On the job

Our friends from the Department of Agriculture (DA) are clearly on the job, watching out for imported agricultural products that may be tainted or prove harmful to local consumers as well as the industry. Usec Noel Reyes, spokesperson for the DA, messaged me last Monday that while I was writing the column “Tainted Wings” concerning high risk imported chicken wings from Brazil, the DA was apparently on their way to investigate and confiscate any and all such imported products. Unfortunately, my column came out two days later as per schedule of appearance. Nonetheless, Usec Reyes reiterated the DA’s commitment to stand guard and prevent such importations from threatening the country’s food supply and public health.

A few days later, the DA once again clamped down on imported chicken products, this time those coming from Australia as a preventive measure because of concerns with the Bird Flu virus.  Down south in the Mindanao area they are also studying imported canned products due to outbreaks of the African Swine Fever or ASF. More than anything, what’s important is for the public to know and see that officials and personnel of the DA are actively moving against high risk and unnecessary importation of agricultural products while supporting our local farmers and local products. For our part, let’s all express our appreciation whenever we can in order to inspire and encourage public officials rather than bump heads with them all the time. They do get things done, right more often than not.

*      *      *

Vice Mayor and veteran public servant Mike Rama from Cebu City called me to share the memories he had as a young man in the farm. Mr. Rama read our column about practices of backyard farmers and told me how his father also concocted their own feed mix in the old days. I too had to mix feed for fighting cocks for my Dad Louie Beltran and it was no easy task. Fortunately, in these modern times where efficiency is required in production, materials and costs, the top brands manufacture feeds that meet strict requirements of commercial farms and investors. In the old days you sort of have to invent or create a feed mix for different applications, hoping your mix was right. We would buy corn and manually grind them, mix in dilis, dog food, even hammered talaba or oyster shells for calcium. But nowadays, companies like BMeg feeds have feeds for all sorts of applications. I recently remembered that they even have a specialized feed for “Free Range” chickens.

Yes, contrary to popular impression, free range chickens still need to be fed. They did so in the old days and they still do so nowadays. The advantage to having free range chickens is that they are naturally kept outdoors and not boxed-in in metal cages with no movement. Chickens that move around, run or fly around have better muscle/meat development, better blood circulation that affects taste and meat quality and they have access to insects and foods available in the open. It’s the same reason why baboy  damo  or baboy ramo tastes better than caged pigs. But all that moving around requires more food so you have good quality table chicken and not lean and mean birds that look like they will be participating in the next chicken catching marathon. If you don’t feed them they will be worst than a plague of locust eating everything in sight and you will know how Moses felt! So yes, you have to feed them.

Just so you know BMeg Free Range feeds are different. They are designed for the purpose by using natural products and materials to make the feed. That is the first and strictest requirement because free range birds must not be given any chemically engineered or altered additives and medicines or it would totally defeat the concept of being free range. This is also the reason why free range chicken farmers and producers have to charge more. They don’t just get any chicken from anywhere. These are all bred special to be tough from birth, tough in the outdoors yet remain tender juicy chickens. The free range feeds in turn provide the chickens a combination of the needed feed materials that strengthen their immune system naturally, insures they grow and gain weight on schedule, which is almost double the number of days compared to raising the “Broiler 45-day” chicken.

So there you go, for all those who’ve been asking about the whys and wherefores of free range chicken raising and cockfighting, don’t waste your time reinventing the wheel. Just buy the best in the bag and get on with it!

*      *      *

Speaking of cockfighting, while many aficionados and patrons of the sport are longing and pushing for the resumption of cockfighting or sabong, others are expressing concern and disapproval towards “tupadas” or illegal cockfights in barangays and farms. The growing sentiment is that the “tupadas” are giving legitimate breeders and fighters a bad reputation and these illegal activities will only prolong the suspension of the events.

While the general public may be ignorant of the facts, sabong in the Philippines is a billion-peso agricultural and commercial industry that begins with thousands of farms that collectively houses hundreds of millions of pesos worth of breeding and fighting material, that employs thousands of under privileged and unschooled men and women. These farms consume millions of pesos in electricity, water, billion pesos spent buying feeds, medicines and equipment. Millions spent for veterinary and security requirements and supports feed mills, veterinary companies, and hundreds of LGUs that collect 10 percent from every bet, 12 percent in VAT for sales, etc.

As they say, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water”. Pls report any “tupada” or illegal cockfight. It is an honorable sport and a legitimate industry. Keep it that way!