Menu Plan Monday & Chaos Schedule on the Farm

On the farm, everybody works

One of my dearest friends I "met" online at a time when I was struggling to find a way to "get it all done."  Amy is younger than me, has more children than I, and way more critters - and it was from her that I have learned a lot about how to manage life and a large family on the farm.

Chicken Butchering Day 2014

This year we tried our hand at raising meat chickens.  It was a bittersweet experience that we intend to try again next year.

Early one April morning, I got a call from the post office: the chicks had arrived!  (We bought Red Broilers from Cackle Hatchery and they arrived in excellent shape.)

It was a very exciting day!

The chicks spent the next few weeks living in the back of our two-horse trailer as we worked to put together their pasture accommodations.

It didn't take long for the birds to outgrow their digs on first a ration of chick starter and then 18% Layer Pellets.  While we believed this was necessary in order to keep them from growing too quickly, next year we'll use 20% Meat Bird Grower.

A week before butcher day, the birds are looking good!

Butcher Day Arrives

Perhaps the best thing about farm life is it truly is a family affair.

While we had lots of help throughout the day, basically there were three families with children who did all of the butchering.  I love to see children enjoying the work of the farm.

Our youngest girls wrangled chickens when no other kids wanted to.  The one in the red apron specialized in roosters with a bad attitude.

Mother teaching son the ropes.  This is the other family that raised the bulk of the chickens that we butchered that day.

Many hands make light work - and working together makes for happier work.  I don't know if you can see all of the smiling faces in this picture but, truly, hard, messy work doesn't have to be miserable - if your attitude is right.

The kids got in on every part of the action - including the part I find the most hard to take.

The boys took over the killing cones for a while.  Both 9yo Jacob & 15yo Will learned the necessary, if not pleasant, skill.

When there was a lull in the action, the chicken wranglers would be called from their respective duties to round up more chickens.

While the automated plucker did a fine job, just before the birds went into the chill tank, the kids made sure that all pin feathers were gone.  The pin feather pluckers ranged in age from 4 to 7.

A little bit of the end result.

After nearly 10 hours, all 140 birds were bagged and chilled.  Here's what we learned from raising and butchering chickens this year...what we would do again, and what we wouldn't.

What Worked Well:
1.  We liked the birds from Cackle Hatchery and would order them again.  Our neighbors ordered theirs from Strombergs and they liked theirs as well.

2.  I loved the tractor that The Cowboy made.  I could even move it on my own.  Very nice!

3.  The time of year was just right - we got the birds in April and butchered in June.

4.  We liked the 10 week birds.  The neighbors had 12 week birds and they were, generally, slightly larger than ours (ours averaged a bit over 3lbs each and theirs averaged about a pound heavier), but I think that had more to do with feed.

5.  We let our birds "relax" for 48 hours before freezing them.  We just kept them chilled in ice chests - with ice replaced often - until ready to freeze.  This resulted in a wonderful, soft, texture.


What We Will Change Next Time:
1.  While our birds grew fine, the neighbors used a 20% protein feed (as opposed to our 18% feed) and they did have larger birds overall.  Their birds were 12 weekers and ours were 10 weeks old, but I think the difference in size had more to do with the greater amount of protein in the feed.

2.  Fifty birds is the most I would put in our sized chicken tractor as a big part of the reason we raised these birds was because the commercial industry standard is inhumane.  I think putting more than 50 or 60 in our sized tractor wouldn't be comfortable for the birds.  Additionally, we were wiped out after butchering just 140 birds - and I don't think I'd care to increase that number.

3.  We didn't get our birds out on pasture as early as we intended as we still had the chicken tractor to build when they arrived.  Next time we will get them out as soon as they are big enough to be out on pasture.  I think some would have been more vigorous foragers had they been introduced to the field as soon as possible.

So, there you have it...our experience with meat chickens, 2014.


Shared at:
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Why Good Food is Often Expensive

Source

It's pretty bad when one of your first posts is a cheater post - just a link to a really fabulous video of Joel Salatin explaining why good food is more expensive than store food, but it really is such a busy time of year for us - so I'll go with the cheater post.

Until recently we had been selling eggs to a local restaurant.  Before commencing to do so, we looked up the regulations...the restaurant looked up the regulations and it looked like a great deal for both of us.  Our local paper ran stories about many other small farmers like us supplying farm fresh eggs to local restaurants and bakeries, so we knew it was being done by many.

Financial Sustainability - It's More Than Income

Some of my kids and a sweet neighbor girl walking the pigs

While the complete definition of sustainable agriculture includes consideration for the environment, public health, animal welfare, and the local community, I was recently in a conversation about the financial aspect of sustainable agriculture.

Specifically, the conversation was about whether or not local, farm-fresh eggs are economically sustainable at $3.00/dozen.

For some farmers, $3.00/dozen is less than what it costs to produce the eggs.  For our family, $3.00 is sustainable, and as I thought about why that is true, I had some thoughts I wanted to share.

About pigs.

How to be a Good Neighbor in the Country

Source

One of the goals of this blog is to offer support and information to other farmers and would-be farmers.  To that end, I thought a brief little note, for those looking to live in the country, would be entertaining and informational!

My Life is a Country Song Right Now

Chloe

I hate that one of my first official blog posts here is a whiny one.  However, the topic is just life on the farm, so we might as well start here.

In Progress

While we have been selling pork, beef, milk, and eggs for some time, we have had a horrible time coming up with a name for our farm and ranch (it took us more than 2 weeks to finalize names for half of our children!) - but we didn't want to wait any longer in coming up with a venue to share good information on great food and market our products.  Unfortunately, this really is a busy time of year for us and it will take us a bit to get the website up to speed.  Please keep checking back in - and consider subscribing so that you get updates when we get up and running on here!