apppa grit - APPPA - American Pastured Poultry Producers

Transcription

ISSUE 82
American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Newsletter
July/August 2014
this issue
Workshop attendees at Across the Creek Farms.
Broiler Price Survey
President’s Corner
Director’s Report
Pastured Poultry Sustainability
Homegrown by Heroes
Workshop Notebook
APPPA Salmonella Tests
APPPA Scholarship
Community Corner
Keep the Grass Short
Aconite
P.1
P.2
P.3
P.6
P.8
P.10
P.15
P.19
P.20
P.22
P.23
Pastured Broiler Price Survey
—Mike Badger
The 2014 broiler price survey saw price increases for
all markets when compared to the survey responses
for 2013.
The pricing survey is meant to draw some
conclusions about the broiler production and sales
across the country. It’s not a replacement for pricing
your products according to your production
expenses, but the survey data does provide some
competitive benchmarks and points of inspection for
your production.
For example, if you’re selling pasture-raised chicken
at $3.00/lb, you might conclude that you have room
to increase your prices. On the other hand, if your
selling price for certified organic broilers is higher
than the average of $4.68/lb., (as an example) and
you’re not able to make any money at that price,
perhaps it’s time to evaluate your production
practices. There was a survey comment that
captures this idea perfectly. The respondent said he
didn’t sell his birds because his calculated profit point
was $40/bird. No matter how you do those
calculations, the math is not going to work in your
favor.
American Pastured Poultry Producers Association
Table 1 (page 4) shows the average price by feed
type and certification across markets. The survey
received 81 responses. However, one response was
culled because the respondent indicated a
confinement production model, i.e., no pasture, and
another response was removed because the
respondent indicated a flat rate pricing of $13 per
whole bird at the farm.
Flat rate pricing also showed up in other places
throughout the survey and it’s constructive to draw
them out because it offers an alternative, simpler
pricing model for some producers. One producer sold
through CSAs for $16.50 per bird with a minimum
order of ten, for example. Others indicated they sold
birds cut up for their normal whole bird price plus a
flat-rate surcharge (e.g., $4.25/lb + $2 for a whole
bird cut into pieces).
Value-Added Cuts
One of the best ways to increase the profit potential
of a broiler flock is to offer value-added cut-up. Table
2 shows the average prices of poultry cuts. The
whole chicken sold as a cut-up option does not
(Continued on page 4)
Issue # 82
by the time they arrived at our farm. You do the math
on planting 10,000 of them.
It is so hot & humid here that I saw a dog chasing a
cat last week, and they were both walking.
I have the pleasure of having my son for a month—the
best egg packer ever.
As always, we are flat out, planting, feeding, growing,
harvesting, and keeping all the equipment rolling. We
bend them and then we mend them. It is absolutely
"Full on". If it is not hot enough already, then we keep
welding!
As I write this both my son and oldest daughter and I
are preparing to go to Polyface for the field day and
trade show. Particularly exciting, as my daughter is
actually considering taking over my life's work of 40
years and running our farm.
We spent a full day last week planting our new
Covington sweet potato stock. Want to spend some
cash real quick? Pay for the right to plant this
sensational variety (it better be!), arrange for virus
free plants out of NC State, pay the royalties, pay for
the inspections, air freight, and customs clearance.
All I know is that we ended up paying a dollar a plant
In the meantime, your APPPA board is really getting it
all done. We had an exciting board meeting recently
and are pleased to welcome Grady Phelan to the
APPPA board. Grady was appointed by the board to fill
a vacant term left by Michael Akey’s resignation. The
board also voted David Schafer in as Vice President.
Thank you, David, for stepping up!
PO Box 85
Hughesville,
PA 17737
[email protected] | www.apppa.org | (888) 662-7772
The APPPA Grit newsletter is published six times a year.
The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association
(APPPA) is a nonprofit educational and networking
organization dedicated to encouraging the production,
processing, and marketing of poultry raised on pasture.
Staff
Mike Badger, Director/Grit Editor
Board of Directors
Tom Wadson, President, 2009-2014
Vice President, David Schafer, 2013-2015
Greg Gunthorp, Treasurer, 2009-2014
Jennie Watkins, Secretary, 2009-2014
Will Harris, 2013-2015
Jeff Mattocks, 2013-2015
Brenda Ostrom, 2009-2014
Val Vetter and Deb Aaron, 2010-2014
Grady Phelan, 2014-2015
Joel Salatin, board member at-large
Both Jeff Mattocks of Fertrell and David Schafer of
Featherman have been running a membership drive
through their businesses. Between the two of them,
they have sponsored over 200 new APPPA members.
Incredible really. Please keep up the good work guys!
I am considering going on a cross country trip with Jeff
in September to attend field days, shows, and whatever
else the road may throw at us. My only concern is that
the last time I went to the west coast for a five-day
sailing event in August, it was all I could do to make it
back for Christmas! Jeff assures me it will not happen
again.
Hopefully, we will see a few of our members at
Polyface.
