CAFO

When I decided that we should raise a few chickens so that we could have our own fresh eggs from chickens that get to roam free(ish) on pasture it never occured to me the kind of conditions that factory chickens are living in.

Over the weekend I was able to get a few Joel Salatin books to read via Kindle Unlimited. I read a few pages of one of the books called: Everything I Want To Do Is ILLEGAL ~ War stories from the local food front.

I didn't get terribly far into the book before CAFO popped up. I was curious so I looked it up. CAFO stands for:

"Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation"

It seems pretty straight forward enough right? Concentrated - like there is a lot of animals...maybe squished into smaller than needed spaces? 

Sure, but then I saw a photo (Yeah, I started out with eggs...hang with me...)

Photo credit: http://www.cafothebook.org/theissue_2.htm#up

Now these are meat chickens, that much I know...probably Cornish Cross. Another issue altogether, but for another time.

This is what our meat chicken operation looks like:

Our Freedom Rangers on grass

Okay, so the number is much, much smaller, but the method is so much better. They are free to feel the fresh air jump around, stretch their wings and all that. They aren't wading in their own poo (like before), but they were stinking up the garage pretty good and there are only 25 of them:

Last time in the brooder

The brooder isn't overly large, but it's also not small. We couldn't keep up with their poo and they were only in the brooder a couple of weeks! 

I cannot even imagine what it would smell like in what is called a factory farm. 

BLECH!

Oh, so when I went to the CAFO website, I got sidetracked with the meat bird operation. Here is a pic of confined egg layers:

http://www.cafothebook.org/theissue_6.htm#up

Our layers:

This shows both the waterfowl and chicken enclosure.

Our girls are out on grass and have all sorts of room to forage what little green grass is available and eat bugs, scratch away at the piles of cut grass and even take a dust bath. 

Also, the girls have a nice spot where they can lay their eggs:

Not a bad set up

Oh, hello there...

Evidently, a few of the chickens decided that jumping into a box - in the heat of the day - is not on their agenda. Silly girls.

For all of our married life together we have been blissfully unaware of the issues surrounding food production. Would we have changed our ways if we had known better? We weren't choosing organic foods due to cost, but at the same time we had grown our own veggies off and on over the past 27+ years. However not enough to put into the freezer or even supply veggies for every meal. Enough to feel like we were doing something good for ourselves. 

I believe that every little bit helps when making decisions on what we choose to put into our bodies. Also, it's never to late to make a change. We make do with what is available and it has worked out fine. However, now that I am reading Joel Salatin and watching people like Justin Rhodes and other YouTubers I'm realizing that only I can make a change for the better. Starting with our own eggs is the perfect place to start! 

Check out the CAFO ~ The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories HERE. I'm not trying to be provocative here, just coming to terms with what is happening with how our food is being produced for consumers like you and me.  I will always be a meatatarian - which includes eggs. I go into this knowing that not all of the meat/eggs that we will ever eat will be ethically raised or respected as part of God's creation. I can only do my part to make our critters happy and give them a good life.

While I continue to learn about how food is being produced, I will keep growing food for ourselves and share whatever surplus we don't put up or freeze.

Farm Life is the Best Life!