Livestock Farming Realities: Mortality Rates and Feed Compositions

Exploring the practical aspects of livestock farming, this chapter discusses mortality rates in sheep flocks and the feed compositions used in the conventional chicken industry, including proprietary blends with ingredients like corn, soybean meal, bakery remnants, trace minerals, and animal byproducts. It also covers the challenges faced by farmers when abruptly losing contracts after years of raising birds, detailing the financial pressures, changes in production schedules, layoffs, and difficulties in transitioning to a new batch of birds.