Keep the pastured poultry coming!
Sincerely,
Tom Wadson
Issue # 82
2
published them. And to drive home the point in 1912,
he offers this example.
“Poultry growers deserve pay raise.” The title of that
editorial in the Lancaster Farming newspaper caught
my eye. Mike Weaver, the president of the Contract
Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias argued
in his editorial that poultry companies were enjoying
record profits, but they weren’t sharing those profits
with their farmers. Obviously, this was a
conventional, indentured servant perspective on
raising poultry. Still, I couldn’t help think that he is
making the case for an alternative production
model—namely, pastured poultry.
Some of the key takeaways from the editorial include:
 Contract growers often have a 15 to 20 year
payoff on their facilities even with a pay raise
from the poultry companies.
 Contract growers earn five cents a pound on the
price
paid
by
consumers.
“On most poultry farms they are the chief items of
expense. I know of a poultry farm near New York City
where the house cost $12.00 per hen. The owner
built this farm with a view of making money. People
also buy stock in Nevada gold mines with a view of
making money. I know another poultry farm owned
by a man named Tillinghast at Vernon, Connecticut,
where the houses cost thirty cents per hen. Mr.
Tillinghast gets more eggs per hen than the New
York man. Incidentally, he is sending his son to Yale,
and he has no other visible means of support except
his chicken farm.”
We may be struck by an urge to seek out those
indentured growers and lead them to pastured
poultry prosperity. But they’re not likely to listen until
the race to the bottom of the cheap food revolution
claims their farms.
 Weaver is arguing for a two cent per pound
increase now or it will put farms out of business.
In the meantime, let’s continue to create a strong
pastured poultry industry that is ready to help new
producers and consumers form successful and
respectful relationships.
 The poultry companies recover their expenses on
the first pound of a whole three pound bird. The
rest is profit that is not shared with the farmer.
—Mike Badger, APPPA Director
The editorial obviously relies on scale of production;
it’s the only way two cents can matter, but we can
think about scale in a different way. If you scale up
your profit per bird, then you can raise less birds.
Instead of looking for pennies of income per bird on a
hundred thousand broilers, we look for a return of
dollars across a more modest amount of thousands
of birds with less up front investment.
I’m reminded of a line from Milo Hastings in the
Dollar Hen where he offers some sage advice, “The
way to get money out of the chicken business is not
to put so much in.”
The analogy is self-evident and we’re seeing
Hasting’s advice illustrated in an industry publication
(Lancaster Farming) over
100 years after he
Issue # 82
3
Table 1: Average price per dozen by market, feed, and certification
By Feed Type
Market
Avg.
NonGMO
Feed
SoyFree
Feed
Conventional
By Certification
Certified
Organic
Organic Practices, Not Certified
AWA
On-Farm Sales
$4.27
$4.18
$4.91
$3.72
$4.68
$5.55
$4.45
Farmers Markets
$4.45
$4.41
$5.65
$3.73
$4.80
$6.16
$4.61
Restaurants
$3.93
$3.88
4.50
$3.85
$3.63
$5.00
$3.83
Grocery Stores
$4.31
$4.18
$4.33
$3.37
$5.50
n/a
$3.92
Wholesale
$3.94
$4.05
$4.42
$3.71
$3.50
$4.50
$4.00
Cooperatives
$3.95
$3.95
$3.98
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
CSA
$4.43
$4.05
4.57
$3.96
$4.50
n/a
$4.85
(Continued from page 1)
appear to follow that trend based on the
reported in the survey; however, only
responses indicated they sold chicken in
with half of the responses indicating a
surcharge.
Table 2: Average Cut-Up Pricing
averages
4 of 79
this way,
flat rate
The other glaring outlier in the individual survey
results was with regard to boneless/skinless breasts.
One respondent indicated a boneless/skinless breast
selling price of $4.00 per pound with a whole bird
price of $2.50 per pound. This is an example of a
producer potentially leaving money on the table. The
average selling price for a boneless/skinless breast is
$10.43 per pound.
The cut-up pricing does not have enough data to try
to identify the price per pound by feed or certification.
However, if you compare the cut up price listed in the
table with the average price in table 1, you can
generally see the percent increase from each market.
Cut
Avg. Price /Lb.
Whole chicken, cut-up
$4.09
Boneless/Skinless
Breasts
$10.43
Bone-in breasts
$7.72
Dark meat quarters
$5.29
White meat quarters
$5.85
Wings
$4.32
Hearts, livers, giblets
$3.64
Ground chicken
$6.33
Raw dog food
$2.82
Growing Practices
Table 3 shows the individual responses to the question
about growing practices, which asked respondents to
Issue # 82
4
check all the items that describe
their production in terms of feed
and certification.
The responses show the market
trends. A majority of growers are
choosing non-gmo and organic
feed at the expense of raising
certified organic broilers even
though certified organic broilers
show a premium price in many
cases.
