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Issue 37 Summer 2005

American Pastured Poultry Producers Association

FROM CUSTOMERS INTO CONVERTS by David Schafer

As you and I sit at our humble farmer’s market booths and influence consumers one shopper at a time, we collectively approach that critical mass where the scales tip and grassfed products acceler-ate even more rapidly into the mainstream. That’s the goal. We know it is destined because our prod-uct is so superior in so many ways. What tools do we have to accelerate that process and bring us individually more customers? Your Countenance Your healthy optimism is by far the most impor-tant. We’ve had folks come up to us and ask, “I just had to know what you’re selling! You two look so radiant!” That was from a vegetarian who first started buy-ing for her grown children and has since crossed over to glorious carnivorousness and become one of our very good customers. The point is, you and I are doing something heroic out here on the land. We are on the leading edge, bucking the current, changing the paradigm. We are on a noble quest and it should show on our faces. I’m not talking about snobbery or being high falutin’. Just having a deep conviction in what we’re doing. Your Farm A brag book is worth its weight in gold. Take happy photos of all your animals. If people are attracted to your booth by the way you look, your farm photos will hook them to stay for a while. As you see which photo they are looking at you may sprinkle in a light dose of educational comments. “The pigs really love being on deep bedding.” “The chicks move every day in that pen.” “The sheep stay out on clean pasture all their lives. The donkey guards them from predators.”

“The cows get a new pasture every day, some-times twice a day.” You get the picture. Unless you’re just really good, don’t talk non-stop. That drives most peo-ple crazy. If you can’t use photos make bullet sheets for each animal and outline the benefits for people to easily grasp. It could even be a take-home hand out. But forget about hawking or indiscrimi-nately handing out fliers. That’s a waste of time, materials and effort. Trust that the people who are ready for you will find you. They will. Your Products Display your products in Styrofoam trays and use “twice ice” underneath your packages. This is my name for the reusable little ketchup sized U-Tek packs we use instead of ice. You can purchase 50 pounds (1500 singles) for $104.75 from ThermoSafe (800-323-7442) and have a lifetime supply. They also sell the Styrofoam trays. Your packages should be cryovac sealed and displayed attractively. After your shining coun-tenance has attracted her and your photo book and your grassfed educational bullets have gotten her attention she will look into your product trays. You’d be wasting everybody’s time to have butcher paper or sloppy packages there. Handle your cryovac packages carefully and let everybody who handles those packages know that they must not be dropped or banged around (I even tell the customers if I see them handling them carelessly.) A simple rap against a counter top will put a pin prick sized hole in the plastic and the bag will inflate with air. Oxidation will soon follow. Not good for appearance or quality. Suggest something for trial. Don’t bother telling

(Continued on page 16)

Inside this Issue:

E.D.’s Box Director Info

2

From our President &

APPPA: The Book 3

NE Pastured Poultry Conference Review

4

Business Profile: Gillis 5

Ask Jeff 6

No-Soy Feed Mixes 8

Insert: Hen Bits

9-12

Coccidiosis 13

Cryovac Bags 13

Organic Feed Resource 13

Hens with Attitude 14

Classifieds 15

Board Recommendations 17

Web Resources & Upcoming Events

22

Purpose-Events 24

2 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue #36

Aah, the life of APPPA’s execu-tive director. Just got off the phone with Mike Johanns, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He assured me that the num-ber one priority of the 2007 farm bill would be to eliminate

trade barriers for pastured poultry operations. Later today I’ll be flying to Bei-jing to talk to officials about the avian flu outbreak and how we can minimize the effect on pastured poultry producers here. Not exactly! I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something if I can just get this news-letter out and start getting some pastured poultry workshops on the schedule for this winter. We have a day-long workshop lined up at the annual meeting in Wisconsin in February, and down in New Orleans you can look forward to a day of pastured turkey workshop at the Southern SAWG conference. We hope for more in strategic locations across the country. Let us know if there are any lined up that we’ve missed. In our attempts to branch out to folks that aren’t so interested in processing chickens at home and formulating feed by the ton, you’ll find another con-sumer-oriented newsletter in the center of the Grit! We hope that you’ll copy it and distribute it to your customers. We’ve also expanded the website to include a web page specifically for pastured poultry customers. If you have anything you’d like to contribute to the newsletter or website (recipes and funny stories especially needed!), please send them APPPA’s way. Hope you and your animals are surviving the summer heat and the year has been a success so far! -Karen

APPPA Grit! is published six times a year .

Voice mail/phone 256-751-3925 APPPA E-mail: [email protected] Executive Director and GRIT Editor:

Karen Wynne APPPA Grit!, the newsletter, is included as a benefit of membersh ip in APPPA. Membership rates are $30 per year for basic membership, $50 for producer-plus. To join APPPA, send check or money order made out to APPPA to: APPPA

PO Box 73 Hartselle, AL 35640

Information provided in this newsletter is believed to be accurate but readers assume all responsibility for ac t ions based on th is information. Classified ads for members are $5 per issue, up to 25 words, 25-50 words $10. Nonmembers add $5. Display advertising per issue is $20 business card size, $35 for a quarter page. For more information on ad-vertising in the GRIT, please contact us.

xecutive director’s box

APPPA DIRECTORS Thru Jenny Drake, TN ‘05 Kip Glass, MO ‘05 Brian Moyer, PA ‘05 Jeff Mattocks, PA '06 Jody Padgham, WI ‘06 Karen Black/ Robt Plamondon, OR ‘06 Charles-Laura Ritch, AL ‘07 Mac Stone, KY ‘07 David Smith, MD ‘07

Karen Black and Robert Plamondon (541)453-5841 (email preferred) 36475 Norton Creek Rd, Blodgett OR, 97326 [email protected] [email protected] Jenny Drake (615)683-4291 69 Cowan Valley Lane, Hickman, TN 38567 [email protected] Kip Glass (417) 732-4122 2169 N Farm Road 71, Bois D'Arc, MO 65612-2305 [email protected] Jeff Mattocks (800)347-1566 (The Fertrell Company), PO Box 265, Bainbridge, PA 17502-0265 [email protected]

Jody Padgham (715) 667-3203 2240 310th Street, Boyd, WI 54726 [email protected] Brian Moyer (610) 944-9349 96 Noll Lane, Fleetwood, PA 19522-8846 [email protected] Charles and Laura Ritch (256) 751-0987 298 Goose Pond Rd, Hartselle, AL 35640 [email protected] Mac Stone (502) 863-0086 3636 Paris Rd, Georgetown, KY 40324 [email protected] David Smith (410) 472-0738 16701 Yeoho Rd, Sparks, MD 21152 [email protected]

APPPA DIRECTORS - Contact Information


Hi Everybody, it’s mid summer and we’re half way for most of you producing pastured poultry. Hopefully this is a milestone for you and everyone is being healthy, happy and profitable. It takes all three of these to be truly successful. As is usually the case mid-

summer brings higher heat, higher humidity and gen-erally some discomfort when not in a climate con-trolled environment. This environment or climate conditions are not just hard on the farmers but the livestock and poultry as well. I would urge you to take some simple steps to reduce the impact of the heat stress on all of your animals and if you feel froggy yourselves. Try to be very conscious of shade for all species, utilize fence rows with trees or wooded areas as ap-plicable. If trees are not an option perhaps some man made shade is in order. Things like unused hay wag-ons, quickly constructed portable hoop houses with shade cloth or whatever your imagination will pro-vide. I moved my hens to a small brushy area with a couple of trees and will leave them there till they have cleared all of the under brush or the higher tem-peratures subside. Shade or the ability to get out of direct sunlight is CRITICAL for proper performance and health of your poultry, regardless of type or spe-cies. I should give the exceptions, turkeys and wa-

terfowl are less affected by hotter temperatures and direct sunlight but should still have consideration for shade. Another old time trick to the trade has been to add vinegar to the water. For most forms of poul-try, 1% mix to the drinking water of 5% vinegar is an ample amount to reduce stress. It is believed that the vinegar works as a blood thinner as well as a blood cleanser allowing the cardiovascular sys-tem to function easier and more efficiently. Old wives’ tale? Maybe, maybe not! Seeing is believ-ing, try it, what do you have to lose? $2 worth of vinegar and an extra 5 minutes of life. Sound like about 1 lb of broiler meat or a dozen eggs to me. Lastly for now, feeding times. I don’t know about you but when it’s hot I don’t really feel like eating in the middle of the day. Well, what makes you think that your chickens do? I spend a good bit of time watching my hens and there is very little activity at the feeders throughout the day. They are busily eating feed just after day break and in the evening 1 to 1 ½ hours before roosting. Therefore, would the best times to feed them when they want to eat? I hope there is some helpful insight that will relieve heat stresses for you and your Poultry and Good Luck with those Turkeys! Jeff

From Our President

APPPA– The Book

Coming this fall to your favorite poultry bookstore!

