Dac, that was priceless!!!!
His birds were very crowded in that building, I was standing at the doorway when I took that pic, so the space you see is the space they had.....sort of put me in mind of the broiler houses.
One of the questions I asked was about his cows rumens...they were all squirting liquid feces and I merely asked him how long they had been out on spring grass. He stated they had been there since March. Now, by my thinking, if an animal has been on spring pasture for 2 1/2 months ,their rumen should have adjusted by now if it were going to do so. If not, many of their nutrients are shooting out their backside, along with valuable electrolytes.
I had read in one of his books where he provides winter stored hay in his fields in the spring so that the cows can have roughage and keep their rumens healthy. I did not see any hay, so I asked him how long it would be before their stool would be more firm....his reply was that this was rich graze. That was it....no explanation as to why he was letting his cows squirt their life away as if they were on a high corn diet. Well...duh! I can see that it's rich graze...what the heck are you doing for these cows so they can actually utilize it to it's full potential was the implied question here. He declined to expand on his answer but quickly changed the subject after giving me a dismissive glare. Yep, he glared.
In one of his books he describes what a healthy cow pat should look like, so I was trying to determine why he would describe this if his own cows didn't have them. Just curious, I guess, as it didn't seem to be an efficient use of all that great pasture nutrition.
Second question was about his broiler ration. I asked if he designed his own formula and was this list of ingredients available for viewing. He very sharply retorted that yes, he did design his own from local non-GMO grains and the ingredients were in his book. Obviously, few people on the tour had even read his books, so he was, in effect, telling me to go read a book, I don't wish to answer your question. Again, it was answered in a very abrupt and dismissive tone, no smiling charm wasted there.
I wouldn't call my questions any more intelligent than any one of you would have asked in the same situation...I'm wondering how he treats actual guy farmers who ask pointed or probing questions?
