Friday, January 8, 2010

Farm Planning- Pastured Poultry

I lay awake at night and in the early morning planning the farm in my head. Ever have a dream or goal like that- where all your free time is spent envisioning your future? I feel led to do this, for the health of my family. I have been consumed with finances, business plans, and learning as much as I can about chickens to make my dream a reality.
I thought I would give you all a picture of what we want to do.
Keep in mind that the following pictures are NOT our own- just close to what we want to do.


Pastured Poultry defined: Chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese that are raised on pasture, most often they are supplemented with some grains. While on pasture, the poultry eat the tender grass, scratch the ground, and eat bugs, meanwhile they are fertilizing the fields they are on with their manure which is high in nitrogen.
Why is pastured poultry better for you? Our #1 reason for eating pastured poultry is there are No Antibiotics, No Hormones, and No Steroids added to the poultry. Birds that have been raised on grasses out in the field are HEALTHIER BIRDS. They do not need any extra pharmaceuticals to be healthy. They are eating what God intended them to eat. A bird that is eating grasses and bugs is going to have higher Omega 3 fatty acids (good fatty acids) and up to 50% more vitamin A. The birds will be leaner, because they have had room to move, and are eating a healthier grass/grain diet. It also tastes more like chicken. Flavorful, no added pharmaceuticals, and leaner meat, not to mention the quality of life for the birds.


What would you rather eat?



A Chicken that has been raised on fresh grass pasture, eating all the bugs, seeds, grass, and grain they want. Being moved to new grass every day, opening up a whole new salad bar for them. A healthier bird means a healthier meat.

OR


A bird that has been raised in confinement. Thousands of birds raised in one long building that allows almost no room for the bird to move. They are sitting in their own feces for 6 weeks, causing all sorts of conditions requiring medical pharmaceuticals to rectify. These birds are fed a feed that has had arsenic added to it. Arsenic helps rid the animals of some of the diseases that close confinement has caused, but it is added mostly to increase the appetite of the birds, making them gain weight faster.

Consider what you are putting in your body for a moment- Do we really need to be putting arsenic, steroids, hormones, and antibiotics into our bodies? If we are eating this type of meat- factory raised poultry- then we are eating what the bird has been given.

Our goal is to raise a happy healthy bird that will be nutritious for our bodies. We want to raise enough poultry to satisfy our families needs and those of the health consious consumers. I would love to hear your comments and if you are interested in becoming one of our customers in the near future.

4 comments:

  1. I'd rather eat pastured poultry, raised by you! Love your site Angela, and good luck!

    Tim
    Nature's Harmony Farm

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  2. Angela what a great dream to have and I hope that it somes true soon! I would buy your chickens.

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  3. Hi Angela! Thanks for joining my site! This is a great blog. Is the photo in the header actually your farm? It's incredibly beautiful! My chickens are free-range, which isn't quite the same as pastured - it's the lazy man's way of raising chickens. They just aren't confined at all. They come home to the barn at night to roost and spend all day roaming the whole five acres, doing what chickens do. It's easy, but it does have problems, especially around planting time in the spring. I haven't yet figured out how to keep chickens out of the garden! Good luck to you, and don't overthink it, just jump in!

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  4. Hi Angela. I wanted to stop by to thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave such a helpful comment. I really like your blog. This post is quite timely considering my chicken post. Of course, I obviously won't become one of your future customers!

    I wanted to mention that we homeschooled too, from elementary school on through high school. I had two, both are graduated from college, one with her masters and the other just married in August, to a very sweet homeschooled girl!

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