You thought it couldn’t get any better than six issues arriving in your mailbox each year, full of the latest bright ideas and handy solutions. But it can! Our own Jody Padgham,

curator of the APPPA archives, has been hard at work sorting through back issues of Grit! to select some of the most innovative and thought-provoking articles to come out

in the past nine years.

All your favorite Grit! contributors will be included in chapters on Production Systems ● Equipment ● Brooding and Chicks ● Processing

Eggs ● Poultry Nutrition and Health ● Marketing ● Business Management And much more!

Stay tuned for more information...


Review - The Northeast Pastured Poultry Conference by Jean Nick

Email: [email protected] Web: www.browerequip.com

Phone: 800-553-1791 Fax: 319-469-4402

CALL FOR SPECIAL PRICING

The Northeastern Pastured Poultry As-sociation, the Central New York Re-source Conservation & Development Project, Cornell, APPPA, and a number of other organizations got together to sponsor a great weekend event. It was a perfect way to learn about the latest innovations from people who are al-ready successful in the pastured poultry business! Enthusiasm was high and we all learned a huge amount from other pas-tured poultry folks and some wonderful industry professionals. Here are just a few of the sessions I attended (I wish I could have gotten to more!): Dr. Benjamin Lucio, a poultry disease specialist at Cornell University, gave us a sobering overview of all the nasty things chickens can get. The good news is that if you move your birds regularly to fresh pasture the soil microorgan-isms and sunshine (the best disinfectant

around) will keep most diseases from building up to outbreak levels. Lucio says most problems that pastured pro-ducers see are due to stress or trauma. Keep your chickens dry, content, and safe from predators and you’ll avoid most problems. One of his many practi-cal suggestions: to get rid of leg mites just dip all the chicken’s legs in mineral oil. He recommends layers get vacci-nated for Marek’s, Fowl Pox, and In-fectious Bronchitis; broilers just for Marek’s. Jeff Mattocks, a livestock nutrition expert with the Fertrell Company in Bainbridge, PA, and APPPA Board president, talked about feeding laying hens, broilers (meat chickens), and turkeys. He recommends getting started with layers as they are docile and sturdy – and you get the most profit for the least labor. Laying hens will get 5 -10% (up to 30% in rare cases) of their feed from foraging. He recommends a

Broilers can be very profitable – but are also very challenging. Find a mentor to learn from if you can. Price the birds so you are making at least $3.00 a bird after all expenses – or you might as well not bother. Turkeys are the most profitable, but also the most challenging bird to raise on pasture. You need to understand the poults: they aren’t stupid, they just need a “parent figure.” Try putting one 2- to 3-week-old baby chick in for each 20-30 poults to teach them to eat and drink. Plan on visiting the poults eight times a day for the first few weeks to run your fingers through their feed and splash in the water to get them inter-ested. Red waterers are more attractive to them than other colors. If you are raising fewer than 200 turkeys at a time you can raise them on chicken broiler starter plus fish meal: For each 5 gallon bucket of broiler feed add 4# of fish meal during the first 4 weeks, 2# for weeks 4 – 8, then straight broiler feed – and add in trough feeders of 4 parts wheat/ 1 part grit. Jim McLaughlin of Cornerstone Farm Ventures, in Norwich, N.Y., and past APPPA president, offered a great “Pastured Poultry 101” seminar full of basic know-how and tips for success. Jim raises chickens on pasture himself and has helped many farmers in New York and beyond start successful pas-tured poultry operations. Keith Morgan of Windhaven Farm in Sauquoit, N.Y., talked about raising layers on pasture and how their egg operation dovetails nicely with their sheep dairy. He suggests picking one centerpiece enterprise for your farm, and then fitting in other things that work around it (both in land use and seasonal work demands). On started pullets vs. baby chicks -- a few years back he calculated that it cost him $5.75 a bird to raise a chick to 17 or 18 weeks and $4.60 to buy a started pullet. If you want to raise hybrid egg layers started pullets will often be cost effec-tive; if you want other types of hens, or


feed that contains at least half of its cal-cium as aragonite as it is “predigested” and bioavailable. Buy enough fresh-ground feed to last about two weeks at a time for best re-sults; after 30 days it will be less nutri-tious, and if you hang onto it 45 days it will be “junk.” Store food in a cool, dry place if possible to keep it fresh longer. Choose a medium grind feed if you can, because very fine powdered food actually slows down digestion. Offer free choice grit to make the most of the expen-sive feed you are pouring into your birds.


Business Profile: Gillis Agricultural Systems, Inc.

Bob Gillis, one of four brothers that own and manage Gillis Agricultural Systems, Inc., was kind enough to accept my last-minute request for an interview. The company, an APPPA member since 2003, operates two offices in Minnesota and Iowa that provide a wide vari-ety of pastured poultry equipment including feeders, waterers, netting, incubators, brooders, processing equipment, and many other sup-plies. Gillis has been serving Minnesota, Iowa and adjoining states for three and a half dec-ades, and now also offers products through its catalogs and website. Francis Gillis, father of present owners, estab-lished the business in 1971 in Willmar, Minne-sota, to serve the poultry industry in the Upper Midwest. Soon the business expanded into ser-vicing dairy and hog producers. In 1975, a sec-ond office was opened to provide more local ser-vice to poultry and hog customers in Iowa. By 1977, four Gillis brothers had joined their fa-ther in business, each occupying different posi-tions in sales and management. After 45 years of involvement in poultry and livestock equip-ment, Francis Gillis retired in 1990 and the four brothers became co-owners. Later that decade, the company developed its website and increased its emphasis in catalog sales to a national market of both hog and poul-try producers. In 2002, the first catalog for free-range and gamebird products was produced for national markets. Gillis strives to offer all the latest quality inno-vations in equipment for birds on pasture. The company offers a free catalog (see contact num-bers to the right); its website, www.gillisag.com, offers many web pages full of equipment for every stage of poultry produc-tion. Gillis’ 22 employees work hard to back the products with outstanding service. And after 35 years in the poultry equipment business and the combined experiences of family and staff, they have plenty of expertise to share!

Company: Gillis Agricultural Systems, Inc. Location: Willmar, MN and Storm Lake, IA Product line: A wide variety of pastured poultry equipment Service area: Direct services in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, plus cata-log and internet sales Years in operation: Since 1971 Contact information: Willmar Office 800-992-8986 Storm Lake Office 800-792-6828 www.gillisag.com [email protected] Mission statement: "To be the premier agricultural equipment sup-plier in the Midwest by providing quality products and services to the poultry and livestock indus-tries."


