Eat medium eggs...

Something that hadn't occurred to me - it seems that breeding chickens to produce large eggs can cause problems. See Times article. A couple of excerpts below.

Phil Brooke, of Compassion in World Farming, said: “Selectively breeding hens for high productivity, whether larger eggs or larger numbers of eggs, can cause a range of problems such as osteoporosis, bone breakage and prolapse. We need to breed and feed hens so that they can produce eggs without risk to their health or welfare.”

Christine Nicol, Professor of Animal Welfare at the University of Bristol, said: “There is no strong published evidence of pain in egg-laying hens but it's not unreasonable to think there may be a mismatch in the size of birds and the eggs they produce. We do often spot bloodstains on large eggs. As a personal decision I would never buy jumbo eggs.”

Otters, owls and wild boar

These beasts, viewed safely from behind a fence, live at the New Forest Otter and Owl Sanctuary, along with many other animals, from wallabies and badgers to tiny harvest mice, which move so quickly I couldn't manage a photo. There are also a couple of hand-reared rescue deer which enjoy chewing scarves and shoelaces while you're wearing them.
The wild boar and his family seem to lead a fairly placid life. He has a ferocious-looking set of tusks, and is no lightweight. I don't know how many live in the wild in England, but I would hate to corner one.

Jamie and Sainsbury's

A post-script to the Jamie Oliver story - he apparently slated Sainsbury's for not turning up to a public discussion (unlike the Co-op and Waitrose), but has now apologised to them. He fronts a lot of their TV advertising. They pay him big bucks. Does he really need them so badly?
Sainsbury's are improving on animal welfare issues, but could do better, and do it faster.

The original story could be spun as an attempt by the Daily Mirror to undermine either Jamie or Sainsbury's, I suppose, or simply as a way for both to get extra publicity/ money?

Or am I getting too deep into conspiracy theories here in an attempt to make sense out of it?

Jamie's Fowls

One celeb who puts his fame to good use is Jamie Oliver. Not only does he produce useful cookery books, but he cares about how food is produced. I probably won't watch the Channel 4 programmes about battery chickens, but anything that makes people more aware of the cruelty involved in the process can only help.

Apart from the cruelty, I imagine intensive farming must increase the rate of infection when viruses such as avian flu are around.

The government intends to get rid of these methods, but we as consumers will need to change our demands - if we waste less of the food we buy, we'll be able to afford slightly higher prices, surely. And the supermarkets will need to stop encouraging us to think the only way to measure value is by price.

The Boxing Day Hunt

No not for foxes, for an earring. I shouldn't have been tempted to do a cartwheel on the track - following the bad example set by Harry and Esther. In spite of two fingertip searches by Eyes-peeled Esther and Hell-hound Harry, we haven't found the earring. Esther assures me it was not expensive, nor irreplaceable. Here are the hunters, along with Adrian, and then I popped in to join them.



That tripod is fun.

Later we did see some intrepid shooters along the track. Four 4 x 4s, a dozen people and their dogs. The only game I could see was one pheasant. That food must have had one hell of a carbon footprint. At a push, I'll accept that at least it'll be eaten, and the pheasant probably had a better life than battery poultry.

Starting again...

Ok, forget all the French stuff, I'll keep that to another blog, just to keep my brain functioning.
Interesting report from Compassion in World Farming that I want to remember - not that I can pretend to be purest of the pure in any way, as I balance other considerations, such as price and how much petrol I use driving to the supermarket. My nearest ones are Asda and Somerfield. Somerfield doesn't have not such a good selection, but at least they're based in UK. ASDA, part of the infamous Walmart "family" (cringe, cringe), cheap good selection, but notorious for poor labour relations in the US, and predatory pricing. They refused to take part in the survey.
Hmm.

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/supermarkets/

Maybe it's poetic justice, but I just tried to heat up some frozen croissants from ASDA. They'd been left open in the freezer and they were dried out (I should have left the typo - dired). So we've spent the money there, and wasted it, and they've bitten back. Ho hum.

Beautiful day, so I did my frequent walk along the farm track out towards Kirby Hall - I wore the step counter, since I was curious, but it refused to register my steps - why? Since I changed at home it seems fine. Must be the trousers I was wearing, or or...
All the other people out were dog-walkers, and of course the guy who rides the bike and lets his dog walk.