Pastured Poultry Talk

In this episode, Mike Badger goes beyond the talking points and gives yous some practical advice on how to scald chickens, turkeys, ducks, and really, anything you find in your pot of hot water. We'll talk about equipment selection, getting the perfect scald, scald time by bird, the plucker's role, and we'll wrap it up with ways to check your scald.

In an episode of The Fighting Farmer, Spence mentioned that one of his processing customers is a book keeper and tax preparer. Then Chad Ward popped up and answered a tax question in the Pastured poultry Talk Facebook group. So I decided to catch up with Chad, who is a pastured poultry farmer from Oklahoma who also happens to prepare taxes and keep books at an H&R Block office. Pastured Poultry Headlines Poultry World published an article that concluded that, "Antibiotic use in US poultry production is 3 times higher than the UK and 5 times higher for turkeys, according to a report released by the Alliance to Save our Antibiotics." Mike will be doing webinar on producing turkeys for market with FACT . It's free to attend, but registration is required. There will be a playback. Description of the workshop: Mike Badger, Executive Director of the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA) and owner of Badger's Millside Farm in Pennsylvania, will share expert advise on how to raise turkeys on pasture - from concerns about bird health, to designs for outdoor housing, to ideas for creative marketing. There will be time for Q&A so be sure to come with any burning questions you may have! APPPA is putting together a resource guide to connect farmers with products and services of other farmers. Deadline: March 9, 2018. Key Farm Accounting Topics The accounting side of the business, according to Chad, will sink more farmers than the production side. Chad shares several things that can help you prepare for next year's taxes by keeping account of what you're doing. Keep a dedicated bank account. Use technology to systematize processes, such tracking mileage. Chad recommends MileIQ. To keep track of income and expenses throughout the year, Chad recommends Xero and talks through why Quickbooks is not always the best answer. Mike mentioned Wave. Making the Schedule F fit small scale, niche farming. Issue 1099's for companies that provide you with more than $600 in services. Chad Ward can be reached [email protected] | Facebook

On-farm chicken and turkey processing holds a special place in my heart. It paid the mortgage. It introduced us to great people with great farms. It created speaking opportunities. Perhaps, most importantly, on-farm chicken butchering has been demystified and I think it's one of the keys to unlocking a self sufficient life. In this episode, I share some reasons to process on-farm, talk through why I believe the scalder is the single most important purchase you should make, and provide some cost analysis to owning and operating your own processing equipment. Pastured Poultry Headlines and News I take a few moments to share some recent events: The APPPA Professional Pastured Poultry Producers Conference in Fayetteville, Arkansas, wrapped up in January 2018. Listen to Spence and I on the Fighting Farmer for some discussion. Figure out a way to attend this great farmer-to-farmer event in 2019. Mike Badger edited and published the Third Edition of Pastured Poultry Feeding and Management by Jeff Mattocks in 2017. The book has approximately 20% more content and more than 37 feed rations for all types of poultry, including heritage poultry. The Fighting Farmer podcast with Terrell Spencer will soon have its own show feed. Stay tuned for details. Advantages of Processing Chickens On-Farm The expense of purchasing equipment, the regulatory climate, or even the mystery of slaughtering chickens are often cited disadvantages of processing your own chicken, but here are some of the reasons you should do it anyway: Control of the final product. Pay yourself for the processing and recapture the drive time to the processor. Access markets not available with customer slaughter. Flexible timing and scheduling of processing day. The Manual Chicken Scalder Is the Most Important Piece of Equipment If you can only afford a plucker or a scalder, you choose the scalder. That's how important a properly scalded chicken is. I use and recommend the Poultry Man line of commercial equipment for the small scale processor. How to Calculate the Cost of On-Farm Processing How much does it cost you to get your chickens processed by someone else? How much expense do you lose traveling to the processor? You need this basic information so that you can have an accurate comparison of the costs of purchasing your own equipment. In this episode, Mike Badger walks through an example cost analysis of a 23" Poultry Man Plucker, a Poultry Man Manual Scalder, and accessories. Using some real-world numbers, this calculation explains how you can easily pocket $1.00 per chicken, if you process and bag your own birds. That's $1.00 you're not paying out as an expense. Add in another $1.50 per chicken cost to own the equipment (at 500 birds per year), and you're packaged bird cost is $2.50, excluding any facility overhead. Here are your key calculations: Yearly Equipment Cost = Equip Cost / # Years to depreciate cost Equipment Cost per Chicken = Yearly Equipment Cost / Birds per Year Processing Hours = Batch size / Birds per Hour per Person Packing Hours = Batch size / Birds bagged per Hour per Person Total Labor Per Chicken = (Processing Hours + Packing Hours) / Batch Size Many things affect the actual results of these calculations, including equipment cost, labor rate, scale, and your skill. The idea is not to give you exact numbers, but to share a process that helps you analyze the costs for yourself. Your decisions will flow from that analysis. ==> Download a live processing cost calculator that Mike uses to estimate equipment costs, labor costs, and total cost of processing your own chickens.