To Soy or Not to Soy Dear Staff at Fertrell: I have a question about your Fertrell Poultry Nutri-Balancer. I was wonder-ing what other options there for protein in the mix besides using soy beans? There are some theories that humans who have a sensitivity to soy may be affected by chicken eggs that were fed soy. Years ago, when we did not have soybeans in this country, what did farmers feed their chickens? Is there a possibility of another option in the fu-ture? Thanks for your help! Gwen Hello Gwen, The Poultry Nutri-Balancer itself is a vitamin mineral premix that doesn't contain any soy products. But the stan-dard grain mix for chickens that we offer/recommend does have soy in the mix. The primary reason for the soy is that the modern breeds of chicken require a higher nutrient-dense feed for health and production. The industry has bred them for higher performance faster. The ongoing soy debate is really tough for me to swallow but I am trying to co-exist with the thinking that soy is bad. I do agree that soy-based products should not be fed to infants and pregnant or nursing mothers. These forms of protein are not as digestible or recognizable by the digestive tract, and humans are not vegetarian by creation. Our digestive tract is designed for processing and ab-sorbing animal or meat types of protein. Anyway, there is yet to be any proof that soy does in fact affect the meat or eggs of animals that eat soy. As you said they are cur-rently theories.

That said, we are working on formulas for feeds that do not contain soy and still allow the animals to live and pro-duce well. Some of the formulas are working adequately but could be better. Two things affected the chickens of years ago: First, the chickens were not bred for super production, under artificial light-ing and controlled environment. They were the chicks from hens that already lived on the farm with instincts for finding food in the wild. Which did include bugs, worms, berries and seeds. They didn't produce 90% rate of lay, more likely 60-70% in optimum conditions in the spring when daylength was increasing. As this is when nature dictates it is time to repro-duce. The meat birds were dual-purpose breeds that grew larger and the roosters and some hens would be slaughtered in the fall or as needed for meat. They typically required 16 weeks or more to reach sizes large enough for butchering. Today's broil-ers are bred for 37-day growout for slaughter or 5 1/2 weeks, one third of

Ask Jeff the old grow out cycle. All of this to say the nutritional requirements of these types of chickens were not as high as they are today. Second, the grains produced 50 years ago were at least 15% higher in nutri-tional quality than grains produced today. For instance, corn today will barely make 8% protein whereas corn raised years ago would consistently be 10% protein. Wheat today is generally in the 10-12% protein and wheat in the past contained 14-16% protein. This made it easier to feed chickens and other livestock without protein supple-mentation. These two major differences are not only for chickens but all types of farm animals raised then and now. I think the answer to avoid soy is to raise old fashion breeds or heritage breeds that take longer to grow and are less efficient to raise. However, this would require a higher price for the products, which I am finding most con-sumers will not pay. The cost of pro-duction for a meat chicken without soy would nearly double the cost of pro-duction and the same holds true for eggs.

(Continued on page 7) JEFF’S SOYLESS FEED FORMULAS

CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 8.


APPPA membership

by state and country

June, 2005

AL 7 AR 7 AZ 3

CA 14 CO 8 CT 4 DC 1 FL 5 GA 9 IA 10 ID 4 IL 17 IN 15 KS 6 KY 6 LA 7 MA 11 MD 10 ME 7 MI 15 MN 12 MO 18 MS 4 MT 3 NC 12 ND 3 NE 4 NJ 3 NV 2 NY 41 OH 22 OK 1 OR 10 PA 51 RI 1 SC 5 SD 3 TN 7 TX 22 VA 21 VT 4 WA 11 WI 34 WV 3 Canada 4 UK 1 Bermuda 1 Ireland 1

Venezuela 1

So, I am not sure what the real an-swer is. I know the farmer can't make a living selling No-Soy meat and eggs at the same price as meat and eggs using soy products. If you have insight to this dilemma I would be happy to hear your ideas. Thanks, Jeff Pastured Protein Jeff- Wondered if you could respond to something I've been batting around a while. Is there any evidence that feed-ing a low protein starter- grower diet (say 15% CP) stimulates grazing on grasses and forbs? Pasture fodder is essentially plant protein, so it oc-curred to me that creating a mild pro-tein deficit in the brooder might stimulate chicks to graze more ener-getically. On the other hand, provid-ing all their protein needs in the feed, is there any reason for a chicken to graze at all? My question stems from a growing dissatisfaction I am experi-encing with the CornishXRock breed in a pasture-based system. It's the proverbial square peg in our round hole of farming. I've seen the ads for the silver and red broilers with 12 week growouts, but I'm reluctant to change until we do a little more selling of the idea to our customers. Thanks for your thoughts, Brian Underwood October Rose Farm Brian, You have an interesting concept, but what I think you are missing is that pasture protein is based on dry matter for ruminants. When balancing ra-tions for monogastrics like chickens and hogs the formulations are based on an as-Fed basis due to these spe-

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Hen Bits: An Introduction

On the next four pages you'll find

our new experiment: a newsletter for your customers!

Please feel free to copy it and pass it on - we’ve included a spot on the back page for you to in-

clude your farm contact information.

And please, give us suggestions and ideas for

future issues of the Hen Bits!

No-Soy Feed Options

While the great soy debate will not be re-solved in the pages of Grit!, Jeff Mattocks from the Fertrell Company has provided

some feed mix formulas for our producers that want to give it a try. Also, Helfter Feeds (ad below) has Non-Soy feed options. Let us know if there are other sources out there!

Layer Ration (No Soy) 16.06% Protein

Ingredients LBS Aragonite 100 Barley 0 Crab Meal 200 Fish Meal, 63% 200 Poultry Nutri-Balancer 60 Shell Corn Grain 940 Wheat 500 Total 2000

Broiler Starter Grower with Crab Meal (No Soy)

19.4% Protein Ingredients LBS Aragonite 10 Corn Grain Shell 500 Crab Meal 150 Vegetable Oil 75 Peas 525 Poultry Nutri-Balancer 60 Sunflower Meal 400 Wheat 280 Total 2000 Nutrient Name Amount Crude Protein 19.4% Crude Fat 4.6% Crude Fiber 8.2% Calcium 1.84% Phosphorus 0.90% Salt added 0.45% Sodium 0.22% Energy 1327 Kcal/LB Vitamin A 4657 IU/LB Vitamin D 1608 IU/LB Vitamin E 50 IU/LB Choline 1473 IU/LB Biotin 44.2 MCG/LB Manganese 143.2 IU/LB Zinc 88.9 IU/LB Copper 9.51 IU/LB Selenium (added) .30 IU/LB Lysine 1.12% Methionine 0.80% Methionine/Cystine 0.91% Arginine 1.61%

Layer Ration Nutrients Nutrient Name Amount Crude Protein 16.1% Crude Fat 4.4% Crude Fiber 3.3% Calcium 4.28% Phosphorus 1.06% Salt added 0.60% Sodium 0.29% Energy 1251 Kcal/LB Vitamin A 4835 IU/LB Vitamin D 1608 IU/LB Vitamin E 50 IU/LB Choline 4049 IU/LB Biotin 50.1 MCG/LB Manganese 1610.5 IU/LB Zinc 98.8 IU/LB Copper 10.63 IU/LB Selenium (added) .30 IU/LB Lysine 0.96% Methionine 0.54% Methionine/Cystine 0.61% Arginine 0.79%

Hen Bits The Latest News for the Pastured Poultry Connoisseur

Drug-Resistant Bacteria on Poultry Products Differ by Brand

March 16, 2005. The presence of drug-resistant, pathogenic bacteria on uncooked poultry products varies by commercial brand and is likely re-lated to antibiotic use in production, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their study is the first to di-rectly compare bacterial contamina-tion of poultry products sold in U.S. supermarkets from food producers who use antibiotics and from those who claim they do not. The study focused on antibiotic resistance, spe-cifically fluoroquinolone-resistance in Campylobacter, a pathogen responsible for 2.4 million cases of food-borne illness per year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study is pub-lished online in the journal Environ-mental Health Perspectives.

