Rearing Your Own Meat!

Aldaniti

Aldaniti

At the Start
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Location
Wickford
Not sure if anyone on here does this? but we have had egg laying chickens here for about 8yrs plus but Sunday week I will be taking delivery of some chicks that will be destined for the pot :ph34r: first time I have ever done anything like this (dispite what others may think!) its a bit scary but we have been thinking about it for quite a while now ever since getting a delivery of pork from a friend of mine on Exmoor, she sent us one of her home reared chickens to try & it was mouthwatering, we have always bought free range chicken from a farmers market which is a 100% improvement on the supermarket & I really didn't think you could improve it anymore but how wrong was I? :o We stopped eating Pork a long time ago as it was tasteless but Debbie has changed that! she breeds Berkshires which is the same breed that Gordon Ramsey reared in his garden for the F Word series last year, they have the run of 20+ acres of grass & woodland in the middle of Exmoor, Happy Pigs no doubt!

Not quite ready for the slaughter/pluck/dress stage yet so will send the whole lot over to a chap 10 mins drive away who does xmas turkeys so I know they will be in good expert hands which is important to me.

Now I'm sure AC & Ardross will have something to say now :lol:
 
Good luck!! I dont think I could do it - within a week theyd all have names and Id be chatting away to them when I fed them!! :lol:

Definately agree about the home rearing and farmers market food though.
 
Originally posted by trudij@Jan 24 2007, 01:40 PM
within a week theyd all have names and Id be chatting away to them when I fed them!! :lol:

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Yep that pretty much whats happened with the other chooks :lol:
 
As some on here will confirm, this is the home of NewPole beef! Mind you, we haven't sent anything for slaughter for ages because it's now uneconomical for us to do it commercially anymore, as our butcher/abattoir charges are simply ludicrous and we get more for sending beefers through either the stores ring or as finished animals.

We'll still do the odd animal for our onw consumption, though!
 
Aldaniti - Honest Tom believes a disease in the meat chain will kill us all
eek.gif
 
Thats pretty much the feeling I get from others, also the supermarkets have pushed the price of chicken down to such a low price that the smaller farms that do free range chicken just can't compete, We have nothing local to us that produce free range chicken the stall at the farmers market that sell it come from suffolk/norfolk area, at least a two hour drive away :unsure: we used to pay around £12 for a 2.5kg bird which compared to some places is not a bad price, we have worked out that its going to cost us under half that per bird that inc sending them away to be slaughtered/plucked/dressed etc

I remember watching a programme last year in which a farmer who raised broiler chickens said he would accept an offer of 3p profit per bird :o
 
Tom's disease in the meat chain is a much longer shot than the inevitable natural disaster that we appear to be a dead cert to suffer.

And when that happens, any survivors had better be ready to kill to eat, as waiting for the veg to grow probably won't be an option!

An elegant way of eliminating veggies, I fear... B)
 
I think it's a great idea. Happy hens living a wonderful life before meeting a quick end. You'll know exactly what is in your birds and you'll not be lining the pockets of greedy supermarkets. If only I had the space to keep them away from my dogs (who'd slaughter them for me given half a chance!) I'd do the same.
 
I never thought about how much its costs to produce a chicken before & when you consider £1 for buying the chick, then its food plus caring for it etc it is scary to think how it arrives at Tesco for "buy two for a fiver" :unsure:

I think my dogs would probably give the chickens a run for their money too :ph34r: We are lucky as we have a large garden by todays standards anyway 150ft x 30ft, the 50ft or so outside the backdoor is slabbed & they dogs are confined to that area by a fence & gate, we have a few bantams & some ex-battery hens arrive here on a reg basis to recover & feather up before we rehome them, they have the run of the rest of the garden.
 
Aldaniti - think this very admirable and brave of you.

I always feel hypocritical because I eat meat but know I would be unable to kill it. So, have cut down a lot and now only eat 'happy meat'. Or do not bother.

I am a nutritionist and know what goes into our food chain - don't ask you just do not want to know!

I am disgusted by the big supermarkets who sell 'discount' chickens and other meat. If for no other reason than a life must be worth more than this, and do we really want to eat such trashy kept and prepared junk?

It is like some plot to devalue all of us by tempting us to be so greedy we must eat rubbish food, daily. This stuff should not go into animal feed either!

The worst of it is that poor people with children find it so hard to afford to eat well.

Latest thing I read about Tesco is that they decided to do business with China, despite their poor people and animal welfare policies and so they are doing like them while in China to attract bsuiness. They are selling live turtles which will be made into soup, while live. Avoid tesco is you can. And that will be very hard as they have a big plot to take over the world, lots of small places now have several Tescos.

We do not need to eat meat that often, and if we do eat it we should think of it as a treat and eat the best reared and prepared.

Here is one for you too - I had cancer and the reason, I believe, is because of high protein consumption. It causes too much estrogen in our bodies which causes cancer. Meat which is badly reared with hormones for growth and antibiotics for infection prevention is high in estrogen. So do not eat it.

Grow your own like Aldaniti!

Just don't gve them names .....
 