In this episode of The Fighting Farmer: Debriefing the APPPA Professional Pastured Poultry Producers Conference. It'll either be a smashing hit or a spectactular failure. Trading chicken processing for tax services. Across the Creek Farm has Farm Manager opening. Listener John asked a question about changing his feed ration and supplier. A switch to a new supplier will add about $0.85 cents per bird. Will making a switch be worth it or more efficient? Should he do straight run and at what intervals should he process? Connect with Spence: Web | Facebook.

Certified organic is a systems based certification; it doesn't actually certify the product through testing. As a producer, the current system bugs me because consumers are paying for something they think is different and often times, the only difference is feed. Even that difference can be questionable and uncertain. The real question for consumers is, "Do you really want something different, or are you ok with being lied to?" In other news, we've got Ready To Lay pullets available in NW Arkansas in the spring and some old hens that are looking for new homes. (contact Mike for Pennsylvania needs). Connect with Spence: Web | Facebook.

Customers who want poultry raised differently need to shop harder to ensure they get that difference. In December 2017, the Trump administration nixed the proposed final rule of the organic livestock and poultry practices regulations that were supposed to improve animal welfare. Instead, we're left with more of the same. Mike discusses the impact and politics from a pastured poultry perspective. Resources: Badger's Millside Farm - processing, pullets, and grills

It's a winter wrap-up at Across the Creek Farm: The meat duck and broiler production has finished for the winter season. We reflect on the profitability of the meat ducks on pasture. It's time to think about replacing your laying flocks with ready to lay pullets in the spring. Contact Across the Creek Farm for details. Propane heaters are more efficient brooder heating options for pastured poultry producers than electrical heat lamps. Contact Spence on Facebook or on the web.

Matt Brechwald publishes the Off Farm Income podcast and farms in Kuna, Idaho. Like many people, Matt had a "good job" with good pay, good benefits, time off, and reliability. And like many people he was not satisfied. Before he knew it, he spent 15 years as a police officer, and his dream of farming was nowhere in sight. That's when he took action that let him build a business on the side, get a farm, start podcast, and get farming. That's a path easier said than done, and in this episode I talk to Matt about: How podcasting fits into the farm business? The podcast formed to help people escape the 40-hour-a-week job. It spawned its own business opportunities. How he concentrated on supporting the farm through entrepreneurship; the farm is profitable, but the household still needs additional income. Fear held him back from his entrepreneurial goal. Getting rid of debt. While working, he was self-medicating with stuff. So, it's time to get serious about the lifestyle you choose. Debt forces you to keep the job and turns the farm lifestyle into an obligation. Consumer debt will control you. Some of your friends will be threatened when you leave your job, and they have to tell you why you're wrong. Matt's favorite business ideas from his podcast: #77 on a portable sawmill and #291 about an excavation and construction business. Favorite Book: Do the work. Favorite Resource: 48 days podcast by Dan Miller. Personal Habit: Take a lot of notes on ideas and goals in a place that's easily accessible. Best advice: Don't sell what you catch. Sell what you know. Contact Matt. offincome.com.

When people look into a farmer's world, it often looks like a fairy tale life, and in many respects, that's true. In this episode of The Fighting Farmer podcast, we cover some of the things that challenge the wonderful life. Topics in this show: Pushing the production season, and it's getting cold in the holler. The Ozark Natural Foods market is open on Saturdays. Hiring market workers for the first time. Quality of farm life is a work in progress. Fresh duck almost there. Ask APPPA Q&A call. The APPPA pastured poultry conference is approaching in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Slaughtered 900 birds in the plant, a new high. Hectic schedules, Carla away, kids need to play basketball. Is it a fairy tale life? Ordered a mobile range coop for spring. Chicken topic: ascites in the cold weather. Contact Spence through Facebook.