Table 3: Growing Practices
Answer Options
Percent
# Respons-
Non-GMO Feed
59.3%
48
Soy-Free Feed
19.8%
16
Conventional Feed
Organic Feed and Practices (Not
Certified Organic, But Could Be)
24.7%
20
39.5%
32
Certified Organic
8.6%
7
Animal Welfare Approved
7.4%
6
12.3%
10
Other (please specify)
Flock Size
The average flock size did not significantly vary by feed
type or certification with one exception. Animal Welfare
Approved respondents had an average flock size of
608 compared to a survey-wide average of 1,111 birds.
Using This Survey
The data presented provides some guidance and
enlightenment about how pastured poultry producers
price their products. It is not meant to be a definitive
guide to setting your prices. There is no substitute for
knowing your cost of production. Based on the
survey data, for example, one might conclude that
soy-free broilers represent a premium market, but if
you don’t know about the extra expense involved in
producing those birds, you may find yourself in
trouble.
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Issue # 82
5
Pastured Poultry and Sustainability:
Is There a Connection?
—Brian B. Burger
There is a necessary economic facet to sustainable
agriculture so long as we proceed in a free-enterprise
scenario. That does not allow us, however, to
rationalize ignorance to “doing the right thing.” The
issue comes down to definitions and walking the
walk.
This is more than an academic and philosophic
quandary. The customers of pastured poultry are, by
and large, supporters of notions of sustainability.
How and whether producers merely exploit or
actually support and nurture that represents at least
an ethical dilemma, if not a part of our everyday
functionality on the farm.
I am not a regular participant in the APPPA
discussion forum, but I am a regular follower. Some
may recall I have weighed in now and again to
suggest sustainability as a rightful concern for
APPPA members. The forum is one of the best and
most useful benefits of APPPA membership. If you
do not follow the discussions, you are surely missing
some great, imbedded nuggets of useful information
regardless your own model and efforts in poultry
production. Tune in!!
consumerism, extraction, and exploitation. It would
be a favor and responsible duty to future generations
to clean up our act. Sustainability is a real and
serious issue.
The Brundtland Commission references sustainability
from a primarily economic angle of “sustainable
growth and development,” and the former is an
oxymoron no matter how many PhD’s you can pile
onto the authorship and continued support of that
notion. If you want to self-elucidate, do an Internet
search of one of the commission authors, Dr.
Herman E. Daly, who wrote the essay “Sustainable
Growth: An Impossibility Theorem.” His was a
cautionary, if not dissenting, observation of the
report.
Back to the message. We will never have a universal
definition of sustainability, though there is a relatively
singular source for our current trends – functional or
not.
In the 1980’s a pro-business-as-usual outcome from
the United Nations “Brundtland Commission” is the
core of where most institutions, agencies,
communities and governments reside with respect to
sustainability.
Somewhat like the climate change debate,
regardless of where you fall in support or denial, we
cannot collectively deny that industrial man has
functioned
in
rather
wanton
disregard
of
Issue # 82
6
An example of the report’s pervasive use – cognizant
or not – is with an aligned organization of APPPA,
which is PASA. The Pennsylvania Association of
Sustainable Agriculture – one of the good, notable
and functional institutional pillars of their own mission
of sustainable ag (whatever that is), has chosen to
align with a simplified version of the Venn diagram of
sustainable development wherein the three pillars of
functional sustainability justify our direction. With that
philosophy, are the three pillars of economic viability,
social justice and environmental responsibility where
they must purportedly all co-exist? According to this
model, that very small space where they all converge
is the realm of sustainability.
Venn diagram of sustainable development: at the
confluence of three constituent parts
On this, I dissent. We can rationalize otherwise, but
most of us learned before 6th grade the notion of nonrenewable resources. There are only two primary
sources to economy – the labors of man and natural
resources. Neither can withstand endless exploit,
though there is an element which denies that and a
much larger element naïve to it.
An alternative diagram of sustainability places the
pillar of economy as necessarily working within the
social sphere and both within the environmental
sphere. If the economy does not address a settled
society, it will not last. If both do not function within
very wise and functional long-term caution regarding
the pervasive requirements of a healthy and durable
environment, none of it is sustainable.
I respectfully suggest that consumer and producer
alike reflect and further investigate these concepts.
Consider
your
definition
of
sustainability.
Furthermore, I suggest that our every action on the
Three concentricities of sustainability: suggesting that
both economy and society are constrained by
environmental limits
farm consider these points if we want our grandchildren
to have a chance at existing healthily, happily, freely
and maybe even practicing the noble art, science and
trade of farming.
Brian B. Burger operates New Harmony Farmstead
in Central Pennsylvania where he strives to raise
various poultry, eggs and other crops with the
“experiment” of sustainability as the paramount factor
and outcome. As a near-life-long small-scale farmer,
his academic and primary vocational past is in
environmental science and protection.
Issue # 82
7
Intensive Learning Workshop Covered
Layers, Broilers, and Homegrown by Heroes
—Terrell “Spence” Spencer, Across the Creek Farm
Editor’s Note: Have you ever wondered what goes on
at an APPPA workshop and wondered if you should
take the day out of your busy schedule to attend?
