2-22 IAN Free Range

  Big ag production operations versus smaller organic farms. Is there an in between?

There is always a huge discussion about production farming versus organic farming.  At the epicenter is the question of egg production. Factory eggs  see hens in tiny little cages so small they can hardly stretch there  wings. Homestead Natural Food producer, Bill Gale?from Middleton, ID has an opinion on this kind of production: “ That is not what the chicken was intended to be. We are in the business of selling good food and it is really easy to pick up the taste difference between a factory egg and a free range egg.” But Bill does not limit his thoughts to egg laying and beef production. He also has strong feelings regarding milk production. “Chickens are like a cow. I mean  a Holstein cow is a genetic anomaly. No animal should produce 10 times more milk than its offspring can drink. However, this does not mean that Bill and his family, who raise free range  chicken, pigs and cattle,  need to be 100% organic. “My daughter has chickens and they are certainly not 100% free range, she has laying hens and they have access to green pasture, most days, 12 hours a day, they are raising meat birds and some laying hens, we are not totally organic because it is too hard to get organic feed, but they are all natural, no antibiotics, no hormones, and access to green grass.”