in the cow manure. Okay now into the interesting stuff.
Did you know:
Each egg has between 6000 and 8000 pours? Each egg also is laid with a protective barrier called a boom, this boom protects the egg from bacteria and other outside toxins that would otherwise seep in through the pours. It is important that this boom stay on the egg. When you buy eggs from the grocery store they are sterilized- the boom is remove exposing all of those pours to bacteria and other germs that are found in the processing plant, the truck, the grocery store, your fridge. Our eggs are each hand check by us and spot washed if need be, but our nest boxes are kept clean with fresh bedding so there is little need to wash the eggs.
Eggs truly raised on pasture are 20% higher in
Omega 3 and
are much better for you then commercial eggs. Just because a carton tells you that your eggs are free range means nothing-unless you have actually seen them running around you do not know they are free range. The rules to be labeled as free range are really lenient. Check out this
article about free range eggs in Australia, I am sure it holds true for the US too.
Chickens are not vegetarians. Lets just set the record straight niether are cows, sheep, horses, ducks, well anything that it on pasture. Now that does not mean that you should buy commercial feed that has meat-by-products in it, because in fact many do not eat what we call meat. But they do eat bugs and bugs are not plants, so not vegetarian! So those that claim that thier chickens are eating a vegetarian diet are missing a key protein in the chickens diet. Those chickens are producing inferior eggs, unhealthy eggs. Chickens will also eat meat, they will actually cannibalize if given the opportunity.
Chicken eggs come in all sorts of colors, there is no taste difference, although I have a hard time buying white eggs- to clinical for me. The color of the egg depends on the color of the chickens ear lobe. No joke!
Here is an article on what really matters- not the color.
Unhappy birds are unhealthy birds- don't buy your eggs in the grocery store without knowing about the eggs and the birds. Better yet find a local farmer and buy from them. They don't have to be feeding organically to be better eggs then you have ever had. If you want to know you are getting the best eggs, raise your own chickens. Read
Joel Salatin's book Pastured Poultry Profits before you start, this is our textbook for raising our hens.
Why is this happening? I truly believe our confinement farm way of raising livestock, coupled with our monoculture farms and the fast pace way we want to raise these animals is changing them in ways we can't even imagine. Making them susceptible to all sorts of diseases, and allowing mutation of existing diseases.
What can we learn? So I heard not to worry they were working on a vaccine to give to the pigs. Oh, what a great idea, modern medicine can fix anything! Seriously do you even know the regime that confinement cows go through. In order for them to live in confinement they have to hop them up on modern meds to just keep them alive- and of course milking! Is this what we want to happen to all things that we consume- well it is and unless WE the consumers do something about it.
What is the right way to go? Well I know I have already said this a hundred times but when you buy from a local reputable farmer, one that is possibly using heritage breeds, not injecting them with hormones, vaccinations and other crap, grass fed, pastured, maybe even organically raising, then you can be sure you are getting meat, milk, cheese, veggies that are safe and good for you. It is up to you the consumer- us non conventional farmers keep saying it but until the conventional system feels it nothing is going to change! Animals are being put into a system that goes against nature and they are put there by us and we are the only ones that can get them out of this horrible system before something worse happens. By then even those farmers that are farming the way they should are going to loose everything because you can't stop the spread of what is to come.
I still have veggies in the ground not to mention garlic to plant! The Sandhill Cranes are on the move and I love to hear them- but I am not ready for winter yet! We have truly been busy and now it is meat harvest time. Last week two cows were slaughtered here and then we drove the carcasses into the butcher. We should have beef later this month!!! Then the pigs are to be taken and then the lambs!
With this cooler weather it is easier to get things done. And there are tons of things for us to do. I am still canning like crazy, I canned some apples for pie and then with extra tomatoes we were given I made ketchup. I actually tried to make ketchup a few years ago and it was horrible, this time it was much better, but 8 pounds of tomatoes a whole day and just shy of a pint.
In a couple of weeks 2 of our cows will be going into butcher and our freezer will once again be full, then we have 2 pigs and some lamb to squeeze in. Plus all that I have frozen for veggies and fruit for the winter. The kid will be two this month- how weird it still feels to be someone's mom!