Spence shares an overview of his recent APPPA
field day, which we held in collaboration with several
other organizations. On page 10, workshop attendee
Kerri Leach provides her notes from the day.—MB
On June 1st, we were fortunate to host a regional
workshop for APPPA at our place, Across the Creek
Farm, located in Northwest Arkansas. I thought that
those of you who weren’t lucky enough to attend
might like a recap of what went on.
The workshop took place on 20 acres of leased land
around 10 miles from our home farm. It’s on this
Spence (left) receives the Homegrown by Heroes
certification from Michael O’Gorman, Executive
Director, Farmer Veteran Coalition.
satellite property that we grow out our pasture broiler
flocks. We had nearly 45 people attend the
workshop, with some folks coming from as far away
as Long Island, New York, and California. Among a
few of the other states represented were Iowa,
Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, North Carolina,
and, of course, our very own Natural State of
Arkansas. Poultry Super Nutritionist (sans cape), Jeff
Mattocks, was the featured speaker of the event, and
after enduring a long drive from Pennsylvania, Jeff
shared a lot of really valuable information; tidbits of
which we’ll cover below.
Using connections built up over the past seven years
of raising birds on pasture, my wife Carla and I were
able to get several groups to pitch in and help make
the workshop better. One of these groups is the Bob
Woodruff Foundation, which is a group that supports
groups that work with veterans. They were generous
enough to donate enough money for scholarships to
Issue # 82
8
pay for around 22 veterans from around the country
to travel to our place and attend the workshop. Some
of these folks were fellow pastured poultry farmers
who are military veterans that I’ve been helping by
troubleshooting the poultry problems that they run
into. Others were veteran farmers or potential farmer
vets connected with a group to which I belong – the
Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC). Michael O’Gorman,
the FVC’s founder, came out from CA to tell about
the roll out of a new certification for military veterans
who have gone into farming. Called Homegrown
Heroes, it’s available to anyone who has prior service
and would like to use it to help market their farm
products. I know of at least one pastured poultry
farmer, Yasin Muhaimin down in Baton Rouge, who
has applied and got the HGH certification for his
poultry and vegetables after learning about it at the
workshop. In addition to the military veterans in
attendance, there were around 22 other participants
of the workshop, several of them APPPA members.
The Southeastern ATTRA office provided nice
binders for the meeting full of pastured poultry
publications, and the University of Arkansas Poultry
Science Department/USDA Agricultural Research
Station helped by supplying chairs, a porta-potty and
several grad students to help with lunch and other
needs. They say it takes a village to raise a kid –
well, the same is true when you have a workshop on
a farm in the middle of the growing season!
A good friend of mine, Cody Hopkins, who, together
with his wonderful wife Andrea Todt, runs Falling Sky
Farm in North Central Arkansas, made the trek
across the hills and hollers of the Ozarks to come
and speak to the workshop participants. They raise a
similar number of birds as us, doing over 10,000
broilers a year on pasture. Cody and I collaborate
regularly to hone our pastured poultry businesses,
and he came to speak about getting started and
building your farm. Like us, and many of you, Cody
and Andrea built their farm from the ground up.
On a pragmatic level, hearing Jeff’s presentation has
led to many of the participants tweaking their
production models. Jeff taught two sessions, one
looking at broiler production, and then one over
profitable production of pastured layers. Jeff’s
presentations, held under a shed overlooking our
flocks, were chocked full of tweaks and adjustments
for me, especially when it comes to turkeys and
laying hens. Specific take-aways were the
proportions for taking 19% broiler ration and adding
fishmeal to make a turkey starter and grower, and the
ages to switch over to straight broiler ration for
finishing the turkeys. Jeff also hit the economics of
laying hens pretty hard, and it convinced me to start
building a solar powered lighting system for our egg
mobiles. He challenged me to do a better job of
managing my layer flock. I had been planning on
scaling up on egg production, but after speaking with
Jeff, I realized my time would be better spent
focusing on adjusting my management to be more
efficient with my layers rather than just increasing
numbers.
We grilled out some chicken wings from the farm,
and after folks all had their lunch, we took a pasture
walk, looking at our pen design and watering systems
for both the hens and the broilers. One attendee, a
rotational cattle grazer from Central Arkansas, was
shocked at the level of fertility and the high quality
forages that sprouted up behind our broiler pens. He
called me up a few days after the workshop to tell me
that walking our fields and seeing the forage quality
had convinced him that he needed poultry on his
farm. His fields needed the fertility!
In a phone conversation afterwards with Cody
Hopkins, Cody remarked to me that “the level of
knowledge collected here (at the workshop) was
incredible. It’s always so hard to leave the farm to
attend workshops like these, but they’re so important
if you want to be successful in the long run. I think
that Mr. Hopkins hit the nail on the head with that
statement. There’s an proverb in the Bible that says
“Iron sharpens iron”, and that’s true with us. There’s
very little in the way of information out there for us
pastured poultry folks, so the more we can connect
and network, the better. I know having all of you out
at my farm helped sharpen me. It was an honor to
have ya’ll at our place.