Joel Salatin joins the show and we use his recent book Your Successful Farm Business (Amazon) as the back drop to the conversation. High points of the discussion: Your Successful Farm Business dives into the people, the marketing, the time and motion studies, and the nitty gritty about how to think like a business person. Marketing is morphing rapidly, especially logistics. There's a lot of "disturbed ground" between the farmer and how stuff gets to the customer. Is Amazon acquiring Whole Foods good? Who eats the price cut of this downward price pressure? The take on relationship marketing. Build it and they will come is a fantasy. You've got to grab 'em. Earn Trust = Conviction + Consistency + Communication. Joel's take on the biggest bottleneck: Processing or marketing? Speaking of pastured poultry processing, "How do we message living food and the whole story of helpful bacteria?" Moldy cheese is cool. But bacteria on a chicken is somehow different. The processing regulatory climate is tough for very small plants and most farmers or consumers don't have any insight into it. What's the reason for the high farm failure rate? Cash flow is one of the biggest issues. Pastured poultry brings cash flow as an asset, but seasonality is a challenge. People have fantasy expectations about farming. Your Successful Farm Business sets realistic expectations and helps you operate from a position of reality. Unrealistic expectations turn bumps in the road into bigger issues than they are. Need to develop mastery through repetition and nuance. Joel believes in dabbling before you commit. "It's ok to dabble." Create a one-year nest egg that can support you without any income. Be "cultishly" frugal. Wendell Berry's essay "Home Economics" talks about feeding yourself first. Those dollars don't have to be earned, and there is no tax on that. Half of America doesn't have access to $400 in cash. What does it mean for direct marketers? Food Inc, cured Joel on what people could afford. You could get two pounds of Polyface grass-finished beef for price of one Burger King meal when that movie came out. Applebees is $15 a plate. A pastured poultry chicken can feed six people with leftovers. We need to help people understand the comparisons. At Polyface, a broiler is less per pound than boneless/skinless chicken breast in the supermarket. Joel explains why eclectic awareness is important in the context creating points of commonalities. Polyface supplies a local Wegman's, but how does that jive with Joel's idea that we should be spending more time trying to get people out of the grocery store? There's an old business saying, "What got you here won't get you there." Resources Polyface Farms Your Successful Farm Business by Joel Salatin You Can Farm by Joel Salatin (precursor and prerequisite to Your Successful Farm Business) Sponsors Small Farm Nation Academy with Tim Young Order Ready to Lay Pullets in Pennsylvania

Update from the farm: The Christmas ducks are out on pasture in the unseasonably warm fall weather and doing well. A buyer from a cooking school visits the farm. Across the Creek Farm supplies this school already, and the buyer said they needed to source conventional chicken so that the students would have a realistic experience when they go into commercial kitchens. By exclusively training on pasture-raised chicken, the students were working with a quality that far exceeded what they would see in most kitchens. The Christmas lights in Fayetteville, AR, have earned nemesis status. Christmas tradition in the holler has been to cut a cedar tree from the farm, except that one year when a tree blew down from the overpass. Farmer Update The University of Arkansas is about to run a field trial with Across the Creek on feeding alternative sources of fish meal from invasive Asian Carp. If it works, we could find a replacement for ocean harvested menhaden in the future. How to From Christmas lights, trees, and bridge trolls, the conversation finds its way to peat moss for brooder bedding. What's the experience of peat moss in the brooder, anyway? Spence and Producer Mike reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly about using peat bedding.

Tim Young of Small Farm Nation joins the show to discuss business, marketing, and farming. Tim is one of those guys who left a successful corporate career to farm full time. After successfully building that business, he's made yet another transition that more closely reflected his family's life goals. Today, he's a homestead food producer who teaches farmers about business and marketing. Here is a sampling of the tidbits in this show: Why people fall short of what Joel Salatin has achieved? What does scale and efficiency look like? Don't romanticize small. Romanticize what small is and small is handcrafted. Marketing is intimidating. The point of marketing is to lower the cost of selling. There are many different parts to marketing, but they all have a common goal. Every farm needs to have a brand. Marketing is an afterthought for many people. Are you running a farm as a business or a hobby? You are an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs burn their bridges behind them. Lose that day job. Working through the side hustles of an agrarian life. We admire the farmers who are entrepreneurs. Tim's take on the ideal customer and why it's not his focus. Get your message out and share your passion. Tim was selling trust on his farm. Farmers as marketers have a chance to be much more positive about their message. Tim takes us inside the Small Farm Nation Academy. Conversion ratios are not just for feed; your website has one too. And other website optimizations. Does podcasting work for local farms? Favorite resource: Canva. Favorite books: Omnivore's Dilemma. Soil Health by Sir Albert Howard. Old books, pre-industrial agriculture. Advice: "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good." Stay in Touch: Tim Young's Small Farm Nation Academy and Podcast. Subscribe to the Pastured Poultry Talk: iTunes | Google Play | Stitcher

