Pastured Poultry Talk

On this episode, I'm joined by Dave and Ginger Shields of Pastured Life Farm in O'brien, Florida. Dave and Ginger started their life as urbanites in Jacksonville, but it was their preschool aged son that made them leave the city and the suburbs in search of a life more connected to their food. Their intention was to homestead and they did that for several years, but eventually, that homestead model transformed itself into a pastured poultry business. At this point, they've been on the farm for eight years. Today, they grow approximately 5,000 Cornish cross broilers and up to 1,000 laying hens in a sexlink / heritage bird flock rotation. Their new life is brimming with opportunity, which often rises up out of everyday farm challenges. The feed co-op they formed is one such example. They're moving up to 100 tons of feed a month. We discuss one of my favorite topics, processing. And what's it like to farm on sand? Dave talks through some of his tips for managing low organic matter pasture in Florida. Resources from the show: Pastured Life Farm: Facebook | Web Your Successful Farm Business by Joel Salatin Poultry Man Chicken Processing Equipment American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Check out the show sponsors:

Paul Greive from Pasturebird joins the show. Paul is a partner in a southern California farm that started just five years ago from 50 chicks. And they're rising quickly. A $2000 investment among 4 guys started as an experiment. There came a point when the farm venture didn't have enough cash to buy zip ties. With those early years behind them, Pasturebird is one of the largest pastured poultry farms in the United States. They're working toward 6,000 a week, and they do it all in a daily move system using mobile range coops. My take from the interview with Paul is focus. You'll hear that word pop up in our conversation in different ways. Focus on the message, focus being the best, focus on a product, focus on the numbers. The farm grows broilers, but if you listen to Paul, you'll hear takeaways that you can apply to your egg, turkey, or other farm business. We also cover some ground on certifications and predators. How did a startup pastured poultry farm deal with predators. Paul's conclusion provided a pivot point to profitability. Contact Paul: Web | Facebook Sponsor Manufacturers of fully automated solar-powered supplemental lighting systems for mobile pastured poultry and family laying hen flocks.

Nick Stolberg is just beginning his career as a pastured poultry farmer in Cap Haitian, Haiti where he's using pastured poultry to feed people and create jobs. Raising pastured poultry is the latest stop on his long-term mission, and I use his Haitian experience to reflect on our opportunities and challenges to the pastured poultry model in the U.S. We talk about Nick's early pastured poultry career as he goes through some of the pain points, but he's optimistic about the future. We also discuss the economic damage the commercial chicken industry inflicts on other parts of the world, and the U.S. Most of all, we get a good lookck at how pastured poultry can revitalize people, the land, and a broader economy with nutritious food produced by members of the community. Find Nick and New Roots online: Facebook | Web. This episode is sponsored by Henlight.

Show updates and a Mike's personal story of how pastured poultry was the change agent in his life; it's the thing that facilitated an independent lifestyle. He also forecasts the next month's scheudule of guests, as well as drops hints of several big projects that will soon be released. Links of stuff mentioned in the show:

• Discuss Pastured Poultry Talk on Facebook.
• So Big Farms - Sasso (naked neck) breeder. Facebook. [email protected].
• Matt Brechwald - Off Farm Income Podcast: Listen to Mike on episode 294.

Pat breeds Black Australorps in the Asheville, NC area. Her birds are becoming well known for their high lay rate of 80%+. The choice to use heritage birds is riddled with challenges, but there's also unmet opportunities. Breeders like Pat lay the foundation to meet those opportunities with strong management, breeding, and genetics. Her emphasis is on on utility, as she describes it. That means she's looking for production more than the perfect comb. She talks about her breeding, her challenges, strengths, and a hopeful future. Pat is part of a fledging group called the The Heritage Poultry Cooperative, which is a group of heritage poultry growers in the western North Carolina area who are coming together to cooperatively serve a market. You can contact Pat at [email protected] or look up "The Heritage Poultry Cooperative" on Facebook.

Grady Phelan, Farm Manager at Cobb Creek, joins the podcast as an interview. Cobb Creek raises broilers on pasture in 600 bird batches and process in their own-farm Texas state inspected slaughter plant. Grady shares the highs and lows of the last ten years of his pastured poultry farming career in this interview. Contact Grady:

• cobbcreekfarm.com
• gradyphelan.com

Support this podcast:

• Join the Facebook Group to discuss
• Shop for processing equipment and ready to lay pullets at Badger's Millside Farm

Caroline Owens discusses her book, Time Management Tips for Farmers. Buy the book. Caroline and family raise sheep, Tamworth pigs, pasture-raised broilers, turkeys, and honeybees on their Sunbury, Pennsylvania farm. In this episode Caroline shares the themes she discovered while interviewing successful farmers about their time management. For more information or to contact Caroline Owens, visit owensfarm.com. Episode Sponsor: Badger's Millside Farm: Your source for Ready to Lay Pullets, Beltsville Small White turkeys, Poultry Man Processing Equipment, and other services.

In this episode, I profile Rhode Island pastured poultry farmer Pat McNiff of Pat's Pastured. At the time of this interview, Pat raised 11,000 broilers, 600 turkeys, 1,800 laying hens, 250 laying ducks, 150 meat ducks, and 50 quail, in addition to hogs and beef. We cover a lot of ground about Pat's successes, setbacks, and vision. Some favorite highlights of our conversation:

• Pat explains how he uses ready-to-lay pullets to speed up the cash flow of his egg business.
• The vision to see what's ahead, and then act on it.
• Humbling yourself to the people around you.

Join the Pastured Poultry Talk Facebook group and let me know what you're favorite part of the show was. Find Pat on the web:

• Facebook
• Website

Simon Huntley, founder of Small Farms Central and author of Cultivating Customers: A Farmers Guide to Online Marketing joins the podcast to talk about online marketing. Buy Cultivating Customers (and support this podcast with the commission Amazon pays). Discover these marketing gems and more: "It may be tempting to think everyone is your customer because everyone eats." "Everything goes back to your website." "People spend a lot of time on Facebook. They got 1.5 billion active users." "Text message marketing can be really effective." Learn more about Simon Huntley at Small Farm Central.

In early December 2016, I will join the Global Poultry Initiative on a mission trip to Cameroon as an instructor in the five day Institute of Sustainable Poultry. Jim joins the show for his second appearance (third podcast) to discuss what GPI is and how it equips indigenous farmers using sustainable poultry. Listen to Jim discuss heritage poultry and breeding in episodes 13 and 14. GPI has a vision to "educate, equip, and empower indigenous people with character, knowledge, and skills to breed, grow, and market poultry that are sustainable, productive, and profitable." Learn more about GPI. Donate: If God is calling you to support this trip, either by helping the instructors (including me) offset the cost of this trip or by funding a farmer, please consider making your generous donation online through Equip International. At the time of publication, the fund a farmer option is not online yet; you may inquire directly to Mike at ([email protected]).