“Our use of medically important classes of antibiotics in food-animal production creates a significant pub-lic health concern,” said the study’s lead author Lance Price, a doctoral candidate and fellow at the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future. “Companies that use antibiotics fos-ter the development of drug-resistant bacteria which can spread to the hu-man population. Claims have been made that using antibiotics increases food safety by reducing pathogens on the meat. Interestingly, in addition to the results regarding fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter, we also found that brands that do not use any anti-(continued on the next page)

Volume 1, Summer 2005

What’s so great about PASTURED POULTRY? What is Pastured Poultry? Pastured Poultry is a production system that employs raising chickens directly on pasture. The birds are moved regularly to fresh pasture, which allows them to be raised in a cleaner, healthier environment.

How are the Birds Raised? Pastured poultry is raised on pasture with shelters that are moved regularly onto fresh grass. The birds have lots of room to run while still having the shelters to give them shade from the sun and protec-

tion from the rain. The range area and the shelters are surrounded with mesh or elec-trified fence to protect the birds from predators. By moving the ranges the birds have access to fresh vegetative grass at all times. The birds are also

fed high quality grain to provide a balanced diet. This gives the flock a clean healthy environment to thrive in.

Why Grass-Fed? Animals raised on pasture are valued for their good flavor and health benefits and their gentler effect on the environment. Researchers have found that meat and eggs from grass-fed animals supply our bodies with a natural source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids, CLA and Beta-Carotene. Pastured animals produce lean meat that is dense, tender, juicy and has wonderful flavor (please don’t overcook it, though!). Pas-tured poultry producers are proud to provide you with the safest, healthiest and most delicious meat possible. Who is APPPA? APPPA, the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association, is a group of over 450 pastured poultry producers and enthusiasts. APPPA provides the opportunity for people to learn and exchange information about raising and enjoying pastured poultry.

biotics during production were no more likely to contain Campylobac-ter than those that do. In fact, the only brand with a significantly lower rate of Campylobacter contamination was actually an antibiotic-free brand.”

Price explained that previous epide-miological studies have indicated that fresh poultry products are a major source of Campylobacter infections in humans. Exposure can occur from undercooked products or through cross-contamination during food preparation, when raw poultry is han-dled in the kitchen. The danger of infection is heightened when this pathogen is resistant to antibiotics. Not only can the bacteria itself cause illnesses such as diarrhea in humans, but fluoroquinolones are some of the most important drugs used to treat a variety of infections, including those caused by Campylobacter. The wide-spread presence of this drug-resistant form of the bacteria makes the antibi-otic less effective in human medicine. Especially vulnerable are the very

(continued from previous page)

young, the elderly and people whose immune systems are compromised.

In 2000, the Food and Drug Admini-stration proposed to withdraw ap-proval of fluoroquinolone drugs for use in poultry production. That effort has since been stalled by legal objec-tions from Bayer, one of the pharma-ceutical companies manufacturing the drug. In the meantime, two major U.S. poultry producers, Tyson Food and Perdue Farms, separately an-nounced in 2002 that they would im-mediately stop using fluoroqui-nolones to treat poultry flocks.

One year after the Tyson and Perdue announcements, Price and his team began a survey of Campylobacter iso-lates on uncooked chicken products from Tyson and Perdue and from two other producers, Eberly and Bell & Evans, who claim their production methods are completely antibiotic-free. Using both standard isolation methods and new methods modified to enhance detection of fluoroqui-nolone-resistant Campylobacter, they compared retail products purchased at grocery stores in Baltimore, Md. A

Don’t let your chicken be without the latest in feathered fashion! Chicken clothing is now avail-able, and chickens (Erni and Franco, to be exact) can be found on the runways in Tokyo, Milan and Paris. Five styles in a variety of sizes are available: hairy, camou, knitted, or in the style of the Aus-trian or Japanese flag (the two nations that are leading the craze).

Order one for everyone in the flock at www.chickensuit.com!

LEARN MORE ONLINE OR FIND A PRODUCER NEAR YOU!

APPPA Members can be found online at www.apppa.org/producers.htm Eat Wild: The Clearinghouse for Information about Pasture-Based Farming www.eatwild.com Sustainable Table, a consumer campaign developed by the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment www.sustainabletable.org Eat Well Guide, a directory of sustainable-raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs www.eatwellguide.org Local Harvest, where you can find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area or order products online www.localharvest.org Slow Food, an international organization whose aim is to pro-tect the pleasures of the table from the homogenization of mod-ern fast food and life www.slowfood.com www.slowfoodusa.org

high percentage of the products from the two conventional brands were contaminated with fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter (96 percent from Tyson and 43 percent from Perdue) while significantly lower pro-portions of ‘antibiotic-free’ products were contaminated with fluoroqui-nolone-resistant Campylobacter (5 per-cent from Eberly and 13 percent from Bell & Evans).

“These results suggest that fluoroqui-nolone-resistance may persist in the food supply for a substantial period of time even after antibiotic use is discontinued,” said Price. “Assuming that what we are observing are linger-ing resistant strains rather than the result of continued drug use, then one has to conclude that fluoroquinolone use in poultry production presents a long-term threat to people.”

The study was supported by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and by the Heinz Family Foundation. More information can be found at the John Hopkins School of Public Health : www.jhsph.edu.

Resistant Antibiotics

Cage Free Birds are raised without cages. What this doesn't explain is if the birds were raised outdoors on pas-ture, if they had access to outside, or if they were raised indoors in overcrowded conditions. If you are looking to buy eggs, poultry or meat that was raised outdoors, look for a label that says "Pastured" or "Pasture-raised." Free-range/roaming "Free Range" or "Free Roaming" means that the animal had some access to the outdoors each day. However, this doesn't guarantee that the animal actually spent any time outside. As long as a door to the outdoors is left open for some period of time, the animal can be considered Free Range. Although the USDA has defined this term for chicken raised for consumption, no standards have been set for egg-laying chickens or for other ani-mals. If you are looking to buy eggs, poultry or meat that was raised out-doors, look for a label that says "Pastured" or "Pasture-raised." Pasture-raised In general, pasturing is a traditional farming technique where animals are raised outdoors in a humane, ecologically sustainable manner and eat foods that nature intended them to eat. Animals are raised on pas-ture rather than being fattened on a feedlot or in a confined facility. Heritage Heritage foods are derived from rare and endangered breeds of live-stock and crops. Animals are pure-breds, a specific breed of animal that is near extinction. Production

standards are not required by law, but true heritage farmers use sus-tainable production methods. This method of production saves animals from extinction and preserves ge-netic diversity. No Added Hormones Animals were raised without added growth hormones. By law, hogs and poultry cannot be given any hor-mones - so the use of the label on these meats is misleading! To en-sure that other meats were raised without added hormones, ask your farmer or butcher. No Antibiotic Use No antibiotics were administered to the animal during its lifetime. If an animal becomes sick, it will be taken out of the herd and treated but it will not be sold with this la-bel. No Routine Antibiotic Use Antibiotics were not given to the animal to promote growth or to pre-vent disease, but may have been administered if the animal became ill. Non-confined Animals not confined in a feedlot, and have continuous access to the outside throughout their lifecycle. Organic In order to be labeled "organic," a product, its producer, and the farmer must meet the USDA's or-ganic standards and must be certi-fied by a USDA-approved food-certifying agency. Organic foods cannot be grown using synthetic fertilizers, chemicals, or sewage sludge, cannot be genetically modi-fied, and cannot be irradiated. Or-ganic meat and poultry must be fed only organically-grown feed (without any animal byproducts) and cannot be treated with hor-mones or antibiotics. Furthermore, the animals must have access to the outdoors, and ruminants must have access to pasture (which doesn't mean they actually have to go out-doors and graze on pasture to be considered organic). 100% Vegetarian Feed Animals are not fed any animal by-products. This does not guarantee

they were raised outdoors or on pasture, but it should indicate that they were raised on grasses, hay, silage and other feed found on pas-ture or in a field. Grain, like corn, is vegetarian and falls into this cate-gory. Producers feeding their ani-mals a 100% vegetarian diet should not be giving them supplements or additives, but it is always best to check with the farmer. Biodynamic This holistic method of agriculture is certified by a third-party agency and is based on the philosophy that all aspects of the farm should be treated as an interrelated whole. Having emerged as the first non-chemical agriculture movement approximately 20 years before the development or "organic" agricul-ture, biodynamics has now spread throughout the world. Biodynamic farmers work in harmony with na-ture and use a variety of techniques, such as crop rotation and on-farm composting, to foster a sustainable and productive environment.

