Chickens and hogs are both monogastric animals and are adapted/ evolved to have grain as part of their diets. Other than a few seed heads ripening on the grasses, ruminants (sheep, goats, cattle, etc) are not designed to digest significant amounts of grain. Always enjoy Salatin, but he forgets turkey, grouse, praire chicken, etc as native birds eaten by native Americans.
I love this way of raising chickens. I like it so much that we are working toward a pasture raised chicken program of our own at Blessing Ridge Farm in east Tennessee. Please follow our progress at BlessingRidgeFarm . com
From my understanding, he has livestock guardian dogs that are rotated as needed for predator control. Snakes won't cross open land to get to the chickens; would make them a target for owls and hawks. Avian predators can't get to the broilers; the layers keep close to their mobile structures so they can hide inside or under them. It's not 100%, but I don't think he loses much to predation because of the mobility and rotation of the livestock.
Can you do this for turkeys?
MrBagginsEsq 3 months ago
Chickens and hogs are both monogastric animals and are adapted/ evolved to have grain as part of their diets. Other than a few seed heads ripening on the grasses, ruminants (sheep, goats, cattle, etc) are not designed to digest significant amounts of grain. Always enjoy Salatin, but he forgets turkey, grouse, praire chicken, etc as native birds eaten by native Americans.
Jefferdaughter 4 months ago
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I love this way of raising chickens. I like it so much that we are working toward a pasture raised chicken program of our own at Blessing Ridge Farm in east Tennessee. Please follow our progress at BlessingRidgeFarm . com
keynamedomains 4 months ago
From my understanding, he has livestock guardian dogs that are rotated as needed for predator control. Snakes won't cross open land to get to the chickens; would make them a target for owls and hawks. Avian predators can't get to the broilers; the layers keep close to their mobile structures so they can hide inside or under them. It's not 100%, but I don't think he loses much to predation because of the mobility and rotation of the livestock.
benhunts 5 months ago
your chickens are free in your farm, but
how you deal with ALL the predators (above & below)?
Thank you very much
boysselle 6 months ago
Yes, all his animals (except steers) get some grain in some percentage of their diet. He's now providing soy free chickens.
cathysueraymond 9 months ago
Does he feed his chickens grain or no
psygtr22 9 months ago
I love this guy!
JamesTyreeII 1 year ago
Thx for posting, always great food for thought from J Salatin
IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO 1 year ago