On The Fighting Farmer, Spence goes into mouth watering detail about what makes pasture-raised duck different and provides some helpful tips on cooking it up. Sorghum glazed duck and duck fat roasted potatoes, anyone? The processing facility has been a hub of community, providing connections to growers, chefs, and neighbors. Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, the facility caught fire, but the damage is being repaired. No equipment lost. Across the Creek Farm has been a center for making personal connections around the farm life for a long time now, especially around veterans. Listen in as Spence remembers friend Jacob George. Jacob's music is the intro and outro of the podcast. Castrating pigs on the farm is just a way of life for some folk. Find out why we do it. In any livestock farm, there are always some issues that pop up. The conversation turns from castration to scrotal hernias and what that means for the herd. Stay in touch: Have a question for the podcast? Email Producer Mike. Want to reach out to Spence? Try Facebook. Subscribe to the show: iTunes | Google Play | Stitcher

Terrell Spencer (we just call him Spence) joins the Pastured Poultry Talk network to chat about farm life. Spence is a full-time pastured poultry farmer at Across the Creek Farm near Fayetteville, Arkansas. The "Fighting Farmer"is rooted in the fact that Spence is a veteran of the Army, and farming often seems like a fight. Perseverance is key. In this initial episode, we meet Spence and talk about the goals of the podcast. In a nutshell, he wants people to have a realistic view of what it takes to farm and to give back to the community as a distribution hub of information and community. As the broiler season winds down in Northwest Arkansas, we chat about: A problem at the market makes it hard to sell ducks for Thanksgiving Those problems inspire some farm projects Shelter designs at Across the Creek Farm Why broiler production is seasonal Fighting Farmer will be a twice-monthly feature of Pastured Poultry Talk where Spence talks through the farm updates for his customers and for his peers. He's a first generation farmer, and he's appeared on the podcast before as a co-host and as a guest (PPT039, PPT038, PPT037, PPT035, PPT010).

Today, I bring you the audio portion of APPPA's "Pastured Poultry: Better Way Forward" video and then I talk with one of the video's main characters, David Hale of Windy Meadows Farm. The video differentiates pastured poultry from all the other options and explains what it is. David and I talk through these ideas, as they related to the video: What makes pastured poultry special? What kind of customer do you have? Do they prefer taste or nutrition? Who does the marketing at Windy Meadows Family Farm? Is pastured poultry ready to be chicken for everyone? How will David Hale share and talk about the Better Way Forward video and get to a bigger audience? Being prepared to talk about your farm and practices in a marketable way. Watch the video, here:

In this show, I take some momentum from episode 58 and talk about prospecting for new customers using email cold calls and email marketing services. There's a quick technology detour as I introduce Mozilla Thunderbird, which is how I do all my day-to-day email activities, including prospecting. Email prospecting is how I start out almost every business and I use it to find customers from nothing. You can't talk email marketing without talking about websites and sales funnels. I wrap this whole conversation up into a simple system: website > email sign-up > talk to customers. The bottom line is that email is simple and effective. Anyone can use it to sell chicken and it scales with your business. I even discuss the difference between spam and email marketing. But email marketing's biggest impediment is you. Check out this short course from Aweber, my email hosting provider of choice, for a more in-depth look at using email to capture leads. It's my affiliate link. Learn how to grow your email list in less than 4 hours with step-by-step, expert guidance in six short and simple lessons. Start the course now

Farmer, marketer, and author Charlotte Smith joins the podcast to talk about relationship marketing, or as she puts it, farm marketing from the heart. The farm's signature product is raw milk with diversified offerings of eggs, chicken, and turkey. The inspiration for Charlotte's 3 Cow Marketing service came from the realization that she sold out of her products when the neighboring farms struggled even though they were selling comparable productions. People started asking her for help. In this show we talk about what it means to know your dream customer and discuss: The high failure rate of new farms. 80% fail within the second year. How to avoid competition and price push back. The differences between an on-farm store with hours versus an honor system. Why it's important to set aside marketing time. What farmers can do to position their farms for success. Advice for marketing pastured poultry while employed at an off-farm job. Growing beyond those first 20 customers. Building relationships with people you may never meet. The difference between talking and listening with your customers. You're a rockstar and your customer wants to hear what you have to say. Should you as a farmer write a book for your customers? Charlotte's favorite resource: Email marketing software from MailerLite (It's free for the first 1,000 emails). Recommended book: Joel Salatin's Your Successful Farm Business. Contact Charlotte 3 cow Marketing The Profitable Farm Faceboook Group Books from Episode