Issue # 82
9
Workshop Notebook: Collaboration, Biosecurity, and
Broiler and Layer Production
—Kerri Leach
Biosecurity
Here are some of the key topics that a beginning
pastured poultry producer walked away with after
attending Spence’s pastured poultry workshop in
Arkansas. Presenters at the workshop included a
variety of expert commentary from Jeff Mattocks,
Terrell Spencer, and Cody Hopkins.
Don’t be so naïve to think you can’t bring something
home from your off farm outing. Sanitize your boots
when you come back on the property and have a
separate set of chore boots. It doesn’t get much
easier than a foot bath with bleach water and a scrub
brush to clean boots.
Collaboration
Spence was able to share in detail what it is like to
ramp up production very quickly, and he could not
have been as successful had he not “partnered” up
with a few other guys doing similar things. It was
great to hear the stories of how they were networking
to fill larger account orders and planning to scale up
even further.
We also talked about harvesting the entire egg
mobile at a time, as well as broiler pens and
brooders, so they can be cleaned appropriately. This
way you aren’t perpetuating illness.
Suggestions for brooder cleaning included triple
strength pine sol and powdered feed lime.
They aren’t legal partners, but work together. Several
examples were shared of working together if you
have friends growing other species to sell together,
as well as share costs of getting to a processor if you
are using one.
Sales diversification is key—not just to who you sell
to—Farmer’s Market, CSA, restaurant, wholesale—
but products you offer or may offer as a group to
customers. Having a back up market is also
important for surplus. Even dog food can be a back
up! It was great to see how Spence is supporting his
family raising broilers. Layers are more of a loss
leader. In other parts of the country, however, it was
shared that the opposite occurs.
CUSTOM PROCESSING
USDA INSPECTED
Through the ODA co operative interstate shipping program
PROCESSING
>Chickens
>Turkeys
>Ducks
>Geese
>Guineas
and
>Other poultry
Spence was very up front about cost issues, water
issues, land use issues on rented land, neighbor
issues, and biosecurity. We also learned from some
of Spence’s colleagues about renting land at first so
you can still cash flow the business, as well as going
into the farm as your day job from day one, so you
are much more on top of the details and where the
money goes.
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PH : 330-897-0626
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Issue # 82
10
Also, don’t walk directly behind your poultry pens so
you aren’t tracking their droppings, unless of course
you are inspecting dropping for signs of coccidiosis/
enteritis.
Keep Water and Chickens Cool
Use misters for hot seasons. Chickens stress at 85
degrees and heat stroke at 101 degrees. Burying the
hose, even in the grass, can help. There are many
pros and cons of various waterers as, well as running
water out to the row of pasture pens, that were
demonstrated. Some folks are fans of nipples, others
bells, and others PVC pipe with 1/3 cut out and a
float valve, so you always have a couple hours of
reserve water supply. Some felt the nipples just didn’t
supply enough water and didn’t provide a water
reserve should the watering system malfunction.
Maxi-flow is a good pressure reducer if you are
using the plassons.
Raw apple cider vinegar is great, but it will create a
biofilm in your watering system. If you are fond of
vinegar in the water, just use plain old vinegar.
In commercial systems, day 7 and 10 are treated
with high dose citric acid followed by probiotic to
address potential coccidiosis/necrotic enteritis.
Feed
Feed should not be ground into dust, as dust kills
birds per Jeff Mattocks.
Feed should be ground ideally weekly, otherwise
every other week. You lose a lot of what you are
paying for as far as nutrients being oxidized when
you are feeding 30-60 day old feed.
Fresh feed can knock a week off grow out time. The
feed at your local farm store may be 6 months old
and has potentially carcinogenic preservatives in it.
To help your poultry pen not blow away in high wind,
drive a rebar stake in the two corners on the
windward side. Huge reduction in loss of pens.
Pearls in the brooder
Ohio brooder is still a great option. Peat moss is a
great bedding for many reasons, followed by pine
shavings (don’t use cedar, don’t use green wood).
Deep bedding needs to get hot enough to kill
pathogens (think thermal composting, use a
temperature probe), and turn it so it isn’t crusting.
Red lights don’t need to be on 24 hours but reduce
pecking and help them to feed. Dropping the
temperature by a degree a day can really help get
the birds ready for the outdoors quickly.
Water needs to be potable. If you can’t drink it, the
birds shouldn’t be drinking it, so pond water is not
your first choice.
If you can smell ammonia, your management has
already damaged poultry lungs, likely permanently.
Issue # 82
11
Ask your mill for calculated feed values.
If they give you the head tilt like you are
crazy, walk away.
You have to give them the right size grit.