Deciphering the Label:

Production Methods De-fined

These definitions were brought to you by the good people at the Eat

Well Guide, who are working to help consumers learn more about the food they eat and where to find

it.

(Relatively) New Certification: Certified Humane Raised and Handled This label was created by Human Farm Animal Care (HFAC) to as-sure consumers that a meat, poul-try, egg or dairy product has been produced according to the group’s precise standards for humane farm animal treatment. Animals must receive a nutritious diet free of anti-biotics or hormones and must be raised with shelter, resting areas and space that are sufficient to sup-port natural behavior. HFAC is a national nonprofit or-ganization supported by the Ameri-can Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), regional and local animal protection organizations, foundations and individuals. More information can be found at HFAC's website, www.certifiedhumane.org, or at 703-435-3883.

Hen Bits PO Box 73 Hartselle, AL 35640

Hen Bits is a publication of the American Pastured Poultry Pro-ducers Association. For more information about APPPA, look us up online at www.apppa.org or call us at 256-751-3925. Find an APPPA member

near you at www.apppa.org/producers.htm

Hen Bits was brought to you by:

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Boned Chicken From “The Encyclopedia Of Cooking” Culinary Arts Institute. Published 1950 A Frying or roasting chicken may be used for boning. Remove pin feathers and wash. Step 1: Cut of head, wings up to the second joint and legs at the knee joint. This loos-ens skin and flesh for easy removal of bone after it has been worked loose from the flesh. Cut along the center back from the neck downward, completing the cut down either side of the tail and around the vent. Step 2: Using a sharp knife, cut the flesh (with skin) away from the back and ribs down to the keel bone. Remove flesh from the keel bone by cutting and pushing with the fingers. Insert knife tip into each hip joint and turn so as to break this joint. This separates the leg bones from the body. Break wing joints in the same way. Loosen flesh with skin from the body on both sides, leaving legs and wings attached. Step 3: Remove the flesh (with the legs and wings) by pulling away from the carcass, breast-flesh being pulled away from the breast bone. The two parts are pulled away until connected only at the vent and below the tip of the breast bone. Separate here by cutting through the thin layer of flesh and skin. Step 4: Remove bones from legs (drumstick and thigh) and wings (1 bone) by cutting and scraping. Work down from inside of body, leaving outside skin intact. THIGH BONE- Cut through flesh to bone from inside and scrape flesh from bone. Cut through joint between thigh and drumstick. Pull out thigh bone. DRUMSTICK AND WINGS- Cut in a circle through skin, flesh and thin tissue at smaller end of drumstick. Hold the bone firmly, small end at right angles to the table and cut and scrape flesh loose from bone. Pull bone out. Cut out the wishbone which has remained in the breast. Step 5: Place the completely boned bird skin side down, sprinkle inside with salt and place stuffing in center. The stuffing and meat juices are held in by the envelope fold. Lay one side over the stuffing, overlap with the other side and fold down the neck skin. Step 6: Tie cords around the body across the breast. Rub unsalted fat thoroughly over skin of bird. Place bird on rack of shallow pan. Roast uncovered in slow oven (300), until tender, basting occasionally with drippings. (4-5 lb chicken takes 30-35 minutes per pound, a smaller chicken 35-40 minutes per pound). Clip cords when the bird is half cooked, so that there are no marks over the skin after roasting. Use bones for stock. ¤


HOW DO I AVOID COCCIDIOSIS? By Robert Plamondon Coccidiosis is an intestinal parasite that exists just about every-where. It can take a heavy toll on chicks, starting from about three weeks of age. The parasite multiplies greatly in the gut of the chick, and vast numbers of "oocycsts" (think of them as eggs) come out in the manure. Chicks raised on litter floors scratch and peck at the litter, looking for food, and become in-fected. The explosive multiplication of the coccidia can lead to dead, stunted, and sick chicks.

Chicks that are exposed to only low levels of coccidia become immune without becoming sick.

Control is achieved by breaking the reproductive cycle. Chicks raised on wire floors don't get coccidiosis becuase they don't have enough contact with manure. Chicks raised on free range from a very early age tend not to get it because they also don't have enough exposure. Chicks raised on old litter (used for at least six months) tend not to get it because the litter eventually harbors miscroscopic creatures that eat coccidia. Medicated chick starter contains drugs that suppress coccidia directly.

Wet litter, crowding, intermittent feeding, and any type of stress tend to increase coccidiosis. (If the feeders are empty, the chicks will spend more time nosing around in the litter.) If you have an outbreak of coccidiosis, try reducing the number of chicks in the brooder house, keep the litter drier by removing any wet or caked litter twice a day, and consider using medi-cated chick starter until your prevention methods are more sure-fire.

Birds in pasture pens, on free range, and in cages rarely develop coccidiosis, but confined and yarded birds are at risk. While coccidiosis generally affects chicks, it can affect hens who have not been exposed early in life, and thus have no immunity.

Treating Coccidiosis Anti-coccidial drugs are very effective. At the very least, a flock of chicks that is looking poorly and are in the coccidiosis danger zone (3-7 weeks) ought to be switched to medicated chick starter immediately. This will be most effective if you do it right away, because medicated chick starter has low doses that are designed to prevent coccidiosis, not cure it.With a seri-ous outbreak, you need to put a coccidiostat in the water, since sick chicks that will not eat will still drink.

A little sermon. A lot of people believe that drug substitutes such as garlic and herbs are as effective as drugs, but they are not. Many have enough of an effect that they probably have some use as preventatives (though your time is probably better spent doing other things, such as wiping the waterers clean and removing wet litter), but once the chicks start suffering, the only thing that is going to act with the speed and reliability that

ATTRA now has a searchable database of organic feed suppliers,

by type, region and some labels:

www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/livestockfeed_srch.php

Or call 800-346-9140 (800-411-3222 for Spanish speakers)

Cryovac Bag Offer -Take Two

For those APPPA members interested in getting Cryovac bags for their home processing, Craig Floyd has offered to do the bulk purchasing and distribution of the next batch of bags as a non-profit service.

Cryovac Poultry Bags Put your bird in these bags, seal, dip in 200 degree water and the bag shrinks around the bird. If bag is violated, bag stays tight around product. Helps pre-vent freezer burn and ice crystals on the product. Size 9” x 16”, holds up to a 6.5 lb. bird. No minimum quantity required. Cost is estimated to be around 18¢ per bag plus the cost of shipping including packing materials.

Contact Craig for the exact price and to place an order

[email protected]

860-961-0244 860-536-8377

More details to come at www.footstepsfarm.com

Thanks to Kip Glass for getting the ball rolling and to Craig for taking over the responsibility!

the chicks deserve is a coccidiostat. Don't kid yourself about the role of alternative methods -- alternative methods are preventatives, not cures. They make it far less likely that your livestock will get sick in the first place. But if your livestock get sick anyway (and no method is a 100% guaran-tee of perfect health), you need to treat them with the best methods available. With coccidiosis, this means drugs.

