permaculture

[John Wages <jwages@earthlink.net>]

The author has some very good points---which any observant, unbiased pastured 
poultry producer would be quick to recognize.  For example, not many people 
are really satisfied with the over-bred Cornish Cross.  Even when healthy, 
they are so big at 8-9 weeks that some of them can barely walk.  In my 
opinion, it's inhumane to breed an animal to have such extreme 
characteristics.  Again, most producers would agree---these points are 
continually discussed on pastured poultry listservs.  The problem is that the 
economics of growing traditional meat birds like White Rocks on a commercial 
scale is not comparable to that of the Cornish.  

The Salatin system is being improved.  Some folks have gone to hoop shelters 
for better ventilation in hot climates. As for predators, one strand of 
electric wire near the bottom of the unit suffices in raccoon-rich 
environments.  And, of course, it's easy enough to marry the pastured unit 
concept to a day-range system using electric-net fencing, which is the system 
we use.

Pastured poultry as it's currently practiced is not very permacultural and 
probably not sustainable in the post-cheap oil era.  But, anything more than 
a few hens is going to require outside inputs.  Perhaps the scale is the key 
to the problem.

But, I wholeheartedly disagree with the author's premise that pastured 
poultry is no better than confinement poultry systems.  Let's not destroy the 
good for the sake of the perfect.  Instead, let's improve the system or 
invent a better way.

John

John Wages
Tupelo, MS