That gizzard needs the right size or they
pass through. Grit sized #1 for chicks,
#2 for broilers, #3 for layers, and #4 for
turkey. It is cheap and worth it. If you
aren’t feeding grit, they will eat your
driveway if they have access to it. That is
not great, as the limestone (if that is what
you have locally) will wear down smooth
in the gizzard. It probably won’t cause all
sorts of health problems, but it will reduce
feed efficiency. They need nice sharp
rocks – granite or quartzite.
Space your feeders so everybody can eat at one
time. If not, you will always have more runts than
you expected.
When feeding broilers, never have an empty
feeder. A 10% residual keeps birds from scratching
and attacking you and each other. Birds with cuts
get condemned at an inspected processing plant.
PVC pipe feeders can be used for feed and water.
Hanging feeders and waterers can be adjusted on
a chain as the birds grow so they aren’t soiling or
sorting the feed – keep it at back height. Fifty
pound range feeders also work well if you can only
get out to the birds to check them once a day. Plan
for a five percent residual in the feeder for turkeys.
Layer Pearls
Remember that layer feed needs to drop in protein
weeks 12-15. Also, they need to ramp up on
calcium at first or they will have kidney stones.
Layers need adequate water – going without water
for 24 hours (frozen or empty) can take 24 days off
your production. Ideally, that water is 70-80
degrees. Flush the waterer out to get to cool water.
An egg mobile at Across the Creek Farm.
Peck outs or “blow outs” result in being pecked
where the egg just came out, likely by another hen
who sees into the nest box or is trying to share the
nest box. It ruins the laying hen. Nest boxes need
covering, like old rubber roofing or other curtain
materials. Nest boxes with dividers allow them all to
feel like they have their own little corner of the world
to privately lay their egg. Placing the boxes on the
north or west wall helps them to have the darkest
place to lay.
Starting pullets can be a great business and they are
in demand. Start December 1st and ready to lay end
of March. This allows you to do off season brooding.
Using heritage breeds to lay is very hard to make
profitable. They eat 50% more feed per day, so if you
are raising 100 layers, you are looking at having to
charge $8-9/dozen to make it profitable! It is also not
profitable to go through a molt, as it is very hard to
break even on the reduced productivity found after
that molt. Feeding sprouts in winter can help keep
the color up in your yolks. Gibson egg washers are
great if you are scaling up.
Laying ducks have the productivity of some efficient
chickens and some attendees are selling for $8-10/
Issue # 82
12
Issue # 82
13
perhaps because
plentiful.
doz. Nesting pads and galvanized nesting boxes are
really a lifesaver for clean eggs. LED Christmas lights
on the perimeter of your egg mobile can help
stimulate laying off season.
the
grasshoppers
are
more
Heritage breeds cost twice as much to finish, but cost
less to finish than heritage chickens per pound.
Turkey meat doesn’t get tough like a chicken, so you
can butcher at the size your customers want, no
matter the time it takes to get there.
Dust bath bin: peat moss (screened with ¼” welded
wire), wood ash, diatomaceous earth, elemental
sulfur. Build a box or use an old 55g drum cut down.
Keep it out of the rain. They will thank you for it!
Blackhead may be able to be helped with cayenne
pepper (rumor has it that cayenne in feed keeps mice
away, as unlike poultry, they can taste it). Blackhead
is found more in the South and on the East coast.
Tricks for Treating Common Problems:
Riboflavin deficiency (e.g., curly toes) can be treated
with vitamin B complex for 48 hours at 7-10 days of
life.
Turkeys brooded with chickens learn from the
chickens. If you have no chickens, you will be
teaching them yourself to eat, drink, and dust bathe.
They learn quickly, and no, they don’t drown looking
up at the rain.
Rickets can be treated with feeding whole milk with
feed.
Coccidiosis/necrotic enteritis: Feeding whole milk
(what they can drink in 1 hour) can help the mucus of
the digestive tract be more resilient when it comes to
coccidian and necrotic enteritis. You can use copper
sulfate at one ounce per five gallons of water for a
maximum of three days followed by yogurt if you
caught it late. Lime your chicken yard frequently and
remove/replace bedding. Use powdered feed lime.
APPPA thanks Kerri for her thorough report!
 Raising Poultry on Pasture
by Jody Padgham ($34.50)
Coryza can be treated with 1 200 IU vitamin E
capsule in bell waterer if you note it in the first 24
hours.
 Feeding Pasture-Raised Poultry
by Jeff Mattocks ($15.95)
 Pasture Poultry Profit$
Vinegar can help with ascites at a rate of 100:1
dropped down to 200:1. If you have acidic water to
start, use hydrogen peroxide instead. Hydrogen
peroxide is good for nitrates, pseudomonas, city
water, and oxygenates the water. You can use a
Dosatron injector in your water lines then.
by Joel Salatin ($30)
 Fearless Farm Finances
by Jody Padgham et al. ($24.95)
 Small Scale Poultry Flock
by Harvey Ussery ($39.95)
Green muscle comes from too much wing exercise in
double breasted meat birds. It is more likely to be
seen when you go over four pounds carcass weight.