Dr. Michael Rothrock of USDA joins the show to discuss bacteria on pastured poultry. He overviews his research into the common food safety bacteria: campylobacter, salmonella, listeria, and E. Coli. He's not trying to figure out how pastured poultry compares to conventional poultry production. Rather, he's trying to figure out how "well" each individual farm is doing, and then work in the context of that farm. Not all bacteria has human health impacts, so it's vitally important to know what we're dealing with. In other words, not all salmonella is equal. And in Dr. Rothrock's research, he's setting out to identify as much bacteria as possible and then determine its type. Contact: Michael J. Rothrock Jr., Ph.D. Research Microbiologist USDA-ARS US National Poultry Research Center 706-546-3072 (office) [email protected] Sponsors: This podcast brought to you by Henlight, a fully automated solar powered lighting system for pastured egg flocks.

Today, Dave shares a new 300 broiler design that scales up the typical small-batch design of the Salatin shelters, but falls short of the size found in large scale mobile housing, such as the Mobile Range Coop. I''s a great middle ground design for those of one small pastures, including silvopastures. And thanks to Irma, we know these shelter designs can weather a hurricane. Ginger also talks us through how Pastured Life Farm does layer housing in the Florida climate. Resources Mentioned: Pastured Life Farm: Facebook Henlight supplemental light system.

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]).

I'm reloading the podcast, and more information will come out about that. For now, take advantage of these training opportunities: Raising Pastured Poultry for Food and Profit Workshop in Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, California, Oregon, Idaho, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. September 12 - 23, 2016. Large Scale Pastured Poultry Workshop in Asheville, NC. November 10-11, 2016. Sustainable Poultry Network National Conference in Asheville, NC. November 12-13, 2016.

A quick hitting technical episode on the nutritional qualities of using black soldier fly larvae as poultry feed. In this show, we talk about the differences between dry matter and as-fed nutritional values. With respect to poultry, we cover the soldier fly values of protein, lysine, ash, phosphorus, and calcium. Resources Ask APPPA Q&A on the third Tuesday of each month at 8pm Eastern. Dial (712) 432-1212 and enter Access Code 709-102-625 to join. Show Sponsors [caption id="attachment_293" align="alignleft" width="174"] Featuring poultry processing equipment and charcoal chicken grills.[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignright" width="220"] Makers of high-quality feed supplements for poultry, cattle, goats, sheep, swine and horses.[/caption]

We continue the mini-series with poultry nutritionist Jeff Mattocks of The Fertrell Company. This will be part 2 of our 3 part technical road series that we recorded on our way to Arkansas. That explains the road hum that I couldn't get out, but everything is clear. In this episode, we talk about molting; The natural purpose of molting. How pastured poultry producers use molting to achieve a productive second and third lay cycle. The right time and the humane way to molt a hen. Why force a molt instead of doing it naturally. Bringing the hens out of molt with proper lighting techniques. Reasons for unexpected molt. Resources Ask APPPA Q&A on the third Tuesday of each month at 8pm Eastern. Dial (712) 432-1212 and enter Access Code 709-102-625 to join. Show Sponsors [caption id="attachment_293" align="alignleft" width="174"] Featuring poultry processing equipment and charcoal chicken grills.[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignright" width="220"] Makers of high-quality feed supplements for poultry, cattle, goats, sheep, swine and horses.[/caption]

Think all chicken feather picking and "cannibalism" is attributed to poor feed? Think again. Poultry nutritionist Jeff Mattocks of The Fertrell Company walks us through four main reasons that poultry peck their flock mates. And feed is only one of the issues. So jump in the truck and join us we talk about feather pecking while driving down the road.

