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But there is more then just using them for food. Pigs for eaxmple can be used as a sort of biological recycling factory. In addition they produce _usable_ waste

by dkhenry 14y ago

But there is more then just using them for food. Pigs for eaxmple can be used as a sort of biological recycling factory. In addition they produce _usable_ waste from _unusable_ waste. So your actually incurring a cost in not bringing them along that you will need some technology to replace. Then at the end you need to find a way to maintain or repair your technology while you could just mate the pigs and eat their parents. Additionally Bacon.

stcredzero 14y ago
> Pigs for eaxmple can be used as a sort of biological recycling factory. In addition they produce _usable_ waste from _unusable_ waste. Given some bacteria, fungi, and earthworms, there is little that composting couldn't also recycle. Farms are basically solar collectors. Unless you have lots of excess capacity, it only makes sense to support livestock on kitchen waste. Studies were done on this in the 70's. It turns out that chickens laying eggs are more efficient than pigs for this purpose.
- dkhenry 14y ago
  This is true, but its a matter of 1. Speed 2. By products Chickens might be better then pigs, but the point is those little biological machines are really good at what they do and they are are easier to take care of/maintain then some machine to serve the same purpose.
  - stcredzero 14y ago
    Speed is not so much an issue if you're trying to stay long term. If you can find it, look up T. A. Heppenheimer's Colonies in Space. The "Up on the Farm" chapter was fun to read, and it has a pretty extensive set of references. Farmed Tilapia might also be an option, though I'm not clear on how flexible their diet is.
    - bunderbunder 14y ago
      I'd be more concerned about how flexible their habitat is. Mars doesn't exactly have a whole lot of water.
      - stcredzero 14y ago
        Actually, in the context of the solar system, Mars is pretty water rich. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars#Polar_ice_caps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars#Polar_ice_caps By Earth standards, it's drier than the Gobi desert, but for the purposes of colonization, there's plenty there to work with. The polar ice caps alone could cover the whole planet in an average depth of 16 meters of water. Also, there's the asteroids for when the population grows to a considerable size.
        bunderbunder 14y ago
        Absolutely. But in the more temperate regions there's not quite so much water, and shipping it in from the ice caps would be expensive. For the first colonists, I'm guessing they'd want to make do with as little water as they could get away with - meaning there wouldn't be any raising of fish unless they couldn't get away with not raising fish.
        stcredzero 14y ago
        > in the more temperate regions there's not quite so much water, and shipping it in from the ice caps would be expensive. I'd see if I could use the atmosphere as a shipment mechanism. > For the first colonists, I'm guessing they'd want to make do with as little water as they could get away with - meaning there wouldn't be any raising of fish unless they couldn't get away with not raising fish. Farmed Tilapia ponds could serve as a reservoir of water/hydrogen. For a population in the 10's of thousands, it would seem to be a reasonable addition. For the first hundred, not so much.

by dkhenry 14y ago

stcredzero 14y ago

> Pigs for eaxmple can be used as a sort of biological recycling factory. In addition they produce _usable_ waste from _unusable_ waste. Given some bacteria, fungi, and earthworms, there is little that composting couldn't also recycle. Farms are basically solar collectors. Unless you have lots of excess capacity, it only makes sense to support livestock on kitchen waste. Studies were done on this in the 70's. It turns out that chickens laying eggs are more efficient than pigs for this purpose.

dkhenry 14y ago
This is true, but its a matter of 1. Speed 2. By products Chickens might be better then pigs, but the point is those little biological machines are really good at what they do and they are are easier to take care of/maintain then some machine to serve the same purpose.
- stcredzero 14y ago
  Speed is not so much an issue if you're trying to stay long term. If you can find it, look up T. A. Heppenheimer's Colonies in Space. The "Up on the Farm" chapter was fun to read, and it has a pretty extensive set of references. Farmed Tilapia might also be an option, though I'm not clear on how flexible their diet is.
  - bunderbunder 14y ago
    I'd be more concerned about how flexible their habitat is. Mars doesn't exactly have a whole lot of water.
    - stcredzero 14y ago
      Actually, in the context of the solar system, Mars is pretty water rich. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars#Polar_ice_caps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars#Polar_ice_caps By Earth standards, it's drier than the Gobi desert, but for the purposes of colonization, there's plenty there to work with. The polar ice caps alone could cover the whole planet in an average depth of 16 meters of water. Also, there's the asteroids for when the population grows to a considerable size.
      - bunderbunder 14y ago
        Absolutely. But in the more temperate regions there's not quite so much water, and shipping it in from the ice caps would be expensive. For the first colonists, I'm guessing they'd want to make do with as little water as they could get away with - meaning there wouldn't be any raising of fish unless they couldn't get away with not raising fish.
        stcredzero 14y ago
        > in the more temperate regions there's not quite so much water, and shipping it in from the ice caps would be expensive. I'd see if I could use the atmosphere as a shipment mechanism. > For the first colonists, I'm guessing they'd want to make do with as little water as they could get away with - meaning there wouldn't be any raising of fish unless they couldn't get away with not raising fish. Farmed Tilapia ponds could serve as a reservoir of water/hydrogen. For a population in the 10's of thousands, it would seem to be a reasonable addition. For the first hundred, not so much.