Turkey pearls
You can’t make a soy free turkey starter, but you can
make a finisher. Turkeys are bigger in drier years,
 5 Disc DVD Set on Diversifying Poultry with
turkeys, ducks, and guineas ($35)
Order online a apppa.org or mail a check to PO
Box 85, Hughesville, PA 17337. All prices include shipping.
Issue # 82
14
Salmonella Testing on a Mobile Processing Unit
—Mike Badger
In the fall of 2013, in conjunction with Fertrell’s soy/
no-soy feeding trial, APPPA sponsored the
salmonella testing of six boneless (skin-on) breasts
from the Dickinson College Farm group of 69
processed broilers. One sample came from each of
six breed and feed combinations (each of the three
breeds were divided into two feeding groups).
Sample Collection
minute and defeathered using a mechanical plucker
and rubber fingers with a cool water rinse. After
plucking, the birds were prepped by removing feet, oil
glands, and loosening the windpipe and crop. The
birds were then passed to the evisceration station
where they were hand eviscerated. Finally, a bird
from the batch was selected for sampling and the
boneless breasts with the skin-on was removed.
The breast samples were collected, bagged, and iced
prior to entering the chill tank. The broilers were
batched through the processing line according to
their breed/feed combination, so that not all samples
for the salmonella tests were pulled at the same time.
After the breasts were removed from the carcass,
they were bagged, labeled and placed in a cooler for
delivery to the laboratory. The birds did not
commingle in the chill tank, primarily to keep control
of the samples.
The broilers in the trial were processed by Mike and
Christie Badger on their open-air mobile processing
unit (MPU). After killing and bleeding, the broilers
were scalded at 147 degrees Fahrenheit for one
The broilers ate a feed ration that was mixed from
non-genetically modified inputs using transitional
organic corn and roasted soybeans. An overview of
DOTSON FARM
AND FEED
Distributors of Fertrell
Poultry Nutri-Balancer
and the complete line of
Fertrell Products.
Fertrell
Also Available :
Certified Organic Hay
Dotson Farm and Feed
2929 N. 9th Street Rd.
Lafayette, IN 47904
Ph 765-742-5111 cell 765-404-9826
Fax 765-429-5601
Issue # 82
15
the feeding trial and the feed ration is available in
Issue 81 of tAPPPA Grit.
While the emphasis in salmonella control is usually in
processing interventions, feed may be an important
factor. There was a study published in the April 2013
issue of Current Microbiology titled “The effect of
glyphosate on potential pathogens and beneficial
members of poultry microbiota in vitro” (See APPPA
Grit Issue 80 for the abstract). This study suggests a
link between glysophate, which is commonly used in
conventional crop production, and the destruction of
beneficial gut bacteria that inhibit the growth of
salmonella and campylobacter. As a result, the
pathogens proliferate.
Test Results
The test results (using test AOAC-RI #960801 by
BioProfile Testing Laboratory) showed that all six
skin-samples tested negative for salmonella, and one
meat sample out of six tested positive for salmonella.
The positive result came from a Barred Silver Cross
breast sample from the non-soy group. This bird was
processed in the second half of the entire group of
birds at Dickinson College Farm. Three carcasses
were sampled prior to the positive sample, and one
carcass was sampled after the no-soy Barred Silver
Cross. All of them were negative.
The laboratory provided the following explanation of
the salmonella results. “The first step we do is
determine if there is a countable range of colony
forming units (CFUs) in the sample. Countable means
more than 10 cfu/g. If there is not (which none of
these samples were countable), then we go to the
next step, which is to determine if there are any CFUs,
even if it is less than 10. We can’t get an accurate
number if it is less than 10, but we can use an ELISA
test to determine if there are any at all.”
Having a “low” CFU count is of little consolation if you
happen to be dealing with a USDA performance
standard, which dictates any presence of the
pathogen is a positive result and therefore bad.
Salmonella performance standards currently state
poultry plants can get 5 positive results out of 51
samples, which the USDA translates as a 80% chance
that the plant is operating at a 7.5% rate.
According to a baseline report of raw chicken parts in
2012
(http://www.fsis.usda.gov/shared/PDF/
Baseline_Data_Raw_Chicken_Parts.pdf),
USDA
found that approximately 24% of the raw chicken parts
processed by poultry plants contains salmonella, and
did not find a significant difference between parts with
or without the skin.
Perspective
One set of tests does not validate a process, but the
results do provide an idea of where there may be
some areas to focus on improving, such as rinsing
hands, knifes, and tables often. The results, however
are better than the industry’s performance on
Issue # 82
16
salmonella contamination among poultry parts as
recorded in the 2012 baseline report.
If anything, what this very small test set proved is that
on-farm processed poultry is not inherently
dangerous even when using equipment and methods
actively disparaged by academic researchers.
Mechanical pluckers with rubber fingers and static
water scalders being two examples.
