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Animals

Consider Farming? Consider Chickens?

Farming for Beginners: How to Decide Between Livestock and Plants? Farming, it may seem complicated at first, but is in fact a simple process, the only question is it right for you. Some may think of farming as sitting back and watching over plants or livestock, but unless you can afford to pay people to work your land you will have to participate in the harvest and up keep. Now you may be thinking how you will be able to afford the land and provide other needed items that you are not producing. Well that is quite simple, while you may not be able to mass produce food like the large companies, you can produce more than your family needs to survive. With your extra food you can sell it at a farmers market or to friends. Now with all of the logistics out of the way an interesting topic looms: Will you farm livestock or fruits and vegetables? If your a vegetarian your answer is simple, you will grow fruits and vegetables, however if you are not you still have a difficult decision. While both livestock and fruits and vegetables can yield a profit - livestock can do this with less work for you. The kinds of livestock farming that you could participate in are raising them for sale or raising them and selling their meat and other products. Raising livestock for sale may be another solution for a person who does not want to consume animal products, but selling the meat and other products of the animals is potentially more profitable. The kinds of livestock that you could chose to farm are cattle, pigs, sheep, turkey, and chickens. Each of these animals have reasons both for and against farming them. The cattle can be butchered and milked, both of which could be sold. The sheep’s wool can be harvested as well as mutton. Chickens produce both eggs and meat. Pigs and turkeys however only produce meat. No matter what animal you choose to farm you need to be able to provide some basic necessities like a clean shelter, clean water, and nutritious feed. The shelter needs to be clean of mud and manure, as well as providing enough space for the livestock to be comfortable, this includes ventilation that does not create drafts and proper bedding material, which will need to be changed often to prevent sickness. The clean water is necessary as it helps regulate the body temperature of the animals, and clean [...]

By |2024-01-12T00:36:47+00:00March 4th, 2018|Farm, Animals, Chickens, Poultry|0 Comments
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Artificial Intelligence on Farms

Artificial Intelligence on Farms, Now it’s making practical Advances A long time ago, back in kindergarten or grade one, each student might have been given a tiny little flower pot, a tablespoon or so of soil, and a seed of some description.  It became their job to grow a plant. The teacher helped them put soil in the pot, put the seed at the right depth, and then they would put their names of the pots and water them each day until something grew.  Bean sprouts are fast, edible, and give satisfaction to kids.  Most people experienced something like this at some point and it dwells in their mind as “how food is grown”.  That is changing now. The World By the year 2050 our population might be over 9 billion people.  Back in the year 1600 C.E. the population of the entire world was just a little over 0.5 billion.  It wasn’t until 1800 C.E. that we probably broke through the billion barrier.  That was the first time we probably heard the cry “Earth cannot sustain any more people.  We can’t grow food for a billion mouths!” Obviously that was not true, since we have continued to grow to our current 7.6 billion—and there has never been a shortage of food.  Yes, people have starved to death all over our planet, but never because there wasn’t enough food—we have always had a problem of distribution, getting excess production in one area to somewhere else with a severe lack. At every turn where we thought we had reached a limit, we found new ways of growing more food, with fewer resources, and even less human-powered interaction.  We are unlikely to ever be defeated on that front.  Long before we run out of the capability to produce sufficient food we will become smart enough to reduce our population to appropriate levels. Artificial Intelligence on Farms When people think of artificial intelligence nowadays they probably imagine C3PO and R2D2.  Those movie creations were portrayed as considerably more advanced than what we have currently achieved.  Nevertheless we’ve made some terrific progress. A company called BOWERY has moved farming indoors.  Their crops are stacked one atop the other, lighted, fed, monitored, and diagnosed by sophisticated computer programs.  Their crops are largely grown hydroponically, without soil, in trays that travel throughout the complex by conveyor.  The sterile facility requires no pesticides to maintain the health of their plants. Faster than a human could ever do so, the Artificial Intelligence program is learning [...]

By |2024-03-04T03:50:21+00:00October 21st, 2017|Artificial Intelligence, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Food, Garden|0 Comments
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Oklahoma State Fair 2017

The Oklahoma State Fair is about to open on September 14th, with all kinds of new and exciting things. There is a lot of stuff to do here for the ten dollar admission costs. This is an interview with Scott Munz , Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations about all the new and great things at this years event. Listening to this for a few minutes will give you a great overview of the fair and all the fancy new fair foods they have. Come hungry and come rested and be prepared to have a great time.!!! Oklahoma State Fair - Frequently Asked Questions!    

By |2019-03-14T23:39:11+00:00September 7th, 2017|State Fair, Bull Rider, Bulls, Fair Food, Food, Gary Allan, Josh Turner, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State Fair, Podcast|0 Comments
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It’s Time to Meet the Future of Meat

