The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Roxy on February 23, 2011, 10:29:42 pm
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or so I thought.
I have quite a few goats, lots of hens, and our recent additions, two Kune Kune piglets.
Neighbours often leave me their stale/leftover bread, and veg peelings, which are gratefully received by our mob!! It got me thinking, lots of people throw their waste food in the bin (our green garden waste bins can now be used for such things, not that we ever put any in of course!)
My idea was to leave a lidded tub by the gate, asking people to put their surplus veg and fruit etc in for the animals. Then I realised......not allowed to feed stuff from a kitchen.
What a shame, and what a waste of food that my animals would enjoy.
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I agree. I hate waste of any kind. There must be a way of using this material.
Wouldn't leave an open tub outside our house tho'........... wouldn't like to think 1) what would go in it?? and 2) whether it would actually stay there ;D
Ian
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Roxy, does that not just apply to pigs ? :&>
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;D Mmm.....yes, you never know what you would find in the food bin. Although at least I could monitor the food, whereas I do suspect people just chuck stuff over the gate, and no telling what it is. Its been devoured by the gang before I get there.
One neighbour did ask if she could give my goats her left over salad. I went in the field and she had chucked it over alright - complete with salad cream and onions. Needless to say the goats were not impressed.
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No, I am sure it applies to hens - or anything we are likely to eat, or eat the produce from?
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we had this discussion on meat on a different thread. Depends on if you are selling the eggs. That's probably the case for all the animals then. :&>
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Given Ian's recent experiences, I think he might be worrie about corpses :o
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Given Ian's recent experiences, I think he might be worrie about corpses :o
That's what the Krays used to feed to pigs though :o
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Didn't the authorities collect household waste scraps for farmer's pigs during the war? I'm sure I saw something about that on TV a while ago. (not that old!!!)
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"Pig Swill" was collected into the 1960's - I know because the farmer used to pick it up from the school - everything left over from School Dinners.
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Given Ian's recent experiences, I think he might be worrie about corpses :o
That's what the Krays used to feed to pigs though :o
One of the first things Steve's son commented on when he met our pigs....that we could use them to 'get rid of people' ;)
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I remember a hospital where they fed ALL waste, inlcuding removed organs to their own pigs - in the 60s :&>
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I remember a hospital where they fed ALL waste, inlcuding removed organs to their own pigs - in the 60s :&>
:o crikey!!
actually this has reminded me that a local first school was actually collecting scraps in a bin for a little lads pet pig (who I believe was going to become dinner at some point) this was only last year...naughty!!
of course I never feed my animals kitchen scraps. Oh no, I feed us the scraps - the meals I prepare are for the hens so its not technically waste ;)
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At our local garage they have a wheelie bin out the back that they put in unsold bread, fruit and veg for a local charity farm, maybe you could ask a garage, as I understand it, that food should be ok to feed as it has not been in the kitchen, nuts, I know!
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What is actually classed as kitchen waste that we cant feed the hens? Sorry, slightly confused by this thread as I didnt know there were rules? ???
We give our hens all our peelings, salads and sometimes left overs from dinner. We tend to eat their eggs ourselves though I do sell a dozen a week to 2 friends? Am I doing something wrong ??? :-[ :-\
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I used to run a cafe in the late 60's-70's and we had a pig swill bin that got collected, how life has changed!!!!! We also used to feed our dogs scaps and dog biscuits and pups had bread and milk or porrage, how different life is now with all the assortment of animal feeds and things aorund!!!!
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and a rule for everything :P especially telling each and every one of us what we can do and what we can't, I'm sick of it :&>
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I think if your veg is peeled in a utilty room away from your kitchen - and nowhere near any where where meat or any meat products of any kind are prepared then they are ok. If veg isn't stored in the kitchen and goes off also ok. If your local greengrocer gives you stuff it's ok. But we are not allowed to use our own noggina bout what is safe and sensible to give our pigs!
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It's surprising how many people don't realise there is a moratorium on feeding kitchen scraps to pigs. Several people have commented with surprise when I've told them.
I've had a hard job getting it across to my wife who was going to bring home surplus vegetables and scraps from the school canteen/kitchen.
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I think if your veg is peeled in a utilty room away from your kitchen - and nowhere near any where where meat or any meat products of any kind are prepared then they are ok. If veg isn't stored in the kitchen and goes off also ok. If your local greengrocer gives you stuff it's ok.
I think the problem here is how would you go about proving it if the animal health people (or whoever) challenged you on it or someone made a malicious complaint to them?
