'Hugh's Chicken Run' A Moral Dilemna for DFWs?

boredofbeingathome

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

Simple battry hens are raised in glorified sheds with 100's per square meter. These sheds can be built on mormal concreate land and basically can be packed in. Now take into account free range, you need 'land' and barns, fencing, straw. Thats before you even invole defra and then the big one employees. As said on the program by the 'keeper' ~ when he would care for battery hens you just check on them twice a day then close them up for the night and the hours 'caring' for them is minamal (prob 3~4 hours) now in a free range farm it needs constaintly maning, checking, cleaning (the barns) etc and thats a full time job ~ this adds cost to the final product, hence why battery hens are cheaper ~ much cheaper.

It's a complete commitment to quality and not quantity, although the weak hens were treated the same in both sheds proving it was still a business adventure. I was really touched by the way the hens on the housing project were looked after and changed the attitude of most of the people looking after them. i have to say i think that just like martin's show it will get the whole nation talking and debating. We need to be active consumers in getting prices down and improving the welfare of animals and us- i'd rather eat something that is antibiotic free and as was pointed out right at the end of the show didn't have hock burns by living in its own s***t. I know what i want to buy in future.

ZTD

boredofbeingathome wrote: »

I like everyone else on the forum, is budgeting hard- i have long been into buying the best value i could afford the table, and to me wherever i can i will always buy free range or organic, i have also had the 2 for 5 offer at tescos and i have to say that in terms of taste and wastage i got better value from the free range simply because left overs were so tasty that they were literally picked to the bone and the carcass used for soup. I can honestly say that the cheaper battery hen was wasted as it was only partially eaten, and even the left overs dont taste the same in a curry. i have also had cheap birds from aldi and farmfoods and netto- again it is matched to budget. After watching the programme, my kids now refuse to eat battery chickens or eggs and would rather have less chicken, better quality, free range. So i think it will work out cheaper for me in the long run. Also we are fortunate to have good quality farm shops nearby so the budget will have to go there for meats - she also gives a discount for certain quantities and at the same time i will stock up on cheap veg which beats most local shops, i hope that cosumerism can raise the standard of living for these animals whilst at the same time keeping prices down- after all supply and demand will do that.

Hear hear - this is virtually exactly my outlook and experience.

postingalwaysposting

to take it to another level ~ what red meat do you buy that is british. I watch a program last night (lie of the land ~ may have been a certain regional thing ~ itv1 at around midnight), it was about how farmers are going out of busniess because legislation/defra is making it harder to raise cattle/dairy cows within restrictions and make money. This is why the govenment think its acceptable to add carbon miles to import cheaper meat ~ from dare i say it countrys that care less about animal walfare that goes behond 'sheded/no sunlight' chickens. Where i work we have chickens that are bristish and only one other red meat avalible the remainder are australian/new zealand ~ whats wrong with british meat? It all boils down to the same thing ~ money ~ money makes the world go around so they say, sadly humans/animals are only machines to make it or help some rich ejit get more :rolleyes:

rog2

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

I think hugh would have done a better job trying to pusudae the legislation to change in govenment to allow chickens to be raised this way.

Well said, PaP. Instead of targetting the consumer, most of whom are 'budget-driven' these 'campaigns' might be best if they were directed at Government, or the 'profit-driven' producers and retailers.
The retailers say that they provide 'what the customer demands' but I would be tempted to think that there is more profit, to them, in selling two chickens for a fiver than one free-range bird for £7.

boredofbeingathome

fc123 wrote: »

I have really strong feelings about this subject and used to belong to Compassion in world farming when I was in my 20's.

I was about 7 when we went on a family outing / walk and came across loads of huge sheds (my memory is vague, I just remember clearly the noise and peering inside one), it was full of caged chickens, thousands of them and there were loads of sheds. This was back in 1970. My mother never bought a chicken again.

I am now a DFW on a V tight food budget and buy free range or organic meat occasionally (twice a month)...always from a good local butcher, never the supermarkets. I pay the price that it should be.

To make our diet interesting, I clip recipes (vegetarian) and have discovered some really tasty stuff!


A worthwhile read is "Not on the Label" by Felicity Lawrence...don't believe that the main supermarkets are interested in feeding you well at a fair price.

Their behaviour to farmers and producers is almost medieval.

Sorry to be a bit rude about one of the participants on the show, but the big mum who was caught buying battery chickens during the week really wound me up.

I have cut my weekly food bills massively by NOT going to Asda for veg, meat, fruit. I used to be a terrible shopper! (overworked, run ragged by kids etc!!)

