Dashie

Oh, and the beef have been 100% grass fed since the snow finally melted in the spring, the chickens are pastured and supplemented with organic feed. The same eggs are sold in a local store for $5 per dozen.

dbd33

Not all of them. We've been looking into getting a "summer pig" (which will likely end up being multiple pigs). Suppliers of heritage breeds, such as we'd get, tend to keep them in more traditional arrangements. Maybe do a search for "Tamworth" or other traditional pig formats at suppliers local to you.

Souvy

I haven't had the opportunity to check with my brother (a dairy farmer in the UK) but he'd probably agree with you that the UK is years ahead of everywhere else on this matter.

Crates, which are still used in North America, have been illegal in the UK since 1990.

dbd33

Technology here has moved on. I know of a dairy barn where the cows wander in from the field, are strapped to the milking machines, are disconnected and wander out again, all without the operator leaving his computer. Obviously the cows are incentivised by food and have had the routine programmed into them but, although they're commuters to the machine, they're very often outside. For the farmer this arrangement beats keeping the cows in stalls as the expensive equipment can run day and night, so long as there are enough cows in the queue.

It's not lawful in Ontario to sell proper outdoor free range eggs anywhere other than at the farm where they were laid. I bet it's not in BC either (though the one person I know selling them in Vancouver is, ironically enough, a prosecutor of offences in Business and Regulatory Law). The expressions "barn eggs" and "free run eggs", while misleading if you don't know the law, are quite accurate.

bats

I've looked into local supplier and have found a farm that can supply happy meat and I think our future eating with less meat but better. As far as milk in concerned I've tried soya, almond, coconut milks, all taste vile in coffee and there is no Greek yoghurt alternative. I eat loads of that. Cheese will be gone, I've only been eating a tiny amount so a step further won't be hard. We can bison meat locally and I will ask how they are raised.
We already eat veggie food a few days a week and can increase that. I do enjoy a medium rare bit of sirloin so I must source that, and eggs.

Do the Amish keep their animals any better? I had heard not.

dbd33

Amish, I dunno. Mennonites, no.

bats

Even if there are such places unless you can buy the milk at the farm it all goes into one cooperative pot. I know of a local jersey herd but the milk just gets mixed in with the rest.

Tirytory

Why? I got the distinct impression from the husbands boss that he had just put something wonderful on our table when he served us Mennonite beef? Really interested...

dbd33

It's the same as eggs. If you have a connection you can get the original product from the supplier. As you may know, my ex (well an ex) was very interested in food, she founded and ran an organic food coop for twenty years. One of the items they sold was raw milk. Eventually the supplier, the blue school bus guy, got busted but the cops didn't go after the street level suppliers and the coop was able to hook up with someone else. Something else she did was to buy a share in several cows which provided some sort of "I'm a farmer" exemption under which she could obtain grey market milk for the coop.

It can be done but it was all a terrible palaver; people who want to eat well should probably just move to France.

Dashie

Whether it's treated better depends on the individual farmer. You need to do your own research, or as much as they let you. Ours seem pretty good.

Friends of ours get organic raw milk from pastured cows at $4 a litre plus whatever their annual charge is. We couldn't sustain that. I have a friend with a cow but they're so restricted on being able (or not) to sell the milk.

dbd33

I can't say I've ever heard of "Mennonite beef" and we go to Mennonite markets all the time; I've just eaten a Mennonite scallion. The standard for beef locally is set by this place: Peace Valley Ranch | All natural Premium Grass Fed Black Angus Beef.

Mennonites treat their horses miserably; at the auctions in Listowel there's an endless parade of broken two year olds, unwatered horses waiting outside and so on. Similarly, churches have parking spots for dozens of horse drawn vehicles but no troughs. I suppose it's possible that cows are more hallowed, perhaps through some sort of Mennonite/Hindu theological overlap, but I have to think not.

bats

There's an assumption that they, Mennonites and Amish, are kind and gentle peoples which isn't the case at all in my experience. I've encountered a few Amish who have been surly, rude, and treat women badly. The old men are controlling.

dbd33

I haven't heard any such assertion. I hear that Mennonites build cheaply and well, smell and treat their women poorly. I see that they're not kind to animals and that they smoke a lot.

bats

I blame Harrison Ford

scrubbedexpat091

I am curious of your opinion on the places like this that label eggs free range, they just say the chickens are free to go outside on the pasture, but not a whole lot of info overall. I just know their eggs in the grocery stores are 7-9 bucks a dozen so never bought any, and not even sure the chickens lead a better life.

Rabbit River Farms