ALBC Heritage Breeds Workshop

From Service to Stewardship:
A Workshop for Veterans on Farming with Heritage Breeds of Livestock and Poultry

Join the Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC) and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) May 4 – 5, 2012, for a two-day intensive workshop that will help transform today’s veterans into tomorrow’s farmers. This first-of-its-kind workshop will educate and train America’s service men and women on the skills necessary to steward some of America’s most historic and endangered farm animals.

Details: The workshop will be held Friday, May 4th and Saturday, May 5th. The workshop will be located at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Friday’s program will include a full-day classroom session featuring many local farmers speaking about a variety of species. On Saturday, attendees will select a track and visit local, successful small farm operations where they will get an up-close look at the realities of heritage breed farming. Over the course of the two days, veterans will learn about hog production, poultry production, raising heritage cattle, raising equines, and small ruminant production. In addition, attendees will be introduced to the marketing aspects of raising heritage breeds.

The two-day workshop fee is $95, which must be paid in advance through cash, check, or credit card. The fee includes all workshop materials, lunch on Friday and Saturday, and farm tours on Saturday. Workshop reservations can be made by calling (919) 542-5704, or emailing jberanger@albc-usa.org.

Friday sessions include Intro to Heritage Poultry Production by Julie Gauthier of Chickcharney Farm:

The explosive popularity of heritage poultry has taken the country by storm as people rediscover the enjoyment of raising chickens and other species of poultry. Julie Gauthier will introduce the class to the wider varieties of species and breeds and discuss what to think about before getting started. Julie is a veterinarian who, in her off time, keeps and markets award-winning heritage chickens and ducks in the Triangle area near Raleigh, NC.

Her farm will be on Saturday's tour.

Later in the afternoon, Jennifer Kendall, ALBC's marketing director, will lead the session on Economics and Marketing Heritage Breeds:

Is choosing a heritage breed the right choice for your farm? What is the outlook for heritage breed products in today’s market. Jen Kendall will take a hard look at the potential for rare breed production on your farm and some of the avenues you can pursue for marketing success.

Priority will be given to veterans, but the general public is welcome. If you are raising heritage breed poultry or considering it, this workshop will help you succeed.

Pullet egg

One of my hens laid this very small egg yesterday. She's no pullet -- all have been laying for at least a year. The large egg is from my Orpington.

It's white, so it must be from my Dorking or Buttercup. Both seem okay. I guess sometimes you just have an off day.

Factory farmed chickens laced with chemicals

This is what you get from factory farms. Thanks, Nick Kristof, for taking a look.

Nicholas Kristof in the NY Times:

Let’s hope you’re not reading this column while munching on a chicken sandwich.

That’s because my topic today is a pair of new scientific studies suggesting that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and even arsenic.

“We were kind of floored,” said Keeve E. Nachman, a co-author of both studies and a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future. “It’s unbelievable what we found.”

He said that the researchers had intended to test only for antibiotics. But assays for other chemicals and pharmaceuticals didn’t cost extra, so researchers asked for those results as well.

“We haven’t found anything that is an immediate health concern,” Nachman added. “But it makes me question how comfortable we are feeding a number of these things to animals that we’re eating. It bewilders me.”

Likewise, I grew up on a farm, and thought I knew what to expect in my food. But Benadryl? Arsenic? These studies don’t mean that you should dump the contents of your refrigerator, but they do raise serious questions about the food we eat and how we should shop.

It turns out that arsenic has routinely been fed to poultry (and sometimes hogs) because it reduces infections and makes flesh an appetizing shade of pink. There’s no evidence that such low levels of arsenic harm either chickens or the people eating them, but still...

Big Ag doesn’t advertise the chemicals it stuffs into animals, so the scientists conducting these studies figured out a clever way to detect them. Bird feathers, like human fingernails, accumulate chemicals and drugs that an animal is exposed to. So scientists from Johns Hopkins University and Arizona State University examined feather meal — a poultry byproduct made of feathers.

One study, just published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, Environmental Science & Technology, found that feather meal routinely contained a banned class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. These antibiotics (such as Cipro), are illegal in poultry production because they can breed antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” that harm humans. Already, antibiotic-resistant infections kill more Americans annually than AIDS, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

The same study also found that one-third of feather-meal samples contained an antihistamine that is the active ingredient of Benadryl. The great majority of feather meal contained acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. And feather-meal samples from China contained an antidepressant that is the active ingredient in Prozac.

Poultry-growing literature has recommended Benadryl to reduce anxiety among chickens, apparently because stressed chickens have tougher meat and grow more slowly. Tylenol and Prozac presumably serve the same purpose.