Robert Plamondon has a great website at www.plamondon.com. You can find many more an-swers to this sort of question, and a lot of other things related to raising chicks, layers, and broilers.


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Researchers at the University of Alberta have discov-ered that chickens raised for meat can choose whether or not they'll funnel the nutrients they eat towards themselves or their eggs.

That phenomenon of 'reproductive attitude' is a headache for producers who must figure out how to deal with less productive hens that "partition" nutri-ents needed for egg production into their own bodies. "They like to be a little bit more selfish with their nu-trients, and continue growing," said Dr. Martin Zuidhof, an Alberta Agriculture researcher who is collaborating with the University of Alberta to solve the dilemma.

"Some of the broiler breeders are happy to shift their nutrients from the growth of their bodies to egg pro-duction, but some of them don't do it very willingly. It is not a conscious thing the bird does, but it does express a tendency of that bird to either be generous or to be selfish with its nutrients."

Hens with Attitude

Channeling food into body-building results in lower egg production, chick production and chick quality, said Dr. Frank Robinson, professor of Agricultural Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta.

The University of Alberta study of 300 high-performance broiler breeder hens explores the rela-tionship between the hen's growth and reproductive performance, to improve our understanding of how producers can better manage the birds' body weight during puberty, and also during the egg-laying period that comes later.

No other broiler breeders research program works as closely with individual birds. The research team has shown the importance of recognizing that large poul-try populations are made up of a collection of indi-viduals--each with their own way of balancing their growth and reproductive priorities. "Building defini-tions of 'reproductive attitudes' has been an eye-opening process that challenges basic assumptions about how these birds function," said Dr. Rob Re-nema, a researcher in the Department of Agricultural Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta.

Individual assessments have identified a small num-ber of 'super-hens' that have an incredible growth po-tential and are also capable of producing many more chicks than usual. The more typical pattern is for the hen to lose some body weight to support egg produc-tion. "The trouble with this is that these 'martyr birds' may eventually suffer from burnout when they don't balance their own needs well enough," Dr. Renema said.

Discovery of the exceptional "super-mom" birds that don't fit the textbook norm has opened new doors in the research program. "If the offspring of these spe-cial hens are also more efficient, the broiler industry could move forward in leaps and bounds.

As a result of their findings, Robinson, Renema and Zuidhof have broadened their research focus to in-clude exploration of links between hen reproductive attitude and broiler quality. Their work will contrib-



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cies limited intake capacity. I just looked up a pasture sample that I have taken last June, 2004, of a great pasture mix of clover and grass at 85% moisture, as standing. Crude Protein 3.4% as fed 23.6% dry matter basis You can see that pasture proteins really only apply to ruminants. What poultry gets from pasture is insects, grit and some greenery. The theory that you where thinking is being applied to using whey. Dried whey is 30ish% protein and as fed in wet form is 3% protein. Using the Cornish Cross broilers, if you decrease the protein you will short the finish weights and may increase your mortalities due to poor immune system development. Thanks, Jeff You can ask Jeff a question too: Jeff Mattocks The Fertrell Company P.O. Box 265 Bainbridge, PA 17502 P: 800-347-1566 F: 717-367-9319

Ask Jeff (Continued from page 7)

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APPPA CLASSIFIEDS Peaceful Pastures is seeking a grower to produce an ongoing supply of pastured chicken during the growing season. Birds MUST be USDA inspected and located within a 6 hour drive of Nashville, TN. NO animal by products (including fish meal). We buy birds of dressed weight 4 pounds and larger. Please submit "bid" in terms of dressed weight cost per pound. Sincere inquiries please. [email protected], 615-683-4291

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B r o i l e r & L a y e r C h i c k sR e a d y - t o - l a y P u l l e t s

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F e r t i l e E g g s

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her about discounts for quantity unless she asks. Chicken is the best way to start if it’s legal for you to sell it at your market. It’s not for us so we just deliver already ordered chickens and take orders for more, leaving one “display” chicken out for all to see. Chickens have an under $10 price tag, a clearly superior flavor, smell and appearance and that photo of them on pasture will stick in her mind. If not chicken, recommend a pound of ground beef, bacon, brats or something else small. Usually, she will try three or four different items if everything has impressed her to this point and price is not a problem. Take Orders Put your brochure in her bag, a receipt if she wants one (we always ask) and point out that your market schedule and phone number are on your bro-chure. Work towards taking orders for future market dates. After eleven years of selling at the KC River Market, we’ve reached the point where we av-erage around $2500 per market day. On this recent pre-Thanksgiving Saturday we reached a new record of $5500. And that is only in a two hour delivery window. Over ninety percent of that comes from taking orders. Making a Convert out of a Customer Your customers fall into two catego-ries: Customers and Converts. Your


mission is to turn as many customers into converts as possible. “Why? What’s the big difference?” A convert has an emotional investment in what we are doing. They inhale all the data and some will know it better than you and me. They are our sales reps and bring us more people like themselves so we are free to stay home and move fences more often. A customer buys our products for only one or two reasons. They like the taste. They like to know where their food comes from. They are chemically sensitive. A convert buys our products for at least three reasons. They buy the whole package, the concept. They share the nobility of the quest and see it as their dollars changing the world, which is exactly what it is. We give them kudos for that in every newsletter and bro-chure, Christmas card or note. We are disproportionately advantaged to have this advanced guard of converts out there selling for us. Just as soon as we reach a critical mass of converts in this world our product will be the norm and the paradigm shift will be com-plete. Conversion Literature Before Jo Robinson and Michael Pollan there were precious few authors besides ourselves we could put in front of our public. Now we have some zing-ers. We give away Jo’s Pasture Per-

fect to our best customers if we think they may be convert candidates. Other-wise, we offer it at a greatly discounted price since we bought a case of them (actually two now, or is it three?) We also display magazines featuring our farm but that is more like a stamp of outside approval than anything else. It doesn’t hurt a bit, but doesn’t go far toward education and convert making. I’m quite excited – and this article has been inspired by – two new books that fill critical niches for us grassfed pro-ducers and make ideal conversion lit-erature. Holy Cows & Hog Heaven Does anyone else besides me have this feeling of what it must’ve been like to be an Italian artist when Michelangelo was alive? An English contemporary of Shakespeare? I know of no one in any walk of life I admire more than Joel Salatin; no one I think nearly as brilliant and creative. Well, maybe Paul McCartney. That makes me feel half brilliant be-cause I choose to do some of the same things Joel chooses to do. His latest book pulls no punches on corporate America. I’ve purchased extra copies and I’m putting it on my market ta-ble. I gave one away yesterday to a customer who picked up a $300 or-der. I told her a little about it and her reciprocation was immediate: she told


Customers to Converts


The APPPA nominating committee relies on your recommendations in offering strong choices for the APPPA board election. Please take a moment to think of your fellow APPPA members and help pro-vide the nominating committee a good selection of candidates to choose from in creating the APPPA election ballot. Each year we vote for three members of our nine member board. Please provide the following information for your recommendation * for APPPA Board Member: Name: _______________________________________________________________ Street Address: ________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip: _________________________________________________________ Phone; _____________________________ Email: _________________________________________ Recommended by: Name: _______________________________________________________________ Street Address: ________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip: _________________________________________________________ Phone: _____________________________ Email: __________________________________________ Briefly state why you believe this person would be a good board member (use extra paper if needed.) *A reminder: All individuals recommended must be APPPA members in good standing and willing to serve if elected. Please ask your friends if they are willing before you recommend them to us. Recommen-dations will be screened by the APPPA nominating committee and a slate of nominees will be selected and announced for voting in the next issue of the APPPA GRIT! Please return this form by September 10 to: Jeff Mattocks, [email protected] PO Box 265, Bainbridge PA 17502

