Wouldn’t you be fascinated by producing your own food without using dubious chemicals and on your own terms and pace? If food sustainability is a concept of your liking, then you might want to give micro livestock a chance.
Typically, when people hear the term livestock, they associate it with poultry, camels, horses, cattle, and sheep. However, micro or mini livestock, by definition, describes animals of lesser size and even miniature animals.
What is micro livestock in-depth?
Why should you give micro livestock a serious thought? Generally speaking, it can be essential in creating sustainability at home, even in an urban homestead. Under such circumstances, modern asphalt jungle farmers can raise and breed a list of more minor and micro livestock, such as insects, bees, worms, and crickets. At the same time, you can go with slightly larger animals, such as Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, rabbits, pigeons, ducks, and quails.
During the last decade, establishing such “farms” and urban homesteads became a growing trend among people searching for alternative and eco-friendly food sources globally. City folks can resort to micro livestock production if they wish to tend to their garden and turn their backyard into a food-producing oasis. Insects have the power to convert waste into a resource. Let’s take chicken, for instance! They can turn kitchen waste food into manure, meat, and eggs.
One thing is for sure; sustainable products made an entrance on hipster food markets as well.
Insects can feed animals around the house.
You can raise insects for the countless commodities they produce, such as honey or flour. Besides, you can eat some of them or feed other animals with them. The use of insects for nourishment purposes for other animals is on par with the nutritional value of feeds from fish. Crickets and bees are two of the most common micro livestock known and kept worldwide.
Did you know that flies and grasshoppers can be used as nutrition supplements, for instance, in the case of chickens and ducks? Besides domesticated birds, bugs can serve as food for your pets, such as reptiles, monkeys, and lories.
Micro livestock is just what the doctor prescribes for you!
You must have realized by now that micro livestock offers an exceptionally high nutritional value. Yes, insects and bugs are perfectly serviceable and advantageous for human consumption, also known as entomophagy.
Therefore, some exotic food connaisseurs are not taken aback by the unaesthetic packaging and have been eating micro livestock without hesitation for over 25,000 years. We must look past our initial reservations and give in to this healthy snack!
Crickets beat cattle!
Did you know that crickets contain more protein than beef? Crickets boost about 68 grams of protein per 100 grams, while beef has only 30 grams. Most frequently, people consume crickets fried, dry-roasted, boiled, and backed as a substantial part of their diet.
On the other hand, this unique micro livestock features a significant advantage over other animals. It contains considerably fewer calories than beef by approximately 66 percent and a quarter of the fat. We should also set you at ease: there are no known diseases you can contract after consuming crickets!
Use cricket flour rich in protein!
The beneficial insects can be turned into cricket flour, a nutritional powder, once the micro animals are dried. Then, they add the flour to a wide variety of recipes. Don’t believe us? In that case, you should check the ingredients of chocolate espresso banana bread, cricket nachos, amber candy, and fossil cookies. You should review the best farmers’ markets in the US to see whether they already have these products!
The most excellent American -cricket flour companies that managed to build a genuine empire based on micro livestock are Chirps, Exo Inc., and Bitty Foods.
What are the large-scope advantages of micro livestock production?
Raising large livestock takes up about seventy percent of agricultural land use. However, breeding small and micro livestock accounts for only a tiny portion of the same land. Moreover, you don’t need to own an actual farm or ample outdoor space! You can also raise almost any micro livestock indoors (or even in a fallout shelter.)
Raising micro livestock requires a substantially smaller amount of food than any other large livestock. For example, it takes around twelve times more feeds to produce 100 grams of beef than to raise 100 grams of cricket meat. Also, to obtain the same amount of protein, crickets require a quarter the amount of food that sheep do, and only half that chickens need.
Managing a micro livestock farm can result in a higher turnover rate than other livestock industries. Most smaller livestock reaches full maturity quite soon; for example, crickets “enter adulthood’ in three to four weeks. In addition, female insects are expected to lay numerous eggs in the course of one week (a female cricket lays approximately 1,500 eggs weekly.) Thus, farmers won’t face problems raising new generations.
In a nutshell, reduced breeding and storage costs and high turnover rates can bring you increased yields.
Raising mini livestock is an eco-friendly solution.
The production of micro livestock favors the environment. Besides thermites, no other known mini animals produce methane. Lastly, none of them don’t generate ammonia. Therefore, considering the long list of micro livestock, we can undoubtedly confirm that breeding such small animals will lead humanity to an economically sustainable future!
Mode of preparation
Let us address a fundamental concern of yours straight ahead! The harvesting of micro livestock is entirely humane. For instance, in the case of crickets, they wait till the end of their complete six-week lifecycle. Then, they resort to the so-called deep freezing practice. The cold temperature stills them before passing away. Thus, they won’t feel any pain. As the next step, they bake the insects until they’re dry.
Conclusion
Economic news lately tends to focus on an impending food shortage that will strike humankind in the foreseeable future. For this reason, we must discover alternative food sources to produce a reliable quantity of food supply for our grandchildren. Hence, raising sustainable micro livestock constitutes a solid solution to our problems.
Micro livestock production is more cost-effective than traditional animals. You can cut expenses in feeding and storing them. Besides, you can practice it without spatial restraints, meaning you don’t require a vast rural homestead. Furthermore, in large quantities, they contain more nutrients and fewer fats and calories than regular cattle meat. You can turn a profit overnight and invest your revenue in rental properties, for example, quite effortlessly.
We wouldn’t be too surprised if micro livestock-based food would be listed as the best American food you must try very soon!