Researchers found that most feather-meal samples contained caffeine. It turns out that chickens are sometimes fed coffee pulp and green tea powder to keep them awake so that they can spend more time eating. (Is that why they need the Benadryl, to calm them down?)

The other peer-reviewed study, reported in a journal called Science of the Total Environment, found arsenic in every sample of feather meal tested. Almost 9 in 10 broiler chickens in the United States had been fed arsenic, according to a 2011 industry estimate.

These findings will surprise some poultry farmers because even they often don’t know what chemicals they feed their birds. Huge food companies require farmers to use a proprietary food mix, and the farmer typically doesn’t know exactly what is in it. I asked the United States Poultry and Egg Association for comment, but it said that it had not seen the studies and had nothing more to say.

What does all this mean for consumers? The study looked only at feathers, not meat, so we don’t know exactly what chemicals reach the plate, or at what levels. The uncertainties are enormous, but I asked Nachman about the food he buys for his own family. “I’ve been studying food-animal production for some time, and the more I study, the more I’m drawn to organic,” he said. “We buy organic.”

I’m the same. I used to be skeptical of organic, but the more reporting I do on our food supply, the more I want my own family eating organic — just to be safe.

To me, this underscores the pitfalls of industrial farming. When I was growing up on our hopelessly inefficient family farm, we didn’t routinely drug animals. If our chickens grew anxious, the reason was perhaps a fox — and we never tried to resolve the problem with Benadryl.

My take is that the business model of industrial agriculture has some stunning accomplishments, such as producing cheap food that saves us money at the grocery store. But we all may pay more in medical costs because of antibiotic-resistant infections.

Frankly, after reading these studies, I’m so depressed about what has happened to farming that I wonder: Could a Prozac-laced chicken nugget help?

Urban and small farm chickens

Anyone got any great chicken or other poultry proposals? This would be a great place to showcase your ideas and accomplishments.

National-International Urban & Small Farm Conference

September 7-9, 2012

www.growingpowerfarmconference

Request For Workshop Proposals

Deadline: April 30^th, 2012

Apply Online or

Download RFP and submit to rfp@growingpowerfarmconference.org

Selections made by May 31^st, 2012.

Growing Power is proud to announce its request for proposals for workshop presentations. At this year’s conference we expect to have over 100 breakout sessions, we anticipate over 3,000 participants will attend, and we have invited First Lady Michelle Obama to be our keynote speaker. We are seeking innovative multi-disciplinary workshop proposals focusing on the 2012 conference theme, Growing the Good Food Revolution, from folks who are actively operating urban and small farms and those who are working in areas that support this emerging area of agriculture and local economic development. So far we have organized 17 tracks to provide a thorough learning and networking experience for all! Conference workshops are intended to enhance the skills and broaden the perspective of the participants.

We hope that this conference will galvanize our collective efforts to create a new food system that fosters better health and more closely-knit communities. As you can see, there’s a lot to learn and share! Come help us 'Grow the Good Food Revolution'. ~ We’ll be waiting for you in Milwaukee. Will Allen CEO, Growing Power

The Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative (GFJI) will also be holding its Fifth Annual Gathering, Winds of Change: The Power of Unity and Action!, concurrently with the conference and leading the GFJI Track and Cultural Activities throughout the conference.

Download GFJI RFP and Submit to rfp@growingpowerfarmconference.org

Selections will be made by May 31, 2012

Easter Eggers

Easter is associated with eggs -- colored eggs, chicks, ducklings. Easter Egger chickens take their name from the colored eggs they lay. Everyone likes that.

Easter Eggers aren't a breed. They are a sort of mutt, carrying the blue egg gene into mixed-breed chickens. They can have any kind of plumage and conformation, depending on their heritage. What they have in common is the colored eggs.

That blue gene results in blue eggs in chickens that would otherwise lay white eggs. Khaki green eggs are the result of the blue gene on a brown egg, indicating a cross with some other breed. Unlike the pigment on other chicken eggs, the color is infused through the entire shell, as opposed to a brown shell that has a thin layer of brown over a white shell layer. It’s not a color normally seen but some love it.

Easter Egg chickens have the blue egg gene but are not pure enough to meet Araucana or Ameraucana standards. The birds originated in South America but have undergone selective breeding in North America for many generations.

This illustration is from the April 1927 issue of National Geographic, devoted to domestic fowl. It was the first time most Americans had seen Araucana chickens. It generated a lot of interest and excitement.

Ann Charles, editor of Exhibition Poultry magazine, is an Araucana expert.