Recommendation for APPPA Board Member


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me about giving our meat away to well chosen friends to try us out. Holy Cows & Hog Heaven is not only a food buyer’s guide to farm friendly food, it is also a guerilla marketing assault weapon for you and your customers, soon-to-be-converts. (Available from the Stockman Grassfarmer bookshelf, 800-748-9808). Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook I’ll admit, I was skeptical about this book - probably be-cause I didn’t have a recipe to contribute. All the more reason for me to own a copy! It also seemed pricey at $25.50 (shipping included). I’ve since found out the pub-lisher (Eating Fresh 609-466-1700) offers generous volume discounts ($13.77/book for ten) and I guarantee you, I’m going to sell a lot of these books. Shannon Hayes wrote this book for you and me and our market customers. Like you, me and Joel, Shannon mar-kets directly to her customers, too. This book will go far, I believe, toward shifting the paradigm toward grassfed. Not only is it the first cookbook dedicated to grassfed meats and destined to be a classic for that alone, but it is a great meat cookbook and tells the whole grassfed story very effectively. The nutritional, environmental and wel-fare information is all in there, but does not get in the way. Plus, you (and your customers) meet other producers and find out what makes them (us) tick. I’m imagining some of my longtime customers getting excited about having new recipes specifically designed for grassfed meats; they’ll love this book. They will cook our products better and more creatively and probably more often. Plus, through Grassfed Gourmet’s presentation of the whole story, I think they will become converts. Maybe not zealots, but conversant in all the pros of grassfed prod-ucts and more likely to convert others to grassfed because of that. So far we’ve only tried a few recipes - all fabulous. I espe-cially appreciate that Shannon is very careful when to rec-ommend dry heat and moist heat and clearly explains the how and why of it. (Do you have an outside-the-oven meat thermometer? I didn’t. But now it is a grassfed meat cook-ing tool I’m sold on.) The book has sections on beef, bison, veal and venison; lamb and goat; pork; rabbits and poultry; and dairy and desserts. It has 267 pages and is packed with reci-pes. There are forty-two in the red meats chapter alone. Sprinkled throughout are thoughtful sidebars on topics like meat safety, aging, BSE, reheating grassfed meats, marinades, even making and using lard!



Customers to Converts


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Shannon rates the meals for fanciness (from “showcase” to “on a budget”) as well as how much preparation it will take and whether it is kid friendly or not. Many of the recipes are from other farmers but it is clear that Shannon has made herself an expert in this area and spent a lot of time in her own kitchen. Push the Paradigm – Make a Convert Today How many of your current customers would you put in the “convert” category? I figure about 10 – 15% of my cus-tomers are armed with the knowledge and conviction to influence others about grassfed. What would it do to my yearly sales if I could increase that another 10 or 20%? Is it unreasonable to think that every customer may some-day understand and appreciate all the benefits of our grass-fed products? Not at all. The fact that they don’t now speaks volumes of the opportunity before us. Put this lit-erature before your good customers. Consider the power of the gift. Have you noticed that when you give out of the joy of giving that you are re-warded many times over? Well placed product and book gifts will always reward you and the gift recipient. Our attitude, farm appearance (and display) and appearance of the product attract our customers and bring them back for that second sale. Perfect. Now, to take our marketing to the next level, let’s consider the power of information through low-cost, or even free, books to transform those good customers into energetic grassfed converts.


Customers to Converts David Schafer and his wife Alice Dobbs sell beef, lamb, chicken, pork and turkey raised by them and their Jamesport, Mo. neighbors to several hundred customers and a few dozen con-verts.


if controlling the type of nutrition and care the pullets get is important, then day-olds are your choice. Peter McDonald, of Pasture Pride in Romulus, N.Y., described how broilers and turkeys fit into his multi-species (lambs, pigs) grazing operation. He markets his products as “clean food” and stresses it is “fresh” and “local.” McDonald broods his broilers on pas-ture to reduce stress from moving (avoiding stress at all cost he sees as key to happy, healthy birds). He sets up a 12 X 24 foot hoop house (garage), stakes it down well, and builds a pen of hay bales in the center and spreads hay on the floor of it. Homemade Ohio State brooders provide refuge for the chicks. As they grow he moves the hay bales out to enlarge the pen, and finally opens a gate to let them head out onto pasture. He leaves the hoophouse in one spot for the full 8 weeks, and moves it to a new location for the next batch. White garden hoses laid out in the spring and allowed to get covered by growing grass helps keep the water cool. The broilers get their water inside the hoophouses, their feed moves around outside. They don’t get shut in at night, and sometimes sleep in the open. Dave Mattocks of Fertrell discussed soil health and showed a fascinating Japanese video of soil microorganisims cavorting under the microscope. Dave stressed that soil is not an inert sub-strate that just holds plants upright (as synthetic fertilizer manufacturers would like you to believe) but a living, breathing ecosystem that needs to be cared for and fed. Feed your soil lots of organic matter, keep poisons off it, and your plants (and the critters that eat them) will thrive. Karma Glos of Kingbird Farm in Berkshire, N.Y., and author of Humane and Healthy Poultry Production: A Manual for Organic Growers (available through www.NOFA.org) and Remedies for Health Problems of the Organic Laying Flock (free from


www.kingbirdfarm.com or www.apppa.org), gave a presentation about keeping your birds healthy. Give birds sunshine and natural light, fresh air (cold is ok, but drafts aren’t), plenty of room, interesting activities like things to scratch at (especially in winter when they are off the pasture), contact with soil, clean water, whole-grain food, grit, oyster shell, and a dusting box of wood ashes with a little diato-maceous earth and chances are your

chickens will be healthy and able to fight off anything that comes along. A few minutes of your undivided atten-tion each day will usually alert you to changes in behavior and help you head off problems before they get severe. Glos also recommends culling any bird that is acting ill immediately (she treats her whole flock for problems, but not individual birds) and never bringing an adult bird onto the farm.


NE Pastured Poultry Conference


And some talks I didn’t get to (so many great topics happening concurrently; only one of me): Mike Carroll & Donna Jenney of Nature’s Way Farm, Cortland, NY, offered talks on pastured turkeys, and on processing poultry. Judith Kleinberg, of NEPPA and Farm to Chef Express, Saratoga, NY also talked about poultry processing. Mary Howell Martens, of Lakeview Organic Grain, in Penn Yan, NY, talked about organic production. Wayne Mellor, of CADE, Inc., Fly Creek, NY, talked about Business Plan-ning for pastured poultry. Phil Metzger, of the USDA-NRCS and Central New York RC&D Project, Inc. talked about Improved On-Farm Deci-sion Making.

(Continued from page 20) Brian Moyer of Green Haven Farm in Fleetwood, Pa., and APPPA board member, described how he markets his fresh chickens and other farm products and discussed relationship marketing techniques. Leon Moyer of Moyer’s Chicks, in Quakertown, PA, and APPPA business member, discussed how poultry breeds are developed (it ain’t cheap), some specific breeds, and how to select chickens for pastured production. Moyer’s supports PPPs and their brown and black layers do well on pasture, as do their strain of broilers. Ben Shaw, NEPPA, Greenwich, NY, also contributed to the Poultry Process-ing workshop. Ben oversees the Mobile Processing Unit that NEPPA owns, and trains new members on it. While I did-n’t get to the workshop, I did get a chance to get a tour of the MPU which was parked in the back parking lot. It is a large flatbed trailer with everything you need to process arranged around the outside edge (the operators work in

the middle) – tow it to your site, run a water hose and an electric cord to it, and you are set to go. (I think it had on-board propane to heat water.) A pretty slick idea and a great way to get the benefit of an on site processing unit without footing the entire cost of equip-ment you will only use a few hours a month. In addition to great information and networking, the food was awesome, and the facilities beautiful. I hope the conference will become an annual event – and that more folks will find a way to attend. It was, and I hope will be, well worth everyone’s time! Jean Nick Happy Farm, Kintnersville, PA More of Jean’s adventures can be found on the New Farm website at www.newfarm.org/features/2005/0605/pasturechix/index.shtml.This link takes you to the first article in a series on Happy Farm’s foray into pastured poultry production.