I'm joined by Jeff Mattocks and several APPPA Producer Plus members for a Q&A session on mixing feed on-farm as an alternative to purchasing feed from a mill. It's a common desire to mix feed on-farm, but it's a process that prompts many questions. Jeff is a poultry nutritionist with The Fertrell Company and author of the must have book Feeding Pasture-Raised Poultry">Pastured Poultry Feeding and Management. He has a deep understanding of poultry nutritional requirements, the characteristics of feedstuffs, and pastured poultry. Jeff is a unique poultry nutritionist in that he not only understands the nutrition, he understands the nuances of pastured production. This is the area where theory meets reality, and Jeff is a valuable community resource when it comes to navigating the collision of the classroom and the grass. In this episode, we cover a lot of ground: Typical bushel weights. Appropriate feed particle size. Correct mixing times. Is fresh feed better? How does pasture mix affect nutrition? Buying and storing grains. How do you find a reliable supply? Buying transitional and organic buffer strips. Beware of the weed seed. Common PTO requirements to running a grinder/mixer. Are all fishmeals created equal? A brief discussion about the interplay of amino acids. Enjoy. Talk about this episode at our new Facebook Group. Need scalders, pluckers, and other poultry processing equipment? Check out PPT sponsor, Badger's Millside Farm.

[caption id="attachment_295" align="alignright" width="300"] Inside of hoop house at Whitehurst Farms.[/caption] Talk about this episode on Facebook. Mike Marchand of Whitehurst Farms joins the show to talk about his rapidly growing career as a pastured poultry farmer in the Houston, Texas area. He sold his successful non-farming business and starting raising poultry in 2014. Today, he manages a laying flock of 1700 pastured hens in addition to broilers, turkeys, and pigs. Mike shares two important takeaways from his first business that he applies to his farm. And he also candidly suggests that "you better get some friends." Mike details the growth of his laying operation, including housing, breeds, challenges of ready to lay pullets, and disease management. He outlines how he suffered a large drop-off in egg production and how he leveraged his relationships to make it through the production drops. To learn more about Whitehurst Farms, visit their Facebook page or visit them online. Show Sponsor This episode of Pastured Poultry Talk is brought to you by Badger's Millside Farm. When you need quality, American made, affordable poultry processing equipment for your on-farm slaughter, consult with Pastured Poultry Talk host Mike Badger. He's a Poultry Man and Featherman dealer.

Spence dawns his meat cape of awesomeness for another episode. This time I talk to him about bootstrapping. Some highlights: What are some of the challenges in Bootstrapping a Pastured poultry farm? What would do if you were smart? Are you playing with house money? Don't be afraid to work for a porkchop. What's the biggest obstacle to overcome when starting your own pastured poultry business? Should you have too much chicken or not enough? Plan to be adaptive. Should both spouses work on the farm? Spence shares the number of birds that he can comfortably take care of himself. You need to have realistic expectations. Don't try to create a multi-generational farm overnight. Are you a romantic farmer? Both Mike and Spence provide a perspective size and new markets. Should you listen to what people want? Send your questions to [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you. Buy American made poultry processing supplies at my farm business, millsidefarm.com

It's never too early or late to think about turkeys. In this episode, Mike starts off talking to Spence about current farm events, which steers the conversation to turkey breeding. Mike has been setting up his Beltsvile Small White breeding program. And no discussion about turkeys is complete without a chat about blackhead. Spence authored a great paper with NCAT on blackhead. About mid-way through, Spence ducks out and Mike finishes the episodes by sharing a couple of slides from his Year Round Turkey Production presentation at the 2016 PASA Farming for the Future Conference where he talks about grinding and cutting up turkey for the year round markets. Reminder: Now is the time to be planning your processing equipment purchases. I am a dealer specializing in small scale poultry processing equipment. Visit millsidefarm.com for more information.

It's never too early or late to think about turkeys. In this episode, Mike starts off talking to Spence about current farm events, which steers the conversation to turkey breeding. Mike has been setting up his Beltsvile Small White breeding program. And no discussion about turkeys is complete without a chat about blackhead. Spence authored a great paper with NCAT on blackhead. About mid-way through, Spence ducks out and Mike finishes the episodes by sharing a couple of slides from his Year Round Turkey Production presentation at the 2016 PASA Farming for the Future Conference where he talks about grinding and cutting up turkey for the year round markets. Reminder: Now is the time to be planning your processing equipment purchases. I am a dealer specializing in small scale poultry processing equipment. Visit millsidefarm.com for more information.

It's never too early or late to think about turkeys. In this episode, Mike starts off talking to Spence about current farm events, which steers the conversation to turkey breeding. Mike has been setting up his Beltsvile Small White breeding program. And no discussion about turkeys is complete without a chat about blackhead. Spence authored a great paper with NCAT on blackhead. About mid-way through, Spence ducks out and Mike finishes the episodes by sharing a couple of slides from his Year Round Turkey Production presentation at the 2016 PASA Farming for the Future Conference where he talks about grinding and cutting up turkey for the year round markets. Reminder: Now is the time to be planning your processing equipment purchases. I am a dealer specializing in small scale poultry processing equipment. Visit millsidefarm.com for more information.

