Pastured Poultry Talk

Grady opens his Texas slaughter house for business, and he's looking for a new apprentice. Apprentices, can go to eagerfarmer.com. Mike's been processing with a group of chefs-in-training at a local-to-him college. So it seems appropriate to spend time answering some really great processing questions from the Pastured Poultry Talk audience.

• Do you put anything between the crates to keep the birds from pooping on each other during transport?
• Feed withdrawal times and manure consistency.
• How many birds do you scald before you change the water in the scalder?
• Check that water level in the scalder.
• What are the lime green tips on the wings that I see when butchering? We take a tangent to Deep Pectoral Myopathy (green muscle disease).
• A listener asks about plucker selection for a USDA facility and about the logistics of opening a facility.
• The value of HACCP consultants.

Need processing equipment? Contact Mike (millsidefarm.com) or Grady (gradyphelan.com) directly. Mike is a dealer for Poultry Man and Featherman while Grady is a Featherman Dealer.

Of course, we love your questions. Send them to [email protected]. And don't forget to share this podcast with your pastured poultry friends.

Educational resources.

Mike or Grady mentioned the following resources duringt the show:

• APPPA (American Pastured Poultry Producers Association)
• Niche Meat Processors Assistance Network
• Eager Farmer to find apprentices or an apprenticeship (Tell Sheri that Mike and Grady from Pastured Poultry Talk sent you)

Grady opens his Texas slaughter house for business, and he's looking for a new apprentice. Apprentices, can go to eagerfarmer.com. Mike's been processing with a group of chefs-in-training at a local-to-him college. So it seems appropriate to spend time answering some really great processing questions from the Pastured Poultry Talk audience.

Need processing equipment? Contact Mike (millsidefarm.com) or Grady (gradyphelan.com) directly. Mike is a dealer for Poultry Man and Featherman while Grady is a Featherman Dealer.

Of course, we love your questions. Send them to [email protected]. And don't forget to share this podcast with your pastured poultry friends.

Educational resources. 

Mike or Grady mentioned the following resources duringt the show:

Mike (http://www.millsidefarm.com) and Grady (http://www.gradyphelan.com) respond to a listener question about stocking density inside a daily move broiler shelter. But does a simple question have a simple answer?

And how do you know if your expensive feed is paying dividends? Mike relays a story about two separate chicken flocks. One fed a carefully formulated ration and another fed a home-grown feed with a "found-online" ration. One of the single biggest investments in your flock will be feed, so it makes financial sense to cut that cost; however, do you know the impacts various quality feeds have on your flock?

If we follow Grady's advice about collecting data, we'll be able to intelligently justify and quantify the results of our feed choices.

Got a question? Send it to [email protected].

Mike (http://www.millsidefarm.com) and Grady (http://www.gradyphelan.com) respond to a listener question about stocking density inside a daily move broiler shelter. But does a simple question have a simple answer?

And how do you know if your expensive feed is paying dividends? Mike relays a story about two separate chicken flocks. One fed a carefully formulated ration and another fed a home-grown feed with a "found-online" ration. One of the single biggest investments in your flock will be feed, so it makes financial sense to cut that cost; however, do you know the impacts various quality feeds have on your flock?

If we follow Grady's advice about collecting data, we'll be able to intelligently justify and quantify the results of our feed choices.

Got a question? Send it to [email protected].

Cody Hopkins of Grassroots Farmer Cooperative and Falling Sky Farm joins Mike Badger and Grady Phelan to talk about the power of farming friends. In it's second year of operation, the cooperative expects to market 70,000 broilers, 2,000 broilers, 400 hogs, and 60 head of beef.

Cody and his wife Andrea are first generation farmers who started in 2007 on rented land. They went from renting 40 to 250 acres. In 2010, they were full time farmers and encountered all the problems first generation farmers do including buying land, growing quickly, and cash flow.

A really important benefit was that they had an informal network of livestock farmers in Arkansas that enabled bulk feed purchases, collaboration, and support. It pushed them to be better farmers.