Our boys love fresh apples and carrots but I'm always careful to store them in the shed, well away from the house. Just simpler that way.
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hmmm - maybe. But then how would they know what they'd eaten anyway!
We get boxes full of stuff from the greengrocer. that has gone past being sellable and that goes straight to the shed as do apples we collect from orchard next door. Then we also use horse carrots in nets - also stored in the shed. I do keep the veg we use out of the kitchen and anything that goes off can go out then. But preparing it out of the kitchen soon went by the wayside unfortunately. Hate throwing the peelings away though!
I have to say though I'd struggle with turning down the surplus veg you talked about!
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Yup. Whether you sell the eggs or not you are not supposed to give hens (or any livestock) any food which has passed through a kitchen. You can feed them a cabbage pulled from the garden but not if you've had it in the kitchen. Yes, I know.... ::)
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can anyone tell me what the point of this "rule" is exactly? I just like to understand why I am not allowed to to something with threat of imprisonment. I can understand why I am not supposed to kill people and steal, commit fraud, etc.... ??? :chook: :&>
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I can understand why I am not supposed to kill people and steal, commit fraud, etc.... ??? :chook: :&>
Are you not supposed to do those things?
B*gger! :D :D
Ian
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I can understand why I am not supposed to kill people and steal, commit fraud, etc.... ??? :chook: :&>
Are you not supposed to do those things?
B*gger! :D :D
Ian
;D that's given me a much needed laugh! thank you ;D
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I can understand why I am not supposed to kill people and steal, commit fraud, etc.... ??? :chook: :&>
Are you not supposed to do those things?
B*gger! :D :D
Ian
;D that's given me a much needed laugh! thank you ;D
You're welcome Lisa. Keep smiling :)
Ian
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I am really surprised that you don't know tha t you shouldn't do these things!!! :o ;D
now tell me what I don't know :D :chook: :&>
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One of the reasons that they dont want you to put processed food in your green bins is that it is then taken to a site where it it is dumped and then worms added to break it down, bag it up and sell to the public as compost.
Now if you asked everybody to leave their green bin waste with you, you could use to feed your worms no problem.....
Worms will even eat toxic and are often added to land fill sites to help break things down.
They dont seem to be going down in price either, we bought our Blue Nose Dendrebina's for £8 kg and now you would be lookin at more like £15-18 and with retail at up to £26.
They also breed a lot better under insulated conditions all year round instead of just an outdoor bed with no covers being seasonal.
And if you would like any worms and wormeries.
Let us know.
Cheers
Sy
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Have you a website, Symon?
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Not got a web site set up but my other half and I have been working with worm farming for the last 5-7yrs as a diff way of reducing animal waste (pig farms, fisheries and so on) the thing that seems to happen is that the worm farming vcan be as big and as productive as the type of farming its been setup to help.
The good things with worms is that the fisherman love them,
They're some of the best composters
Once theyve eaten all the food they leave behind castings which are like black gold for the gardeners of this world.
And the best of it is, if the fishermen dont want any more or out of season, a fert company will by as much as you can supply at £15kg.
Weve been working with worms and refining low input and high input methods for diff levels of production and with my other half being an old pig farmer, or should I say a young chicken of a pig farmer, she has been cery methodical about how we set up each test bed and measured the results..
As ive said before, if you would like any help with setting up and supply, then please dont hesitate.
Weve been to most if not all of the commercial farms in Europe and no one in the UK, that we know off, have all year round production....
Just wanted to plant a few seeds, or even worms ;D
And if you would like help setting up or would like to find out more, let me know.....
Best way of getting some free plant food from you waste pig, horse, cattle muck!!!!!
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I am really interested in worm farming - I will send you a message later for more info.
Despite not being veggie I am embarrassed to say that I struggle with the idea of rearing animals from babies and then taking them to slaughter to eat them myself. I am really embarrassed as I feel like a hypocrite! this year someone else is using our land to graze 4 lambs and will deal with the final part but has offered us meat to go in the freezer - it will be a test for me having only started to eat lamb again in the last 9 months.
however rearing worms sounds like something I could manage without being too daft!!
I actually do admire those who CAN do it and I really hope that one day I can too as it seems daft having all this grass empty because I'm a wally lol.
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We have setup worm farms on a domestic as well as commercial basis so your always welcome to ask or giv us a bell.
We can supply you with a startup or just a few worms and off you go....as I explained before, its all down to how much input your looking at and if you just want to put outside and do seasonal or go all year round.
