Life Transplanet

Today as part of my Leadership Weld County class we learned about the agriculture and natural resources in Weld County.

The day started with a professional impersonator of Warren Monfort, the trailblazer of our community who started the “pen-feeding” of cattle that has now become the norm. He talked about how he got interested in doing it and the millions and millions of dollars that were made in this business. He barely skimmed the surface of the problems that it caused (causes), but it was still quite a fascinating story of determination. We also learned about Greeley’s role in water rights in all of Colorado and what we will need to do to hold all the water in the future (possible reservoir projects on the horizon).

From these two discussions, I put together something that no one really addressed. They talked about the fact that feeding cattle requires a lot of corn and silage and how corn is a very water intensive crop. Then, the next speaker talked about our lack of water on these dryland plains. It seemed rather strange that here we have a species of animal (actually buffaloes roamed freely here for a long time too) that loves to roam around and eat dryland grasses but yet we decided to create at least two problems where there was one perfect solution (no need to water, and the cows would pasture and stay healthier).

After these presentations we went to a dairy farm called Cozy Cow Dairy in Windsor. It was so sweet. You could tell that the woman who gave the presentation really loved her cows. She even painted a mural of them in the tour room! After we saw a milking demonstration we tasted their milk which is a mixture of Holstein and Jersey milk and some cheese curds. They were both excellent!

The next stop was at an oil rig. I have never been to an oil rig before. It was noisy and windy and dirty, and I don’t think I could ever work there, but it was pretty interesting how they do it all. We even had to wear hard hats like real workers!

Me and Jamie at the oil rig

Next up was very close to my heart of course because of my own chickens. We toured Morning Fresh Eggs in Platteville. They are a producer of Eggland’s Best Eggs, if you’ve ever seen those commercials. The factory was very clean at least in the part that we were allowed to see, and they had a lot of reasons why factory farming of eggs is great. I, as you could probably surmise, completely disagree, and this is in fact one of the reasons we got our own backyard hens.

But it was still interesting to see what it would take to raise over 1.6 million chickens indoors…again, what a waste because here is an animal that loves to peck around, play outside, take dust baths and roost at night. Instead we have turned them into nothing more than production units that get to live to 104 weeks (2 years). Reminds me a little of the Matrix. Let me say it again so you can wrap your mind around this: One and a half million chickens…holy cow (or chicken) that’s larger than Denver if that were people! And they said that each person on average eats about 5 eggs a week in both whole egg form or in cakes, ice creams, and other products. That would be about what one happy hen in your backyard could produce for you! Why do we feel like we have to make factories out of everything?! Even the easiest, best solutions turn into problems when we try to force living things into factory mass production systems.

Just check out the sheer number of eggs in this video I took:

We also got to talk with a local farmer about his vegetable farming experience. Overall, the whole day was quite fascinating and probably the most important to learn about in terms of Weld County’s heritage. I was certainly happy to get home to find three healthy speckled and not so standardized eggs in the girls’ nesting box. It helped confirm for me all the reasons we garden and raise chickens and in general utilize our own natural (human) resources as much as possible.

Greeley is an interesting place to live I’ll say that much. This time not interesting in a good way.

At the council meeting there was a large group that showed support for changing the ordinance in regards to backyard hens. A veterinarian, several well educated folks and basic hard working people. There were a few people who were against this change and they were against it for reasons of commercial scale operations, disease and one because she was allergic to feathers. One lady (this was the best one) was against it because chickens can be used to smuggle drugs. Yes once again, they are the root of all evil.

When it came time to vote the council members in support Mike Finn, Donna Sapienza and Sandy Elder provided the reasons for their support and I do appreciate that. The council members who voted no didn’t provide any rhyme or reason to their decision. They had no valid reason except that they didn’t agree with what I am doing in my backyard even if it has no effect on them. Since the vote was a tie, it didn’t pass.

I’m disappointed in our local governments ability to listen to the public and make a decision that empowers the individual.

