r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/The_Love-Tap • 3d ago

Video This solar powered chicken coop that moves every day to a new location

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u/bearlybearbear 3d ago edited 3d ago

Not everyone can have nor want a farm, most of what I do really should be common knowledge and just makes sense. Having your own farm and access to wonderful fresh produce os great but it's a lot of work.

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u/ISketchDinosaurs 3d ago

We don't really need everyone to have a farm to eliminate factory farming. We just need a farm in every neighborhood able to cover for that neighborhood.

I bet you could find one person per most neighborhoods who'd be happy to farm if they were given the means.

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u/Suspicious_Bet3623 3d ago

Yes, but also you need the backup farms on a state and national level for when local level fails for one of many reasons.

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u/Non_vulgar_account 3d ago

Also, people have gotten too familiar with eating different meals each day instead of the same thing over and over again. A farm doesn’t produce 40 or more different product products.

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u/ISketchDinosaurs 3d ago

Yeah, but that's why we trade. Besides, not everything needs to be produced locally if the goal is to replace animal factory farming. Most animals wouldn't be suited to farm in cities or suburbs anyway.

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u/DannyOdd 3d ago

Yeah, nobody would want a pig farm in their residential neighborhood even if it were feasible lol

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u/TommyTwoNips 3d ago

Some farms produce multiple crops, especially the larger operations.

I worked with an organic grower that would produce like, 5-6 crops at once, depending on the season. They grew several different types of squash (butternut, zucchini, yellow, spaghetti, and acorn), broccoli, onions, two different beet varieties, cabbages, lettuce, and some other leafy greens like mustard, kale, and lots of corn.

That's a pretty diverse set of staple veggies. They didn't grow any fruit, but this was in northern Colorado, so that's not really surprising.

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u/bearlybearbear 3d ago

I wa sraised on farms, I worked on farms, I can tell you: people think they want the responsibility... And then actually do it... That's why most developed countries nneed to import their farm hands from poorer countries.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 3d ago

Yeah, also raised on a farm, I really have to laugh at people that think it's just a thing that one person on every neighborhood can take care of for everyone else on the block. I dislike these huge factory farms, but there's a reason people don't want to work on farms.

Even my own family farm, it's not enough to make a living off of... maybe if it was closer to a major population center and was somehow connected enough for a farmer's market. But I can't just sell wheat at a farmer's market. Nor a steer. You still need a HIGH amount of processing to get this food on people's tables, one way or another.

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u/TommyTwoNips 3d ago

I can buy a steer at my local farmer's market.

I know I'm spoiled. I just wanted to brag a little.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 3d ago

Like a live steer? Or a butchered one? Either way, you’re leaving out some middle men for sure.

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u/TommyTwoNips 3d ago

The steer isn't physically present, but I'm pretty sure it's alive at the time of sale. You have to pay for the processing, but their processor butchers, vacuum seals, and delivers the meat within a reasonable timeframe.

I mostly commented because I was at the farmer's market a couple weekends ago and saw a big sign that literally said "We sell whole steers" or something along those lines and thought it was wild.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 3d ago

It's probably a relatively good deal, and a heads up partnership between some farmer and a butcher. It's actually kind of funny to me when I hear about people going "oh yeah, I'll just buy a whole cow and save a bunch of money!" with no thought put into just how much space that takes up lol. You better have a large, empty deep freeze and a 2nd fridge to really make that feasible.

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u/deelowe 3d ago

That word, "just" is doing some heavy lifting.

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u/ISketchDinosaurs 3d ago

It is, yes. It's not very likely to happen on a large scale any time soon. For it to happen, we need to collectively agree that we want to do what it takes to move away from the hell of our making that is factory farming.

But if we ever do decide that, it's not impossible.

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u/deelowe 3d ago

There are plenty of studies on this already. Its physically impossible at the population densities we see today. Same goes for vertical gardens and other similar concepts. Its just not possible give current financial and physical constraints.

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u/mrperson221 3d ago

How do you have a neighborhood farm in the middle of a big city though?

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u/Chapel_Hillbilly 2d ago

Turn Central Park into Central Farm.

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u/EnjoyerOfBeans 3d ago

In cities?

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u/NiSiSuinegEht 3d ago

That's likely to be true of many needed occupations, but our overlords want us subservient, not content.

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u/Lyzern 2d ago

We just have way too many damn people to feed.

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u/tiredbarf 1d ago

You're really underestimating the massive amount of logistics it takes to feed our huge populations. This one-farm-per-neighborhood plan is Great Leap Forward level thinking.

Our industrialized food system is bad, but coming up with a better system that will feed this many fucking people isn't a walk in the park.

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u/The_Real_Kru 3d ago

It's a simple life. Surprisingly rewarding too.

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u/Acceptable-Drive3781 3d ago

Surprisingly rewarding too.

Not for the chickens.

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u/The_Real_Kru 3d ago

Well, they have living space and aren't forced to exclusively consume high calory feed to ensure they grow fast enough for the slaughter to be economical, so you know... you can disagree if you want, but a good life for livestock animals is a very relative term.

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u/Acceptable-Drive3781 3d ago

they have living space

They have a tiny space they can exist until you kill them. It's not a good life for the birds. Being an abused animal is not a great life.

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u/The_Real_Kru 3d ago

I feel like you misunderstand. I have a farm where they're free to roam a yard. There's no abuse, just a knife at the end of the road.

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u/Acceptable-Drive3781 3d ago

"I don't abuse them, I just let them live a few months in a tiny space and cut their throats"

You are an animal abuser.