> I always learn more from farmers than philosophers (seriously.)
>
> What happens to the bull calves if they don't become veal?

*** They are raised as beef. Most are rasied on pasture as "stockers" until
2 - 4 months before slaughter then they are put into feed lots. Most are
slaughtered at 14 or so month of age. Not all are raised this way. Some are
raised on pasture only and sold as "grass fed" beef. Some are put into a
feed lot much sooner. Some (about 20%) are raised to 4 months and
slaughtered as veal, though fewer and fewer are raised as veal every year.
All this applies to holsteins witch make up 94% of the dairy cattle in the
USA.
Other breeds like jerseys (witch we have) are very rarely used as veal
and never in comercial veal operations. That vast majority of jersey bull
calves are raised as grass fed beef. Jerseys are poor converters of grain to
beef and so are not often used in feed lots. They are also famous for
producing high qualiety beef on grass alone. Most people who raise jersey
bull calves do so for their own eating or for direct marketing.

> Why do the chickens...seriously, why do they return to the coop?

*** That's their "home". When we have new chickens we lock them up in the
coop for a week or so and from then on they will always return at night.
There are roosts and nesting boxes in the coop for them and they seem to
know that they are safe there.

> they also fed there to condition that response?

*** They are fed and watered in the coop but the feed we provide is only a
small part of thier diet, about 15% of their total diet by weight. If there
is no feed in the coop they will come back to it anyway.

> How do you keep track of which roosters to keep?

*** We see these chickens twice a day every day of the year. I know who is
who. We usually keep a rooster until he gets to old and eat his sons.
Sometimes we can eat the older roosters and hen but usually if they get to
old to get around well they will become lunch for a hawk. Our dog protects
them from all other predators but can't do anything about the hawks.

Kala Thompson
Farmer
Richland Center, Wi USA




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