pastured poultry pres
TRANSCRIPT
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Pastured Poultry
Raising Chickens in a Grass-Based System
Erin Campbell-Craven, Livestock Program Assistant
Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture
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What is Pastured Poultry?
Pastured poultry ≠ free range!
• “free range” is a marketing term
• “Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.” – USDA Food Labeling fact sheet
• Outside could be pavement, gravel, rocks, dirt… not necessarily pasture
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What is Pastured Poultry?
Pastured poultry ≠ organic
• Feed must be organic
• No use of hormones or antibiotics
• Environmental regulations
• NO pasture regulations for poultry, only ruminants
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Pastured poultry are…
• Raised on FRESH pasture for most of their lives
• Given access to sunshine
• Usually frequently rotated
• Less crowded (enclosure space per bird 1-2ft²)
• Fed either non-organic or organic feed – Pastured poultry NEED feed or planted grains
supplementation to thrive and produce (diet is only about 10% grass)
• Often slower-growing, heritage breeds
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Types of Pastured Poultry
• Broiler systems
• Layer systems
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Broiler systems
• Raise from chick to slaughter in 8-12 weeks
• Usually kept in confined chicken tractors
• Moved often
• Often processed on site
• OK allows home-processing without licensing UP TO 1000 birds/year – only allows sales to household consumers
– must process at USDA-certified plant to sell across state lines, contract with stores, restaurants • Darp Processing Plant – Tahlequah, OK
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Layer systems
• More often free-range or surrounded by electric fence & locked up at night
• Need more space – Higher frequency of cannibalism/pecking in layers
– Will be in production for years, not weeks
• Egg-mobiles
• Easiest to sell directly on-farm to consumers – OK laws governing egg sales are stricter than
federal laws!
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Why Pastured Poultry?
• Waste control
• Fewer health problems
– Heat stress
– Cannibalism/pecking issues
• Pasture improvement through use of manure
• Health benefits/Tastiness of eggs & meat
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Pastured eggs have…
• Thicker albumen (egg white)
• Darker orange yolk
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Pastured Eggs vs. Non-pastured Eggs
Pastured eggs have:
• 1/3 less cholesterol • 1/4 less saturated fat • 2/3 more vitamin A • 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids • 3 times more vitamin E • 7 times more beta carotene
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx#ixzz27LvkfgLn
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Other Benefits of Pastured Poultry
• Ethical concerns
• Appealing appearance of flock to customers
You’re not just marketing a product, you are marketing a way of life!
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Pastured Poultry Challenges
• Weather
– Heat stress
– Cold stress
• Parasites
– Midges – avoid having poultry near boggy spots
• Predator control
– Electric fence
– Livestock Guardian Dogs
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Heifer Ranch Pastured Poultry
• Raised 1000 broilers/year for kitchen
• Processed on site
• Cornish cross shipped at one-day old
• On pasture at 3 weeks, processed at 8 weeks
• Production from early spring to late fall
• Non-medicated feed (chick starter for first 2 weeks)
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Kerr Center Pastured Poultry Project
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2009-2010 Chicken Tractor
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2009-2010 Chicken Tractor
• Can house 6-8 birds year-round
• Easily moved with an ATV or other vehicle
• Generally moved once-twice/week
• Perfect for pulling over beds or rows to fertilize garden pre-planting
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2011 “Learning Experience”
• 100 Golden Wyandottes and Dominiques placed on pasture at 8 weeks in June 2011
• Surrounded by electric fence and locked up at night to limit roaming and predation
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2011 “Learning Experience”
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2011 “Learning Experience”: Problems Faced
• Birds did not recognize the trailers as their place to roost
• Could not be herded into the trailers easily – had to walk up narrow, steep ramp to access trailer doors
• Had to be individually caught and manually placed inside the trailers – Too stressful for birds
• Already over 100 degrees in beginning of June – couldn’t shut birds up inside trailers to acclimate
• Roamed widely as soon as they were placed in pasture – Not trained to electric fence
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2011 “Learning Experience”: Lessons Learned
• Start over! • Order 40 chicks, not 100 • Raise chicks in trailers
– “Home base” will decrease roaming
• Put chicks on pasture as young as possible – Acclimate to weather before summer
• Place wire panels on either side of ramp leading to trailer door to herd birds into trailer
• Move trailers frequently to limit roaming, predation
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2-day old chicks
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Electrolyte/Vitamin Mix - dissolve 4oz. packet in 2 gallons of water – add 10oz per gallon of water for 4-6 weeks – promotes fast feathering
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Brooder temperature recommendations
• Week 1 – 95 degrees • Week 2 – 90 degrees • Week 3 – 85 degrees • Week 4 – 80 degrees • Week 5 – 75 degrees • Week 6 – 70 degrees • Week 7 – 60 degrees These are just recommendations – the faster you can wean your chicks off of the heat lamp, the faster they will feather and the better they will acclimate to changes in the outside weather conditions.
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2 ½ week-old chicks
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Note advanced feathering – use feathering as a guide for decreasing temperature as the amount of feathering a chick has will dictate its cold-tolerance
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Look for signs of stress in the chicks to make sure your brooder temperature is not too hot or too cold – these are not stressed chicks!
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One-month-old chicks – outside in trailers during the day, inside the barn at night
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6-week-old chicks – fully adapted to living outside surrounded by electric fence, put up in trailers at night
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8-week-old chicks – moving out to new pasture
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Rock Creek Project – chickens move in a 2-3 day rotation behind cows in an effort to scatter cattle manure patties and decrease internal and external parasites in the cattle
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Panting to dispel heat – normal in chickens on hot days
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Scratching through cattle manure to fertilize pasture and destroy internal and external parasite larvae
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Kerr Center Pastured Poultry: Future Plans
• Develop breeding program – Acquire Delaware rooster – breed pure and
Wyandotte crosses
– Use hens for natural incubation
• Cull roaming hens
• Livestock Guardian Dog for predator control
• Fecal egg counts
• Soil tests on improved pasture where hens have been