It's never too early or late to think about turkeys. In this episode, Mike starts off talking to Spence about current farm events, which steers the conversation to turkey breeding. Mike has been setting up his Beltsvile Small White breeding program. And no discussion about turkeys is complete without a chat about blackhead. Spence authored a great paper with NCAT on blackhead. About mid-way through, Spence ducks out and Mike finishes the episodes by sharing a couple of slides from his Year Round Turkey Production presentation at the 2016 PASA Farming for the Future Conference where he talks about grinding and cutting up turkey for the year round markets. Reminder: Now is the time to be planning your processing equipment purchases. I am a dealer specializing in small scale poultry processing equipment. Visit millsidefarm.com for more information.

It's never too early or late to think about turkeys. In this episode, Mike starts off talking to Spence about current farm events, which steers the conversation to turkey breeding. Mike has been setting up his Beltsvile Small White breeding program. And no discussion about turkeys is complete without a chat about blackhead. Spence authored a great paper with NCAT on blackhead. About mid-way through, Spence ducks out and Mike finishes the episodes by sharing a couple of slides from his Year Round Turkey Production presentation at the 2016 PASA Farming for the Future Conference where he talks about grinding and cutting up turkey for the year round markets. Reminder: Now is the time to be planning your processing equipment purchases. I am a dealer specializing in small scale poultry processing equipment. Visit millsidefarm.com for more information.

As a continuation of episode 35, Spence is back for a guest host spot to talk about pasture management. We talk about managing broilers and layers on pasture. Spence is in the midst of transitioning his layers from an egg mobile to a daily move prairie schooner for precision manure management and predator protection. We go from pastures to silvopastures in progress to hillside pastures. Poultry can build soil really fast or destroy it really fast, which leads to a discussion about phosphorous. Spence tosses out a stackable enterprise to deal with excess phosphorous. How to reap the manure investment from your pasture? The conversation ends with fixed housing and some of the associated problems. Save the date for a May pastured poultry workshop in Arkansas.

[gallery columns="4" size="medium" ids="249,253,252,251"] North Carolina producer John McAuley (Healthy Hen Farms) joins the show to talk about his pastured broiler operation, marketing frozen chicken, and some lessons learned in the brooder. John focuses on pasture-raised broilers and turkeys and expects to raise approximately 8,000 birds in 2016. John started his pastured poultry career in the mid 1990's as Polyface's second apprentice. He wanted to share some of his perspective on selling frozen chicken (an episode 30 topic). We also check in on his operation in general. Here's some of what we cover: Lessons of building on leased land. Why John ended the wholesale egg business. Why he says, pick one thing and do that one thing well. John shares his modifications to the Salatin style daily move pen in terms of size, ventilation, and construction. Healthy Hen Farms sells 100% of its chicken frozen as a way to compensate with the logistical nightmare of selling fresh, whole birds. Going all frozen has completely changed Healthy Hen Farm's business. He's able to make deliveries all year round while collapsing the production season. Currently processing 120-130 birds per hour. John talks about his new brooder design and why the QC Supply game bird drinkers is one of the best things about the brooder. Find John Online: Healthyhenfarms.com chickenpeople.com John mentioned these products in the podcast that you might be interested in: QC Supply game bird drinkers Ashley Scalder Featherman Pro Plucker

Terrell Spencer joins Mike as a guest host. Fresh off an APPPA related trip to the Mother Earth News Fair in Belton, Texas, the two share their impressions about the show. Highlights of the episode: Is Texas poised as the next pastured poultry hot spot? There are several processing options accessible to the DFW and Austin markets: Windy Meadows Family Farm and Cobb Creek are state inspected. Dewberry Hills Farm is USDA inspected. At the fair, Spence talked about selling beyond farmers market; he overviews a key point or two about the differences between selling to restaurant and retail outlets. We learn one of the keys to a good farming presentation. Beware of what might or might not be behind the scenes. At APPPA's dinner reception, Joel Salatin outlined a few weaknesses that he sees in the pastured poultry community right now. Spence and Mike kick those topics around and offer our perspectives on eggs, housing, processing, and pasture management. Stay tuned. Spence will be back on a future episode.