"It made more sense to work together than to see each other as competition," says Cody.

That informal network of beginning farmers teamed up with Heifer International to build a sustainable, robust value chain that would help farmers around the state of Arkansas. And the informal network was formalized into the Grass Roots Cooperative in 2014.

Heifer has helped with strategic relationships, creative funding sources, market development and more.

Listen to the full episode to hear Cody's thoughts on competition, quality control, marketing, production, financing, apprentice farm memberships, difficult cooperative members, and much more.

Have a question? Send it to [email protected], and Grady and Mike will answer it on a future episode. Please don't forget to pop into iTunes and give us a review.

Cody Hopkins of Grassroots Farmer Cooperative and Falling Sky Farm joins Mike Badger and Grady Phelan to talk about the power of farming friends.  In it's second year of operation, the cooperative expects to market 70,000 broilers, 2,000 broilers, 400 hogs, and 60 head of beef.

Cody and his wife Andrea are first generation farmers who started in 2007 on rented land. They went from renting 40 to 250 acres. In 2010, they were full time farmers and encountered all the problems first generation farmers do including buying land, growing quickly, and cash flow.

A really important benefit was that they had an informal network of livestock farmers in Arkansas that enabled bulk feed purchases, collaboration, and support.  It pushed them to be better farmers.

"It made more sense to work together than to see each other as competition," says Cody.

That informal network of beginning farmers teamed up with Heifer International to build a sustainable, robust value chain that would help farmers around the state of Arkansas. And the informal network was formalized into the Grass Roots Cooperative in 2014.

Heifer has helped with strategic relationships, creative funding sources, market development and more.

Listen to the full episode to hear Cody's thoughts on competition, quality control, marketing, production, financing, apprentice farm memberships, difficult cooperative members, and much more.

Have a question? Send it to [email protected], and Grady and Mike will answer it on a future episode. Please don't forget to pop into iTunes and give us a review.

After several solo shows, Mike and Grady come together to kick around some listener questions and issues. We dig deep into the following:

• A listener asks if 8 week old Cornish Cross cockerels are touigh. We kick that answer around and use the occasion to talk about the differences between raising straight run, all pullets, and all cockerels.
• Another question asked us to expand on the role of feeding free choice wheat for broilers and turkeys.
• As a followup to episode 14 with Susan Beal, we cover the common sense packaging suggestions for freezing raw parts being used for pet food.

Got a question? Send it to [email protected]. And if you like the show, give us a review on iTunes.

 After several solo shows, Mike and Grady come together to kick around some listener questions and issues. We dig deep into the following:

Got a question? Send it to [email protected]. And if you like the show, give us a review on iTunes.

Find out what you can do with those extra parts.Dr. Beal sees the leftover parts as a opportunity for pastured poultry producers. In her small animal practice, over 80 percent of her clients fed some sort of fresh and raw diets.

Grady and Susan cover the following topics:

• Rundown of raw diets for cats and dogs. Dr. Beal outlines a three pile rule to feeding.
• Ideas for finding customers who want make the investment in high quality, raw pastured poultry protein.
• It's a market for more than leftover parts. What about the chicken scratch and dent?
• Ground, pieces, or whole? Susan talks through the options and describes a garbage disposal grinder.
• Busting the chicken bone myth.
• Safe handling considerations for feeding raw poultry.
• Dealing with the regulations of "pet food."
• If it's good enough for humans, is it pet food?

Resources

• Download Dr. Beal's Raw Pet Food Diet for Dogs
• Download Dr. Beal's Raw Pet Food Diet for Cats
• Ask APPPA Q&A Call - 3rd Tuesday of every month - Dial-in Number: (712) 432-1212. Access Code: 709-102-625

Email your questions to [email protected].

Find out what you can do with those extra parts.Dr. Beal sees the leftover parts as a opportunity for pastured poultry producers. In her small animal practice, over 80 percent of her clients fed some sort of fresh and raw diets.

Grady and Susan cover the following topics:

Resources

Email your questions to [email protected].