Tredarrup Chicken Chat

Our chickens here at Tredarrup not only provide us with an egg or two a day but also great entertainment as they wander around the place, scratching, digging the garden (!!!), taking a dust path or informing you loudly that have just laid an egg – it is amazing how much personality each chicken has….

Some of our Tredarrup chickens

We started with twelve but unfortunately with a few visits from Mr Fox and natural causes we are now down to five and it is the time of year to think about getting more…  So that has been part of my dilemma!   I would like to go for ex-battery from the British Hen Welfare Trust and give some birds that have had not a great life the chance to roam around, eat good food and enjoy our surroundings…  But the fact that we already have hens means I don’t think it will work for us as they need to start off in a separate shed to our existing hens and they can’t have a perch as their legs are to weak to jump down from being in a cage….So it may well be that we have to buy some local poulets at point of lay..
The rewards of owning chickens is endless and if you live in a city don’t be put off because apparently urban keepers are a significant and growing part of the UK poultry scene.   Domestic hen keeping is relatively low maintenance with a great reward, your own freshly laid eggs that taste great and the fascination by the daily appearance of eggs – and anything that teaches children (and adults) respect for animal life must be good.  There are so many reasons why people start keeping a few hens.  For some it is concern for animal welfare, others are addressing food miles and provenance or perhaps the cost of eggs to buy.  For us it is a mixture of all of those and we wouldn’t be without them as the experience of having them pottering around the place is very much part of Tredarrup.

Saying goodbye to our Dexter Cattle

Our life before Tredarrup was one far removed from holiday cottages and cattle ownership.    When we moved here we decided that with the land we really could do ‘meat with a conscience’ and therefore decided to take on cattle ownership and started with our own herd of Dexters. 

Our Dexter herd

 Over five years we breed our own animals, reared our own meat and as well as the births we also had the deaths…as the expression goes – “If you have Livestock you have dead stock”.  A phrase that every farmer tells you however hard it is to understand and one that never got any easier whenever we had to deal with it over our years of cattle ownership.
But after five years we made the tough decision to let our beloved Dexters go..  Our herd was getting to the size where we needed to raise the animals with a more commercial aim in mind and that was never our intention as it never gets any easier when you send an animal off to its end, however good a life you know it has had, and ours did.  With just the one field we were short on winter feed and separating animals when they needed to be weaned or out of reach of the visiting bull was not easy other than relying on good neighbours and the use of their fields.  So our lovely herd have moved not far down the road and have a great range of fields, a woodland and stream to enjoy and we get to see them.
If anyone had ever told me that one day I would own cattle and deal with all that it entails, I could never of imagined it, and I can say my life has been better for it yes…I have a far greater understanding of what is involved with what animals have to go through to put meat on our plate, milk in the fridge and eggs in the pan… and that now shapes how and what we buy and eat. 
As animal owners we are strong believers that farm animals are sentient beings: Capable of emotion, of learning from experience, and aware of their relations with others both animal and human.  An emotion that for us becomes part of our buying decision when it comes to milk, meat and eggs…..and a message that is being echoed more and more these days…..and the importance of the welfare of animals…
So when you buy meat, drink milk, have a boiled egg (make it free range) just think what it takes to make that possible… Like humans, cows are pregnant for nine months, I’m not sure on sheep and pigs, and for dairy cattle to keep producing milk they have to calve ever year and all animals have to breed to supply us with the meat we eat so spare a thought for what some of those animals have to go through for us…it is our responsibility as both meat eaters and milk drinkers…

Meat With A Conscience

As animal owners we are strong believers that farm animals are sentient beings: Capable of emotion, of learning from experience, and aware of their relations with others both animal and human.  An emotion that for us becomes part of our buying decision when it comes to milk, meat and eggs…..and a message that is being echoed more and more these days…..and the importance of the welfare of animals…   

Now, a new BBC 2 series is lifting the lid on the amazing intelligence of cows, pigs and chickens – starting this evening with: 

“The Private Life of…Cows”:
BBC2, 8pm, Wednesday 7 July

We’ll be watching with interest as Jimmy Doherty joins the important debate about the intelligence of farm animals. Why not tune in too, and see what he discovers? 

If you missed (strong chance might have been watchign the football!!! ) would recommend watching….   

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s5dvn/The_Private_Life_of…_Cows/ 

The welfare of animals

The welfare of chickens….

On affairs away from Tredarrup…higher standards of the welfare of chickens has been very much on the agenda for a while thanks to many – especially Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the RSPCA so I was shocked to see recent reports that the government are trying to propose conditions that would be even worse…how can a chicken live in a space smaller than an A4 piece of paper ? When I look at our chickens and see how large and healthy they are they most definitey could not…so please help the cause.

Hugh challenges UK government

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Compassion in World Farming took the Chicken Out! campaign straight to the heart of UK Government. Handing over a giant postcard signed on behalf of more than 150,000 supporters and over 200 supportive MPs, we called on the Minister responsible for animal welfare to take the welfare of chickens seriously through UK law.

To come in line with the EU, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is planning to lower chicken welfare standards despite soaring sales of higher welfare chicken and major shifts in retailer policies.

Set to come into place in 2010, this law could see even more chickens being crammed into already overcrowded chicken sheds – it would be the equivalent of up to 21 birds in a metre square of floor space. It effectively gives the green light to further intensification of chicken farming.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said: “People have become increasingly concerned about the welfare conditions that their food has been raised in. Consumers, especially those on tight budgets, rely on the Government to ensure that the food they have access to is of an acceptable ethical standard. The Government’s proposal to reduce welfare standards is not only wrong but ignores this increasing public opinion and most importantly, ignores public interest.”

For more information on the Government’s proposed law, please visit chickenout.tv