If you want a live action, local drama, tonight is the night! The chicken ordinance will be debated and voted upon tonight! Please come out if you support them, we will need all the help we can get. 919 7th Street, Greeley, Colorado at 6pm. Wear a Green Shirt.

Drawing by Rob Smith, Jr

Here we are at the finale, finally. How this issue got so big, I have no idea. People have been keeping chickens in Greeley, legally and as pets for many years, but this time it has the attention of the city and state. Apparently almost all the local radio stations and news stations were talking about them this morning. 

Britton and I just kind of chuckle to ourselves that we were a large factor behind this whole thing, and didn’t even want to be. We just wanted to be left alone to run our lives as we see fit. We weren’t bothering anyone; no one, including our next door neighbors even knew for almost 2 years that we even had them!

We aren’t too worried about the outcome. Either way, we get to keep our chickens. Both options are also actually not ideal. Option 1 is to keep it the way it is which is confusing because they allow 1 chicken for every 1/10 of an acre of land as part of the commercial livestock code. There is also another code, the domesticated animal, or pet code, that says “domesticated birds” are allowed, and there is no limit. So under that code, anyone with any chickens as “pets” would be fine.

Option 2 is the proposed code. To me, this is actually worse than option 1, but at least it legitimizes people having more chickens than the commercial code specifies. Option two is not ideal because it gives government WAY too much power and creates a problem where there isn’t one. To see the proposed code, go here.

The main arguments against chickens in general I hear are 1) smell or noise, 2) Greeley’s image and 3) they belong in the country. While I have already addressed those, I thought I would  give another response.

1) They do not smell any more than a dog or cat. If you keep their coop cleaned and especially if you allow them to free range in your yard like we do, there will not be any build up. If people keep a reasonable number as they would any other pet (say 4-6), there will be no smell to speak of. They are not noisy birds. From our front yard you could not tell we even had them. After we were in the newspaper the first time talking about our hens and got turned in by someone, the code enforcer thought she had the wrong house because she couldn’t see, smell or hear anything coming from our backyard.

2) Greeley’s image. Ah, yes. This is the ever lasting debate about Greeley. If you are not from Greeley, maybe you don’t even know this, but apparently Greeley has an image problem. I don’t think Greeley has too bad of an image. I’ve lived here my whole life and have never felt threatened, unsafe, or that our city services weren’t adequate. The only things I can think of is that we are an agricultural community with an economic base in feedlots and slaughterhouses. While I don’t agree that that is how we should raise and process beef and I think Greeley is a great case study of what our food system should NOT be doing, that is the reality.

With that basic fact, we have the occassional awful stench that hovers over Greeley, lower overall wages (and therefore lower cost of living which I think is great!), more poverty than elsewhere and the associated problems that poverty causes to a community.  Many of the people living in poverty come from Central America and Mexico to make a better life here and this is really what this chicken debate boils down to: racism. People are afraid we will turn into a “3rd World Country”. People have actually said this to me.

There are so many things wrong with these statements, but let me put it to you this way. Chickens and dogs live in developing countries. They also live here. Are dogs (or chickens) inherently bad just because in some areas their laws are different than ours? I agree that we need humane laws (like the current ones we have in Greeley), that chickens  -and dogs- should be fenced, that dogs and cats should be spayed and neutered and kept out of the streets. But this is not a reason to ban them altogether. Chickens don’t make “3rd World Nations”. They also don’t cause image problems, nearly every city in Colorado allows chickens. Many large, metropolitan and “hip” places (with great images) allow for chickens.

3) Chickens belong in the country…or…your backyard interferes with my backyard. Why do chickens belong in the country? Because that is the social norm? Do you realize that over 90% of the population lives in cities? And it’s only growing moreso. There are fewer and fewer “farmers” and unless we want all of our food and therefore our ability to be self-reliant and self-sufficient to be wiped away completely, we had better protect our ability to grow our own food, raise our own pets and know a little bit about what it’s like to live without the government or food conglomerates supporting us.