Originally posted by Isinglass@Jan 24 2007, 05:52 PM
It causes too much estrogen in our bodies which causes cancer.
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With respect Isinglass (and not wanting in any way to doubt your knowledge of your chosen field) that comment is very simplistic and could be seen to be misleading. Excess amounts of oestrogen in the body do not necessarily or indeed directly cause cancer. There are many, many factors which contribute towards the formation of cancerous cells of which excess amounts of oestrogen may contribute to that, however to state that too much oestrogen in our bodies causes cancer is very misleading & somewhat inaccurate I believe. The largest contributary factor towards the formation of cancerous cells is the high presence of free radicals for whatever reason; they are believed to cause cells to turn cancerous through the presence of their excess electrons "encouraging" [if you like] the initial changes in the cell's makeup - again though, this is a very, very simplistic view of an exceptionally complex process.

Besides, a lot of us women know that they have too much oestrogen in their bodies (without necessarily contracting cancer) on a regular basis - usually monthly! :lol:
 
Isinglass - when you were ill was that when you were living in the States? Reason I ask is that US meat is banned in the EU for the exact reason you stated - the high levels of oestrogen caused by the hormones that US cattle are routinely given.
 
Originally posted by Isinglass@Jan 24 2007, 04:52 PM

I always feel hypocritical because I eat meat but know I would be unable to kill it.

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Nothing hypocritical about that, I see no reason why you can't be a meat eater & care for animals, the most important thing that I care about is if I am going to eat an animal then it must have had a good life & a swift end, I'm not into all this "meet the meat" type thing but I fully support any campaign that trys to educate people on the welfare standards of our farmed animals aswell as the meat that is imported from other countries that have a dispicable welfare record, its very difficult sometimes to get people to see what happens to that animal before it ends up in plastic trays in the shop!

My mum is a classic case, a few years back I remember being in a supermarket & she picked up some eggs (battery) & when I said to her about them the reply was "Well I'm not going to make a difference by stopping buying them" maybe not but multiply that by a few thousand people & BINGO!

She has come to visit us a few times (she lives the other side of the country) & has seen the state of the battery hens we have taken in & then watched them a few months later running about in our garden, I am glad to say the last time I visited she had free range eggs in her fridge :) the moral of this story is you can't force people to buy better meat they have to make that choice for themselves all we can do is provide the information on all the aspects of what that animal went through before ending up on your plate.
 
Im always amazed that people ignore the pleasure of good eating to save a few quid. Even people i know who have more disposable income than you can shake a stick at buy meat from any "value" range going

Fact is free range and organic meat nearly always tastes far far better. most especially in the case of Pork and chicken

I cannot face a battery egg at all. The Old Cotswold eggs in those blue boxes take some beating and like good wine...you never go back

and animal welfare is important. It has to be... simple as that
 
Shadow, Agree I presented a too simple viewpoint but did not wish to take up zillions of pages with relevant stats and text. My theory is not just based upon my own experience and that of many patients but on my college (The Institute of Nutrition) and many well known and respected authors, oncologists and physicians.

This quote is from one of their websites, maybe it explains details a bit clearer than I did. Agreed there may need to be other circumstances for the estrogen dominance to matter, but then how many of us know whether we are really healthy or not ? Who knows whether your blood circulation is good, your liver is in top order, or if your progesterone levels are high enough to balance out a high estrogen production? Normal blood tests often do not catch this problem because, as you point out, a female cycle is always changing. You would need to get the test on various parts of the cycle and compare – it is a very difficult science which is why most women do not know they are at risk of cancer until they have it diagnosed, which often is too late.

My point is simply that it is better to be pro-active and avoid things that can cause cancer, and one of those is certainly too much estrogen in our systems. It is not just menopausal women at risk, breast cancer is on the rise, as is PCOS which prevents women from conceiving and puts them at risk of cancer later in life.

You are indeed right though - Free radicals are another, and funny old thing you find those in poorly reared and prepared food too.

To answer another query, I did not live in the US at that time, I have lived here for a very long time. But I did eat a lot of red meat and dairy. The food in the US is still in a bad way, though, like here, there is a movement towards eating good food, because we are worth it!

Simmo – you are VERY bad, but also very funny!

Well said Clivex! (And well done Aldaniti, good luck with your chickens)

"Estrogen dominance, womens' problems, amenorrhea, and menopause

Excessive estrogens and stagnation of blood circulation are the major cause of most women's problems including breast, uterine and ovarian cancers. According to Dr. John R. Lee in his book "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause: the Breakthrough Book on Natural Progesterone" (Warner Books, 1996), estrogen dominance is the cause of most women's chronic health problems. We are living in a polluted world where estrogens are present in almost every type of food that we eat. Since the liver is the organ that removes estrogens, a weak liver that fails to remove estrogens efficiently may lead to their accumulation. When excessive estrogens become trapped in the uterus, ovary, or breast due to stagnation, they overstimulate cell division and lead to abnormal growth such as fibroids, cysts or cancer in these organs. Estrogens may also be accumulated in the brain or liver because they both have estrogen receptors."
 
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