Totally agree, and i will look out for the book.

always_amazed

It's a difficult one.

On the one hand, I prefer to 'eat local' and eat free range food (I am a dedicated carnivore )

But on the other; I can't afford to do that all the time. And on my third hand, I spend so much time down the hospital, and goodness knows what they feed me there, I don't know!!

And I work in a place that has a dedicated 'local and organic' cafe, so at work I get fed 'non battery' food, so I'm very lucky.

So I (please forgive me) try not to think about it too much right now. When I'm no longer in the red and earning a bit more, I will certainly put quality food just under a roof over my head in the budgeting stakes. But I can't afford to right now, and hat's the sum of it. :rolleyes:

boredofbeingathome

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

to take it to another level ~ what red meat do you buy that is british. I watch a program last night (lie of the land ~ may have been a certain regional thing ~ itv1 at around midnight), it was about how farmers are going out of busniess because legislation/defra is making it harder to raise cattle/dairy cows within restrictions and make money. This is why the govenment think its acceptable to add carbon miles to import cheaper meat ~ from dare i say it countrys that care less about animal walfare that goes behond 'sheded/no sunlight' chickens. Where i work we have chickens that are bristish and only one other red meat avalible the remainder are australian/new zealand ~ whats wrong with british meat? It all boils down to the same thing ~ money ~ money makes the world go around so they say, sadly humans/animals are only machines to make it or help some rich ejit get more :rolleyes:

Its happened in my area as well - the farmers are all changing tack, our local dairy farm is out of business and god knows where the supermarkets source the milk from.Red meat wise we are quite lucky as we have two beef/ pork farms nearby although some others source the meat from other areas in lancashire and are very happy to tell you where they get the meat from. ot all is local or british as you quite rightly say. The mileage for meat is strong topic in the farm shop last time i was in there about two months ago and as you say it boils down to money especially the lamb market and even the potato was a hot topic( excuse the pun) i think its definately time for a consumer upsurging.

ZTD

rog2 wrote: »

I'm sure there isn't, novelli - as there is nothing wrong with the meat that we eat,

I wouldn't have made a bold statement like that rog...

rog2 wrote: »

In fact, I'm sure that we have an 'idyllic' image of 'free-range' animals, which is fuelled by our belief that they all eat corn, and are free to 'roam' at will, when, in all probability, the truth is not like that at all.

Corn is probably not all that good for them.

rog2 wrote: »

When I was at school all dinner waste was put into a 'swill bin' and was collected twice a week, by a local farmer to be fed straight to his pigs. The bins smelt absolutely vile and were a magnet to flies - couldn't have een much of a 'treat' for his pigs. :eek:

You are making the mistake of "humanising" animals and imagining them as us but differently shaped. Pigs normally nose around looking for insect grubs/plant roots etc to eat. They will eat carrion as well as tree bark. The flies would not have been a problem.

Not very appetising to us, but pigs like them.

fc123

boredofbeingathome wrote: »

Totally agree, and i will look out for the book.

I read it on Summer 2004 and it prompted me to totally change our life! I thought I was quite well-informed prior, but realised I didn't know the half of it.
Our daughter (then 10)was a bit weighty but I couldn't work out why.

It also contains 2 key slimming secrets!
Remove modified corn starch TOTALLY from your diet (body doesn't process it, goes to liver and turns to fat.
Hydrogenated oils also just go into the body and "sit" around your middle.
Therefore you can eat with a normal appestat but STILL carry excess weight.

I am in the clothing industry and (unfortunately) buying a £2 top made in Bangladesh is pretty equivalent IMHO to buying battery chicken....but I don't want to be all preachy etc! and don't want to offend people about their consumer choices.

Added; the sugar has to pretty much go too!

ZTD

Toto wrote: »

But I feel bad about it, so like the majority of the meat eating public I don't eat animals, I eat those plastic wrapped packages in the chiller cabinet. On the occasion I do get the idea there was an animal involved I've even thought to myself 'well, it's dead now, I should do it the honour of at least eating it so it didn't die for nothing... how crap is that justification?

It's a justification. But there is another one: Have a feel at the teeth either side of your incisors. They canines, and they are only found in the mouth of meat eaters, because their only use is in eating meat. It takes many thousands of years for a new tooth to be developed, so we've been eating meat for at least long enough for our bodies to have changed design for it.

Doing research on other things, I'm starting to come across persistant rumours that humans may be obligate carnivores. If that turns out to be true, that'll put the cat among the pidgeons.

Though I think we'll still have 20-30 years worth of denial before anything will change.