Wordless Wednesday... well almost!

Wordless Wednesday comes to you from the Backyard Poultry Short Course being held in Montgomery County, PA. This class is a four week course that covers breeds, brooding, production of eggs and meat, housing, equipment, biosecurity, mortality, and so much more. The last class is a tour of a small scale poultry farm. These two pictures are from the first class this past Monday where we went over breed identification with real live chickens! It can't get any better than that! Hands- on learning is what we strive for in this class...

I can't just show you these pictures without a brief description of the breeds. So the first picture is a Brahma. The breed originated from India. They are a large heavy breed with beautiful coloring. The feet and legs are covered in feathers which make them so unique. This breed is known for their light brown eggs. The second picture (below) is an Old English Game bird. This is one of the most popular fighting chickens. Their muscle tone and body shape is a giveaway to their fighting genetics. The hens lay a creamish brown egg and are the highest producer of eggs of the fighting chicken breeds.

Celebrating Wordless Wednesday!

Small Scale Poultry: Do you really know what it takes?

New poultry owners, aspiring poultry owners, or those interested in exploring a new venture on a small scale basis are invited to participate in the Backyard Poultry Short Course, to be held starting March 28 until April 18 in Montgomery County, PA. The goal of the course is to assist poultry producers with an introduction to the resources and support available to them. Producers will also be able to develop a better understanding of what it takes to grow their own small scale poultry operation. Topics that will be covered are breed identification, brooding and growing, production of eggs and meat, nutrition and health, housing facilities, equipment, fly control, biosecurity, and resources. The final class in the course will be a small scale poultry farm tour. Come to learn about techniques in raising these fabulous birds! Email me for more information: maf5002@psu.edu

Cow Burps and Global Warming???

Who thinks of cows when you mention greenhouse gas emissions?? Most people think of industrial businesses and factories. Belches from livestock animals such as cows contain methane which is about 25 times more effective then carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. But Alexander Hristov, Penn State professor of dairy nutrition explains in a recent article about the correlation.

"Yes—in fact, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that cattle belching and manure management contribute about 28 percent of all anthropogenic methane emissions in the United States," says Alexander Hristov, Penn State professor of dairy nutrition. "However, in the big picture of global greenhouse gas emissions, cows are a relatively small player."

"Methane gas is a natural by-product of the complicated bovine digestive process, Hristov explains. As cattle feed makes its way into the largest compartment of the cow stomach, called the rumen, it is feasted upon by microbes and begins to ferment. The fermentation process breaks down the fibrous cattle feed, helping cows get nutrition from otherwise indigestible grass and hay—but also produces lots and lots of gas in the process. Methane makes up somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of the mix."

Despite methane's potency, "As a proportion of all greenhouse gases emitted in the United States, livestock belches only contribute about 2.2 percent," notes Hristov. "The emissions from the energy and transportation sectors are much larger. In fact, looking at methane emissions alone, there are other human activities with larger methane footprints than livestock, such as emissions from landfills, for example."

To read the rest of the article click here.