APPPA www.apppa.org

Alternative Transfer & Technology to Rural Areas (ATTRA) www.attra.ncat.org www.sustainablepoultry.ncat.org Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education www.sare.org Center for Integrated Ag Systems www.cias.wisc.edu

Free Range Poultry www.free-rangepoultry.com

USDA Agricultural Marketing www.ams.usda.gov Food Safety Inspection Service www.usda.gov/fsis FDA HACCP Information www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/establishment_specific_information/index.asp Advertise Online at these National Web Listings: LocalHarvest www.localharvest.org 831/475-8150 NewFarm www.newfarm.org Eat Wild www.eatwild.com 29428 129th Ave SW Vashon WA 98070 Eat Well Guide www.eatwellguide.org 212-726-9161

July 22 & 23 - Jackson, Mississippi - Mississippi Grazefest 2005, Mississippi State Fair-grounds 256-845-3009 www.usgrassfed.com Fee charged Grazefest’s second year brings it to Mississippi, where US Grassfed continues to work to help people understand the health, environmental, and agricultural benefits of forage-based livestock. Day one features nationally and interna-tionally-known experts in forage-based livestock systems. On the second day the public will be invited to a food fes-tival featuring grassfed farm products. July 23, 2005—Swoope, Virginia Polyface Farm Field Day www.acresusa.com/events/events.htm 800-355-5313 Fee charged

You won’t get this opportunity again for another three years: Polyface Farm is having a field day. Listen to the Salatins explain their pastured poultry operation, how to raise Salad Bar Beef, how to put pigs to work on your farm, how to build relationships with your customers, and more. You will see in an up-close and personal way how through respect for nature and innovation your family can make a good living on a small farm. You’ll see how to involve the entire family in your farming operation by making it safe, healthy and fun. Meet discerning food buy-ers, graziers, homesteaders and ecological farmers from across the country in what has become a very special every-three-year reunion.

Sunday, July 24 – Barre, Massachusetts Many Hands Organic Farm: Chickens for Meat & Eggs 978-355-2853 www.mhof.net $65 In this hands-on workshop we will discuss the best varie-ties for laying, meat, and combined use along with reliable sources for chicks. We will visit the baby chicks, as well as adult and juvenile layers and meat birds in their movable pasture houses. Covering feed and disease prevention, we will also show and give practical examples of appropriate housing. We'll discuss animal/vegetable rotations for the optimal health of both. Logistics of marketing will be dis-cussed, and we will slaughter one or a few chickens. Thor-ough written materials will be provided in the course packet.

Resources on the Internet

Subscribe

List Serves at egroups.com DayRangePoultry PasturedPoultry APPPA Pro Plus (membership required) Robert Plamondon’s Poultry Newsletter www.plamondon.com/nortoncreekpress.html

UPCOMING EVENTSUPCOMING EVENTSUPCOMING EVENTS


UPCOMING EVENTSUPCOMING EVENTSUPCOMING EVENTS

August 11-14, 2005 - Amherst, Massachusetts 31st Annual Northeast Organic Farming Association Summer Conference, Hampshire College 978-355-2853 www.nofamass.org Conference fees vary, lodging and food available onsite. Workshops will be offered on organic turkeys, poultry and pot-tery, raising layers, and a multitude of other topics. Pre-conference session features a discussion of bioenergy options.

August 18 - Stilwell, Oklahoma Turkey Field Day with Mike Walters 918-647-9123 www.kerrcenter.com Walters is nationally known for his "Heritage" turkeys. These old fashioned breeds are once again in demand. He will share his experiences with all aspects of raising turkeys. Free, but pre-registration is required. Participants are limited to 30, so register early. Held rain or shine; bring your own lawn chair. October 7-9 –Greeley, Colorado Green Genes: Saving Breeds Created for Grass 2005 Annual American Livestock Breeds Conservancy Annual Members Meeting and Conference www.albc-usa.org 919-542-5704 $125 for ALBC members, $155 for non-members Don’t miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour the Livestock and Poultry Gene Bank facility of the USDA National Animal Germplasm Program. Learn how preservation using deep-frozen germplasm, and conservation using live animals complement each other. Learn from producers, scientists, and other rare breed experts about the “why” and “how” of saving and profit-ing from animals well-suited for grass-based production.

Details in upcoming issues of Grit!:

November 4-6 - Durham, North Carolina Carolina Farm Stewardship Sustainable Agriculture Conference December 8-10 - Indianapolis, Indiana 2005 Acres USA Conference January 19 - 22, 2006 - New Orleans, Louisiana SSAWG’s Practical Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms

Please contact APPPA at [email protected] or 256-751-3925 to include your pastured poultry-related event.

FOR YOUR 2006 CALENDAR: APPPA ANNUAL MEETING

in conjunction with the 17th Annual

Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference

Feb 23-25, 2006, La Crosse, WI

More than 130 Exhibitors! Over 45 Workshops! Last year’s conference attracted more than 1800 people,

including farmers, educators, students, government workers, and others interested in organic agriculture.

Sign up for the Organic University on the 23rd,

which will provide a full-day course on pastured poultry production.

More information coming your way in the next issue of Grit!

715-772-3153 [email protected]

www.mosesorganic.org

APPPA STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association

(APPPA) is a nonprofit educational and networking organization dedicated to encouraging the production, processing, and marketing of poultry raised on pasture.

APPPA exists to facilitate the free flow of creative ideas. Member producers are encouraged to consider all poultry species and all pasturing models, assuming personal responsibility for adapting ideas and models presented through APPPA.

APPPA passionately embraces humane, people-friendly, environmentally-enhancing, pasture-based production models. While we respect the freedom of others to engage in industrial confinement factory farming, we believe our approach is superior.

APPPA assists both producers and consumers to transact business with as little government intervention as possible. APPPA does not discriminate in membership or programs based on the business size of producer or consumer. Realizing that production models must be profitable to be successful, APPPA's interests include processing, packaging, cooking, marketing, and any other topics related to pastured poultry enterprises.

APPPA's world vision is to see pastured poultry adopted as the model for environmentally, emotionally, and economically sensible poultry production. This vision includes decentralized food systems, farmstead-sized processing, and as much interaction as possible between producer and consumer.

(Adopted by the APPPA Steering Committee, August 27, 1997)

EVENTS & HAPPENINGS DETAILS ON PAGE 22-23.

APPPA GRIT! PO Box 73 Hartselle, AL 35640

All the indicators point to pastured, home processed poultry as one of this century’s best family farm enterprises. Pasture Poultry Profit$ by Joel Salatin.

July 22 & 23 - Jackson, Mississippi Mississippi Grazefest 2005, Mississippi State Fairgrounds July 23, 2005—Swoope, Virginia Polyface Farm Field Day Sunday, July 24 – Barre, Massachusetts Many Hands Organic Farm: Chickens for Meat & Eggs August 11-14, 2005 - Amherst, Massachusetts 31st Annual Northeast Organic Farming Association Summer Conference August 18 - Stilwell, Oklahoma Turkey Field Day with Mike Walters

October 7-9 –Greeley, Colorado Green Genes: Saving Breeds Created for Grass- 2005 Annual American Livestock Breeds Conservancy Annual Conference November 4-6 - Durham, North Carolina Carolina Farm Stewardship Sustainable Agriculture Conference January 19 - 22, 2006 - New Orleans, Louisiana SSAWG’s Practical Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms

Feb 23-25, 2006 - La Crosse, Wisconsin APPPA ANNUAL MEETING in conjunction with the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference

Next Issue of Grit— September 2005. Deadline August 1

american pastured poultry producers association · 3 american pastured poultry producers...

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