Cheers
Sy
07875 754607
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Despite not being veggie I am embarrassed to say that I struggle with the idea of rearing animals from babies and then taking them to slaughter to eat them myself. I am really embarrassed as I feel like a hypocrite! this year someone else is using our land to graze 4 lambs and will deal with the final part but has offered us meat to go in the freezer - it will be a test for me having only started to eat lamb again in the last 9 months.
I actually do admire those who CAN do it and I really hope that one day I can too as it seems daft having all this grass empty because I'm a wally lol.
You're not alone, Plums. I have often said that I can eat anyone else's animals except my own. I was at Carol and Graham's this afternoon and was taken out to see the sheep - the four going to slaughter were pointed at and I resolutely turned to look at the tup and the hens instead. I did see the Hubbard chicks but I won't be eating them anyway so that was OK. As Treasurer of Central Scotland Smallholders I DO feel a bit of a fraud though :-[ :-[ :-[
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Plums, that is the reason why I will never be a "proper" smallholder. I just can not kill things I've looked after. We had one drake slaughtered and it was really hard to actually eat him :&>
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I wonder if its easier when there are vast numbers of an animal that are raised then all go off? when there are only a few, its understandable that you pick up on them having personalities (and, eek - they get names!)
I know how devastated I was to lose the 2 goats last year, sobbed for ages. partly because I blamed myself but also because i 'knew' them. my 9 year old said maybe if we were real farmers with hundreds of stock we'd find it easier - she's too grown up for her own good that Milli ;)
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lol if i ever get to move im fairly certain my eldest son will refuse to eat anything raised by us
as far as im concerned breeding stock can have names everything else will be called 'dinner'
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plumseverywhere, you are so right, we feed the best to the animals and the best of the food to the animals lol
;D ;D
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No I said that wrong lol
the animals get the best and we get the scraps lol
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I thought I would have problems eating our own pork....until I tasted it! :)
We have a photo of our first two pigs in the kitchen.
It reminds us why we chose to raise our own pork, and how contended they were.
We were very sad to take them on their last journey and that's good. They weren't just food, if that makes sense?
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it is a bit confusing must admit, I read somewhere to give chickens a raw beef burger just before you introduced new chickens, or give a burger if they are fighting too much, it apparently stops the blood lust in them.(not suprised really, the burgers around here taste absolutely fowl, no pun intended) ...dunno thats what I heard.
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as long as you keep it well out of your own kitchen ::)
but , yes, apparently increased protein will reduce evil pecking :chook: :&>
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Over here no-one seems to be aware of this no food to animals through the kitchen thing,
what if you do as we do and peel pots etc cabbage carrots blah blah blah in an outside room so it goes no where near your kitchen ???
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I said that and it was suggested you couldn't prove it?!
But how could they prove otherwise?!
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I said that and it was suggested you couldn't prove it?!
Leri, where did you hear or read it?
:&>
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I think if your veg is peeled in a utilty room away from your kitchen - and nowhere near any where where meat or any meat products of any kind are prepared then they are ok. If veg isn't stored in the kitchen and goes off also ok. If your local greengrocer gives you stuff it's ok.
I think the problem here is how would you go about proving it if the animal health people (or whoever) challenged you on it or someone made a malicious complaint to them?
Our boys love fresh apples and carrots but I'm always careful to store them in the shed, well away from the house. Just simpler that way.
Here - earlier in this thread. x
Is that what you meant?!
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no, sorry, I'm still keen to find out the origin of the "rule" or "regulation" with threats of imprisonment - just trying stubbornly to make sense of it! Is it Defra, EU or simply WHY???
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I found this link....It may be of help dunno as its for .ie, I think that is irland which would be for European law.....
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/agri-foodindustry/animalbyproducts/frequentlyaskedquestionsfaqs/ (http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/agri-foodindustry/animalbyproducts/frequentlyaskedquestionsfaqs/)
But it says nothing about veggie matter ?????????
I did it with the search for regulation no kitchen scraps allowed to be given to animals#
There is another DEFRA one
http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/byproducts/wastefood/composting/compost-qanda.htm (http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/byproducts/wastefood/composting/compost-qanda.htm)
and that is their Old site
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This is the most recent information that I have found - on Defra's new website
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalhealth/about/publications/advice-guidance/documents/pet_pigs.pdf (http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalhealth/about/publications/advice-guidance/documents/pet_pigs.pdf)
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalhealth/ (http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalhealth/)
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Oh sorry duckling. Yes it's Defra. Pig rules. I have no idea whether it applies to hens or other animals as well. I suppose it would though. x