Real, Cultured, or Printed? Nowadays we’re accomplishing miracles in the laboratory. It started, of course, with successful cloning, but we’ve moved on to teasing immature stem cells into making all sorts of tissues, such as skin for burn victims, miniature versions of human organs (called organoids) to learn to treat disease, and actual functional organs for lab animals that fulfill the function of a natural organ. More interesting is something that was accomplished back in early 2015. Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital grew a complete rat forelimb in a petri dish . Fingers/claws, skin, bones, nerves, blood vessels, and muscles all in the right place and functional. In theory, it could be attached to a subject and tested to see if nerve and blood vessels connections were reliable, and if the bones and connective tissue were durable. There is no reason that they shouldn’t be. Meat in a Lab Muscles, of course, are also referred to as meat, and would be fairly undifferentiated from a naturally occurring meat in texture or flavor. What would be the primary difference about meat made in a sterile laboratory? No animals would be slaughtered; there would be no parasites; there would be no fecal contamination; and, most importantly, there would be no antibiotics or growth hormones necessary. There would be no vast tracts of land necessary, dedicated for the use of our current herds of animals. There would be no concurrent crops necessary to feed all these animals as they grew to a size appropriate for the abattoir, and then the local meat market. There would be no need of veterinarian care for herds to treat diseases. It would eliminate animal suffering,because meat would not be sourced from animals at all.  In other words, by just about every popular definition, it would be completely Vegan meat. Of course there are always doubters; those who think meat is bad and artificial meat would be inadequate for some other reason.  It’s very much like people that protest Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods—it makes no sense–since everything in our diet is a GMO.  There is virtually nothing in our diet that has not been changed. Franken-Food Everybody loves corn for instance, but 8,700 years ago in Mexico it was known as teosinte, with just a few grains per stalk that would have easily fit on top of a 25¢ coin.  We crossbred many teosinte with more grains than other plants, and eventually came up with the “cob” that was dense with grain.  Yet no [...]

By |2024-02-29T08:01:41+00:00June 27th, 2017|Food, 3-D Pinting, Chicken, Corn, Environmental, Meat, Poultry|0 Comments
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Working With Horses

Working With Horses: A Career for All Ages Have you ever noticed how happy people who work with horses seem to be?  Would that be enough to encourage you to take the plunge?  any young people especially girls would love to have the opportunity to work with horses. Maybe you are not so young anymore and think that it’s too late to change your career to work in the equestrian industry.  That is just not true - there are people of all ages who have chosen to follow their dreams and turn their favorite pastime into their livelihood as well. There are so many different jobs that involve horses that you can find one that fits YOU. You don’t have to be a good rider (although that increases your choices) - the only requirement is a genuine concern for their welfare and. total dedication.   The reason that you need to be dedicated is that you may have to start work very early and have few if any weekends off.   You may have to brave all kinds of weather because horses can’t be left standing in their stables all day long to develop habits that come from being bored or stressed.  Exploring Career Opportunities in the Equestrian World: From Riding Instructor to Entrepreneur Often the pay is not great, but the opportunities are always there for those who are prepared to work and study to become an expert in their chosen career. So what jobs are available?  If you are a very good rider you have the possibility of becoming a show jumper or an event person, a flat racing  jockey or a jump jockey.  You may have to start off as a groom who exercises horses for the more talented riders and work your way up Try to find a horsey job that fits your personality.  If you are naturally competitive, go to work with competition horses (that can include driving horses).  Maybe you are super patient and laid back,probably working with young horses would be your best choice.   If you are a sociable person who loves teaching you may prefer to train as a riding instructor.  Ambitious?  Starting your own riding school or livery stables is a great option and you will find that there are often government grants available to help you get started. Of course if you are already financially free or retired, your services would be greatly appreciated by voluntary organizations such as “Riding For The Disabled”.  Whatever you choose to [...]

By |2024-01-12T12:26:40+00:00May 18th, 2017|Horses, Horse Lover|0 Comments
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Effect of Cows on Environment?

Cows and the Environment: A Surprising Connection Effect of Cows ?   What is the real cost of a steak dinner: A day’s wage or the destruction of an ecosystem? PETA insists that meat is murder. Americans are yet to be dissuaded. But for as long as there have been nice things, there have existed smart alecs to ruin them. An insidious proposition has recently been making its play. Cows flatulence is 70-120kg of Methane gas into our atmosphere annually. The argument goes that Methane, a Greenhouse Gas, traps heat which negatively impacts Earth’s climate. Livestock specifically contributes 26% of all Methane! Therefore, red-blooded Americans must curb their appetite for succulent sirloins otherwise Earth becomes a furnace! Obama declares War on Dairy The US government aims to reduce Methane output from bovines by 25% before the decade closes. But would this significantly impact climate scientists’ models? Here is a breakdown of cattle per top 5 countries. We’ve provided our own high-end annual Methane output estimates. 1) India: 301,600,000 cows. 39,894,851 US tons. 2) Brazil: 219,093,000 cows. 28,981,043 US tons. 3) China: 100,250,000 cows. 13,260,805 US tons. 4) United States: 91,988,000 cows. 12,167,929 US tons. 5) European Union: 88,600,000 cows. 11,719,774 US tons. If the entire US population shunned beef, cattle Methane output would not fall even 10%. “Like, just get rid of all the cows, man.” Assuming cows collectively drop dead tomorrow, the effects would be disastrous. Sure, global Methane output is cut by a quarter. Warming would theoretically decline and Arctic permafrost melt slow. But, even climate scientists acknowledge Earth cannot completely reverse gears. There is a guaranteed amount of climate change. Cows on the other hand play a delectable role. The obvious drawback, albeit manageable, is no beef and considerably less dairy. On the plus side, Cornell University estimates 800 million people could be fed with livestock grain. I personally prefer steak over Shreddies, but c’est la vie. Cornell professor David Pimentel notes that 100,000 litres of water are used for every kilogram of food. The average American consumes 666 litres daily! An omen? Eliminating cattle lets us mitigate water shortages at the very least. Poultry requires less fuel to prepare and provides greater protein per gram. Americans consume approximately 100lbs annually – twice as much as beef. While 800 million people is nothing to sneeze at, reallocating cattle resources feeds only 2% of Earth’s malnourished. Of course, Americans would look for a substitute, vegan or otherwise. Beef makes a colossal contribution to America’s economy. The [...]

By |2024-01-12T13:55:24+00:00July 16th, 2016|Cattle, Cows, Poultry|0 Comments
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