Nov. 5th, 2010

Meat CSA

Nov. 5th, 2010 10:53 am
dancerjodi: (Default)
Our CSA has some meat shares available starting December. Info at http://www.chestnutfarms.org/.

Related, they hate raising turkeys but they do it each year for their members for thanksgiving. A reason they hate them:

"Turkey Pecking Order: With several hundred turkeys, it is always a
challenge to make sure all are healthy, happy and well fed. And I will be
honest - laying hens aside - poultry is NOT the same as other animals. They
do not have personalities as our pigs, cows, goats and even some sheep do (I
think sheep are only slightly higher than turkeys in on the IQ food chain).
We pasture raise the turkeys and move them from field area to field area. We
also check them twice a day. The spectacular taste of a field raised bird
is the major redeeming quality of our turkeys. They are stupid (they will
dehydrate themselves if they can't find the waterer, and yes, we do believe
they can drown in the rain). Not only are they stupid, they are mean to
each other and have a pecking order that puts our chickens to shame. All
poultry have literal pecking orders, but usually it is simply which birds
eat first or get to leave the coop first in the morning. As our turkeys grow
larger and stronger their pecking order comes out more clearly. In the last
month we have had to remove one turkey about every ten days from the flock
in order to save its life. Today's bird had been pecked so hard by its
fellow birds that the poor turkeys head was bleeding. The cause is simply
that the bird was at the bottom of the heap. I would love to have an
anti-bullying discussion with the birds but I don't think it would help. It
is also interesting that all of our animals, pigs, cows and goats included
have their own version of the pecking order. There are always dominant and
submissive animals and the bullies and bullied. Only with turkeys does it
become a matter of life and death; but we don't miss the connection with
humans."

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