On the 3rd day of Christmas... Chickens don’t like Climate Change
Thu, 03 Dec 2015 12:02:00 GMT
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me - Three French Hens. Lets start in the UK where each year nearly 900 million British Birds are bred, hatched, reared and slaughtered. 95% of the population eat chicken, normally about twice a week. This Christmas alone we will eat 10 million Turkeys, with 76% of us tucking in on Christmas Day.
Global poultry consumption is growing as chicken, in particular, is widely regarded as the cheapest and most nutritious of meat proteins, and there are no common cultural barriers to its consumption.
Although the poultry industry is a minor Greenhouse Gas villain, accounting for less than 1% of the annual CO2 emissions from the livestock sector, it is an industry that is beginning to take its climate change responsibilities seriously, but largely from a self preservation perspective.
Most of the greenhouse gas emissions from poultry are associated with energy used in production – largely in the production of poultry feed and temperature maintenance in their living conditions. Nitrous oxides and methane (greenhouse gases) are produced by chicken manure. As demand for poultry increases, it is likely that these emissions will rise, but other, climate change related factors will exacerbate that increase. The simple fact is that chickens don’t like climate change! The birds are highly susceptible to stress and often fall of their perch in response to extremes in weather, with heat stress a major cause of premature death. The impacts of climate change mean that birds will be increasingly exposed to weather related stress and the increased risk of disease. Attempts by poultry farmers to manage this, such as the installation of ventilation and cooling systems, will result in higher emissions. These constitute a real threat to the sector and poultry experts are already concerned of threats to supplies.
But don’t panic – this Christmas there will be plenty of choice for you. Will you go for a super sonic free range organic turkey with a price tag in excess of £100? Or what about a £15 frozen supermarket turkey with a cute little red tractor on the label? One of the latter will have been reared in a living space smaller than a opened broadsheet newspaper, alongside up to 50,000 other birds. Not so nice? Okay, how about a happy free range specimen - surely they will have more space and will have spent their longer lives (7 months) gobbling and pecking their way around open, bucolic green fields? Well…not necessarily….the maximum stocking density is 25kg per square metre, twice the size of the space allowed for their intensively reared cousins. That might seem okay, but those of you who have had the doubtful joy of encountering a lively, full sized turkey will know that they can get big…very big….and very scary!
So maybe a chicken, better still, a French Hen (or three?!). How about the Poulet de Bresse? This is a breed unique to France with its own ‘Appelation Controlee’ , described as “the queen of poultry, the poultry of kings”. This looks much better, they are free range, with each bird allocated 10m of pasture, fed on cereals and dairy products and encouraged to forage for insects. But at four months that all changes and they are taken inside to a dark fattening shed where they are fed intensively on maize and milk with their movements restricted…...mmmm…….maybe not?
Difficult choices?
Who will join me for a nut roast?
