Poultry

As we head into the Holiday season, some of you may be asking “I wonder if I should raise turkeys?” Here’s some food for thought to help you ruminate on the idea. That way, you’ll be ready next June to mid-July when it’s time to start growing them for next year’s Holiday Season. Look before […]

Thanks to Autumn Canaday of the Agricultural Research Service for this article. Researchers at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and US Biologic, Inc., have developed an oral solution to an antibiotic alternative that fights against poultry coccidiosis, a disease that costs the poultry industry $3.5B in annual losses worldwide. Coccidiosis is a parasitic disease that […]

  My family and I operate Wrong Direction Farm in Upstate New York. We sell our pasture raised chicken, turkey and grass fed beef directly to customers in our region. On our farm, pasture raised broiler chickens are the largest and most complex enterprise. The poultry don’t require as much land base as our beef […]

Poultry processing regulations are one of the primary challenges for small farms hoping to add broilers to their farms. To give small farms a chance, in many states, there are exemptions for small farms to make. You’ll need to check your local regulations, but here in Vermont, the 1,000 or less bird exemption allows farms […]

This time of year, most people only have two questions on their mind: 1) Why has the Christmas music started already? 2) Where am I going to get my Thanksgiving turkey? Although I can’t explain away Burl Ives songs in early November, I’m more than happy to take orders for bonafide free-range turkeys. While holiday songs […]

This week, we’re talking a bit about diversification, providing some examples of what it might look for different operations and how folks make the decision to diversify. This example comes to us from Suzanne and George England. We also share a story about the Anderson’s of Whitman, Nebraska who describe how they decide which enterprises […]

Check out this short video showing Stone Barns’ mobile chicken coop. It was built with materials available at any hardware or farm supply store, and designed to be customizable for each farmer’s particular operation. Special thanks to former Farm Data Coordinator Shannon Rooney for making the CAD drawings.  Download the plans now to build your […]

Since it’s Thanksgiving Week here in the U.S., many of you might have poultry on your mind. If so, you’re going to love this directory!

It’s always nice to get a little inspiration from other folks when it comes to creatively housing poultry. Even if you don’t have a trailer, this could give you some good ideas for repurposing something you already own at little to no cost.

It’s hot out there, and in some places it’s really humid too! If you’re feeling it, so is your livestock. To help you figure out if there’s a problem and to do what you can to protect them, here are some tips from Rob Eirich, Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance Coordinator, and Mariah Woolsoncroft, Nebraska Extension […]

I was told by a well established USDA inspected poultry processor that there were only a dozen or so small-scale USDA inspected poultry processors in the country that are willing to process for independent farmers. I thought, “That cannot be true!” So as the Program Manager of the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network, a Cooperative […]

When we first watched this video, it made us laugh, and it was headed for the On Pasture “Funnies” category. But then we visited the Vital Farms website to learn more and decided this is serious business. You know, it and we know it: cage free and free range eggs aren’t all they’re cracked up […]

Though over 75% of you are focused on raising beef, information on raising chickens is always a big draw here at On Pasture. To make it easier to get right to these articles, we put together a “Chicken Library.” Here you go. Just click, scan through to find a topic you’re interested and read away! […]

Maple Wind Farm, owned by Bruce Hennessey and Beth Whiting, is a diversified, pasture-based livestock, organic vegetable, and maple products farm located on two conserved properties in Huntington and Richmond, VT. Here’s how they worked through the process of growing their pastured poultry business with their own processing facility.

Of the 200,000,000 turkeys that are raised annually, only about 25,000 are heritage breeds. The reason for this is economics. The modern hybrid variety (Broad Breasted Bronze or Giant White) grows much more quickly. It is ready for market at 14 to 16 weeks compared to 25 to 30 weeks for a heritage breed. That […]