We should be allowed to be a little different. If we don’t have tolerance of others who are different, who try to live life differently in a way that is beneficial to them what’s to say that your differences won’t be on trial next? If your backyard can have 10 dogs (which in Greeley they can any number of pets), why can’t mine have 4 hens?

Well the city council has decided to put it back on the agenda for Feb 16 where they will hear public input and vote.

We are on a chicken rollercoaster.

We are getting very indifferent on the issue. Either situation isn’t completely desireable. The current code isn’t good but the proposed code is almost worse because of all the micromanagement and bureaucracy.

Reminds me of a saying. “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

Tonight we were told that the Greeley City Council would be simply moving the chicken ordinance to its final stage which would be the public input and final vote on February 2nd. No need to show up as it is a simple formality and we would have our day in the sun on February 2nd to discuss the backyard hen ordinance. So Britton and I decided to watch it from the comfort of our basement living room. It would be difficult to say that it was a serious matter because if I didn’t know better I’d say we were watching a comedy. An awful, scary, comedy.

The headless chicken AKA Greeley City Council: alive but barely functional

First they pulled the chicken ordinance from the consent agenda. Sometimes they will do this so that they can clarify certain items so this didn’t surprise us. They talked about it a little and then the oh, so eloquent Maria Secrest “kind of” suggested that they kill the ordinance and not even move it to public opinion and input. Which is what we have spent the last 6 months working towards! She was not very clear though, so someone else, Sandi Elder made a motion to review the ordinance in a year if it passed on February 2nd.

Then John Gates said that it depended on if the first motion carried. Well, it wasn’t exactly a motion, but then Secrest decided to make it a motion. Poor old Archibeque didn’t even know which item they were voting on, but upon hearing that Gates and Secrest didn’t want to continue with it he said that since EVERYONE didn’t want the ordinance that there was no sense in talking about it. (Since when did 2 people out of 7 become EVERYONE?) But happily, he did ask why Secrest wanted to kill the ordinance in the first place.

This is where the comedy gets really good...she said that if we allowed chickens in Greeley, PEOPLE MIGHT SHOOT EACH OTHER! Yes. That was her excuse for not allowing chickens. I had to close my eyes and blink extra hard to see if I heard that right. I thought I had every myth and fallacy out there covered.  But no, I hadn’t heard about that…I couldn’t help but laugh…yes…this is what she said…If a person’s dog went into another person’s yard and they had chickens and the said dog killed those chickens, the crazy chicken owner might just grab a gun and SHOOT the neighbor and she would not want on her conscience the death of a toddler. WHAT??! WHAT??! Am I living in the Twilight Zone? Is she that off her rocker?

Gunned down by a chicken

Apparently she and three other council members are (off their rockers) because they decided to take a vote and while Mike Finn, Sandi Elder and Donna Sapienza mentioned property rights and at least hearing from their constituents at the next council meeting, the other four voted the measure down out of the consent agenda. This was not after considerable confusion about whether or not they were voting the item down or voting the item in…that damnastid double negative language the government loves to confuse us with. I was watching the whole thing with my mind swirling… now what exactly is happening? A “no” vote means “yes” and a “yes” vote means “no” to the measure. Ok…wait, now what are they voting on again?

In the end, I am not sure what exactly happened but apparently the “yes” votes said “no” to the ordinance continuing on which in essence left us with nothing. No chance to speak, no chance to be heard, no respect for the process, nor our time, the time of the city staff, the planning commission or even the people who were against it who may have been planning to come out in two weeks to give them a piece of their mind. This was the most disgraceful example of local government ineptitude I have ever seen. Incredible!

What will this mean for us? Well that remains to be seen. We still have our original defense which we never had a response to. We also have a few more tricks up our sleeves. In any case, this is not the end of the matter, and we will happily continue our lives in Greeley with Schnoodle, Kitty, Henrietta, Omelette, Football and Greenfoot, at least until we get the hell out of this crazy warp zone.