Rebbeca Thistlethwaite and her co-author and husband Jim Dunlop wrote the book The New Livestock Farmer: The Business of Raising and Selling Ethical Meats and the author of Farms of the Future. Between them, they have a diverse livestock, orchard, and vegetable farming history. Their pastured poultry production includes layers (flocks as large as 5,000), broilers (up to 10,000 a year), a few hundred turkeys. We cover: The challenges of marketing underground broilers. The marketing reality of Broad Breasted and heritage turkeys. How writing the book helped Rebecca and Jim decide the future of their commercial farming ventures. What is an ethical meat? The three questions you can ask yourself to be more like a hedgehog. Principled marketing and the 80/20 rule to the lifetime value of a customer. Should your customer pay increasingly higher prices for your inefficiencies? Links to Resources: Buy The New Livestock Farmer* by Thistlethwaite and Dunlop Good to Great* by Jim Collins (a book mentioned in the podcast by Rebecca) Rebecca Thistlethwaite *Amazon affiliate link

Members of the UC Davis pastured poultry research farm join the podcast to tell us about their project. Mike is joined by Dr. Richard Blatchford and Carine Elkhoraibi. The project describes itself as "a new education, research and innovation hub for pastured poultry producers (layers and broilers), master gardeners, backyard flock keepers, academia, students, food buyers, food safety and animal welfare auditors." In this episode, the UC Davis teams introduces the project and its goals. At the time of the recording, the farm's first batch of 150 layers were approaching laying age. We talked about brooding, egg mobile design, predators, research, Avian Influenza, Proposition 2 and more. Resources Learn more about the UC Davis pastured poultry project. Plans for an Egg Mobile and portable shade structure are available in the Innovations at the Farm PDF.

In this episode, we provide you with some show updates and explain our infrequency and most importantly, tell you how we're moving forward. Mike has upgraded his podcast studio--what do you think about the sound? We also share one of the hottest pastured poultry events happening in the February in conjunction with the Mother Earth News Fair in Belton, TX. Including a dinner reception with Joel Salatin that's sponsored by Yanmar. Details at http://www.apppa.org/content/21994 Stay up to date with show announcements and new episode releases by going to http://forms.aweber.com/form/20/1447494020.htm. We'll never sell or share your email address with third party marketers. Direct all questions about the show to [email protected].

Mike interviews Mark Kastel of Cornucopia Institute to discuss the Institute's report "Scrambled Eggs: Separating Factory Farm Egg Production from Authentic Organic Agriculture." The gold standard in organic egg production, according to Mark, is smaller, pasture-raised flocks, and these are the farms that earn the coveted 5-egg rating in the accompanying egg scorecard. At about 14 minutes, Mark starts drawing a distinction between pasture-raised and enhanced outdoor access. Enhanced outdoor access (a 4 egg rating), he says, is what mainstream organic consumers think they're getting, but the prevailing marketplace reality is not even close. This short interview will give you insights into the organic egg production, but the full report is recommended reading as it demonstrates a understanding of pasture-raised in the context of the issues facing farmers. Resources: Organic Egg Scorecard Cornucopia's Scrambled Egg Report

In a post-Thanksgiving turkey love feast, Mike (www.millsidefarm.com) and Grady (www.gradyphelan.com) discuss cooking techniques including splatchcock and chicken ballotine preparations. Cooking and eating your product makes for great marketing stories. We transition to winter marketing, and we tackle the frozen chicken stigma, especially when dealing with chefs. Send your questions to [email protected] and don't forget to share this podcast with your friends. Cobb Creek Farm in Hillsboro, TX, is looking for an intern. Contact Grady, if you're interested.

What makes a guy quit his New York City job on the Howard Stern show, sell everything he owns to bicycle across the US, and then start his mid-life farming career. That's the summary of John Suscovich's self-described quarter-life crisis. John is the Farm Manager at Camp Roads Farm in Connecticut and host of the Growing Farms Podcast. In this episode, Mike and John talk through John's transition to farming. Over the course of four years, he has gone from a trial batch of 40 broilers in year one to raising as many as 2,400 meat birds and up to 350 laying hens. John primarily markets through a chicken CSA, and we spend a fair amount of time talking about marketing birds. John can be found at: Camp Roads Farm (www.campsroadfarm.com) Farm Marketing Solutions (www.farmmarketingsolutions.com) - Home of the Growing Farms Podcast. Food Cyclist (foodcyclist.com) - The journey that started it all. John's chicken tractor plans are available here. Farm Marketing Solutions on YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/user/farmmarketing)