Raising Chickens for Meat on Pasture

Raising Chickens for Meat on Pasture

Funding for this presentation was provided by USDA's Outreach and Assistance to Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (OASDFR) program (Project number 2009-00705), part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and Risk Management Agency (Award # 11-IE-53102-037).

1What is Pastured Poultry?Raised outdoors on grass and other vegetationBirds express natural instinctsSeasonal production Birds balance their dietInsectsPlantsFeedChallenges and benefits

2Pastured vs. Free RangePastured Hen

Free Range Hen

*Picture from the Cornucopia InstitutePasturing AdvantagesEasy in, Easy OutMinimal investmentQuick turn around7 10 wks

More Marketable Perception = $Real Chicken Flavor Higher Meat Quality

4Pasture FertilityProductivity and Diversity1 broiler 10 lbs manureHigh in N, P, KManure applied directly to pasture; saves laborHealth and HygieneMovement = CleanSanitation of ElementsNo AmmoniaPasturing Advantages

PredatorsKill your birds and profitsWet WeatherDamage to PastureBirds get ColdMore feed/less profitsProcessingWhere and how?LaborMoving pensFeeding Watering must automatePasturing Challenges

Pasturing Enterprise Diversification:Multi-Species Grazing

Grazing ruminants and broilers on same groundBroilers can follow cattle, sheep, or goatsRuminants mow the grassGraze ruminants once pasture responds to poultry manure; avoid health risksRuminants search for and clean up spilled feedUtilizes acreage multiple ways = $$$

Can raise broilers between orchard/vineyard rows7

Pasturing AdvantagesInexpensive to get startedEasily marketableFertilizing the pastureClean and sanitary foodPredatorsEverything eats chickenSuccessful strategies Physical BarriersFencingNettingTrained Local PredatorsWoodline DistanceLivestock Guardian Dogs (LGD)Cant shoot/trap out of predation problemsControl methods depend on predators

Predators

Predators can put you out of the pastured poultry business really quickly. The smaller the livestock, like chickens, the larger the number of predators. In fact, poultry producers have problems with animals like raccoons and skunks that other livestock farmers never deal with. Finding a way to overcome all the predators on pasture is almost an initiation rite for beginning pastured poultry farmers. After all, until you start raising chickens on pasture, its difficult to even know that coyotes, foxes, owls and hawks are around, because they spend their lives hiding from people. When you start raising poultry on pasture, though, the predators will probably make themselves known!

The best way to look at predation problems is that they reveal a flaw in the way you raise your birds. You cannot be more cunning or stubborn than a hungry fox or coyotewell, perhaps you could be, but do you have that kind of time? You are looking at farming after all. People arent the only ones who really enjoy tasty pastured poultry nearly every animal in the forest does as well! So you have to raise your birds in a way where the predators decide its just not worth trying to eat one of your delicious meatbirds.

There are several strategies to preventing predation while farming pastured poultry:

Fencing is one of the most important things you can do to prevent predators. There are two types of fencing physical and electric. Physical fencing, like field fence or barbwire, can be really costly and cunning predators often find a way to get through or over it. Electric fencing, especially fences charged by high joulage chargers, can be very effective at preventing poultry losses. Animals learn to fear the fence, and usually after one or two times, see anything in the pasture as off limits.

Many pastured poultry producers use portable electrified netting, often called poultry nets, to protect their birds. This provides a 1 two punch, combining the strengths of both electric and physical fencing in a portable package.

As the predators in your area are trained to see your birds as off-limits, the predators themselves become a means of security for your meatbirds. Predators are highly territorial, and will chase off other predators of their kind, intruders that could also attack your stock if they hung around. Getting the local predators on your side is critical to your long-term success.

Management can also help with predation. Keeping your birds away from woodlines and keeping the area around your pasture cleared, to prevent predator hiding spots, can make a big difference to your losses as many predators dont like hunting or crossing over wide open spots.

Livestock guardian dogs often stop predation problems in their tracks. Dogs protect your birds very well theyre always in the pasture, so theyre always on duty. Livestock guardian dogs barks are usually just as effective as their bites in keeping away predators. Dogs also constantly patrol and mark the perimeter of their pastures, and are natural enemies of several types of predators like raccoons, bobcats, and coyotes. One consideration with Livestock Guardian Dogs is that they need to be fed. You can save leftovers from slaughtering like the necks, feets, heart and gizzards, if you dont have a market for them, and feed them to the dogs to help differ the costs of dog food. Its important to remember that you cant shoot or trap your way out of most predator problems. In some cases, you can actually make your problems worse. For instance, if you shoot the head female in a pack of coyotes, all the females in the pack will go into heat and try to have pups, instead of just the lead female, causing an explosion in the local coyote population, and making your problem a lot worse. In addition to the general methods described above, youll have to tweak your management in response to specific problems, and customize your predator control strategies to meet your farms needs.

9Success in Pasture PoultryKnowledge of CostsDetailed Record Keeping Production as a SystemEfficiency/Reduced Labor Proximity to Good MarketsKeep Good CustomersVery Low MortalityStrategic ExpansionSolid Processing Methods

Transparency w/ CustomerProblem SolversTechnical, Financial, MarketingAbility to create marketsExcellent People SkillsEffective Marketing High Quality ProductsFarm Identity10ResourcesOrganizationsATTRA the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service http://www.attra.orgAmerican Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA) http://www.apppa.org/

MagazinesGRIT! APPPA Trade Magazine

BooksAPPPA. 2006. Raising Poultry on Pasture Ten Years of Success. 246 p.Salatin, Joel. 1996. Pastured Poultry Profit$. 371 p.Damerow, Gail. 2011. Storeys Guide to Raising Chickens. 356 p.

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