The other big challenge we have with the salmonella
as a pathogen debate is that there is over 2,500
salmonella serotypes; however the Center for
Disease Control (CDC) reports that most human
illnesses are caused by less than 100 serotypes.
Current federal performance standards for processes
neither distinguishes the serotypes, nor answers the
question about how much salmonella is required to
cause a problem.
A criticism of USDA’s focus on post chill salmonella
testing is that while the USDA claims success at
reducing salmonella levels at the point of processing,
there is not a clear decline in the rate of salmonella
illness among humans. In a response published in
the Federal Register to revised salmonella
performance standards, the USDA refutes this notion
with a simple argument of ambiguity. The CDC data
doesn’t report which food caused the illness, so the
USDA rationalizes that a reduction in human illness
from salmonella infected poultry could actually be
negated by an increase from another food source.
The few APPPA members who are brave enough to
operate federally inspected plants know the
challenges of coping with salmonella standards. For
those of us who sell exempt poultry in direct markets,
we should accept the fact that salmonella and other
pathogens are a potential bureaucratic billy club that
will be front and center in the upcoming poultry
modernization act. Stay tuned to the pathogen
debate.
Issue # 82
17
Pastured Turkey Workshop in Washington
Join the American Pastured Poultry Producers
Association (APPPA) and Jonathan Coulimore for an
intensive learning workshop on pastured turkey
production. Recent research shows that turkey
consumption is a growing segment of the specialty
poultry industry, which totaled $7.1 billion in sales in
2012.
In this workshop, you'll learn how turkeys, pastured
broilers, and cracked eggs merge into a successful
enterprise. Jonathan has been raising turkeys for
many years and dresses his flock of 16 week old
hens out between 17 and 27 pounds. If you want to
know how he does it, register for this event.
Hands-on turkey processing lead by Jonathan
Coulimore. Attendees will have the opportunity to gain
hands-on processing experience from slaughter to
evisceration to chilling.
Jeff Mattocks will lead a pastured poultry health and
nutrition presentation to help producers maximize the
health of their turkeys and their profits.
There will be ample time for networking and
questions.
See http://www.apppa.org/blog/24242 for more information
or call 888-662-7772 for more information.
Workshop topics
An overview of pastured turkey production, focusing
on broad breasted white turkeys.
Issue # 82
18
APPPA Offers $500 Cash Award
The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association
(APPPA) is now accepting applications for its annual
$500 scholarship/gift. The scholarship will be awarded
to an individual, farm, or organization that can demonstrate an educational need directly related to pastured
poultry.
The scholarship may be used for any educational activity related to pastured poultry, such as expenses
related to attending conferences and workshops, trainings, youth education, or on-farm trials. Other ideas
that promote pastured poultry will also be considered.
As a condition of the scholarship, the awardee will
provide a follow-up report for publication in the APPPA Grit outlining how the educational opportunities
furthered their understanding of pastured poultry and
how that information is being applied on the farm.
APPPA is a nonprofit educational and networking
organization dedicated to encouraging the production, processing, and marketing of poultry raised on
pasture. APPPA encourages people to exchange
information, techniques, innovations, and advice. To
learn more about APPPA, visit www.apppa.org or call
Mike Badger, APPPA Director, at 888-662-7772.
To apply, please send a proposal explaining how you
intend to use the scholarship. Include the history of
your farm or organization, and be sure to talk about
your current pastured poultry operation.
Answer the simple question, “How will this scholarship
support your pastured poultry educational efforts?”
Applications will be evaluated based upon
how well the educational opportunity to be funded by
the scholarship enhances the individuals/groups
knowledge and how that knowledge will help promote
the pastured poultry industry.
We want proposals that indicate you know APPPA’s
mission and that you have a plan to maximize the
scholarship award. Effort matters.
Previous scholarship awards have funded community
poultry workshops, enabled individual farmers to attend conferences, and assisted college pasture poultry
programs with supplies. APPPA membership is not
required to apply.
Apply no later than October 15, 2014, by sending your
application to: APPPA, PO Box 85, Hughesville, PA
17737. You may also submit your application via email
to [email protected]. The scholarship will be awarded on
or around December 15, 2014.
Issue # 82
19
$353,900. Call Cyndy Carroll at 215-368-2347 or
[email protected] for more details.
Producer Marketplace
Electric Netting Fence Cart
To place an ad, email [email protected] or call 888662-7772.
Patent pending electric netting fence cart used for
retrieval, deploying and storage of electric fence
netting. Can be either used by hand or with an ATV
or utility vehicle. $479.00 each plus shipping. Made
in Pepin, Wisconsin. Contact buvalafarm.com,
[email protected] or (715) 495-7927.
Farm in Georgia
Monroe, Walton County, Georgia 9.073 acres
pastured poultry farm with move-in condition house.
All acreage fenced with security gate entry. Plenty of
grass/pasture with some wooded areas in back.
Includes 12 x 24 foot chicken house, a brooder
house, garden shed, 12 x 28 foot work shop, and
organic garden. House is spacious with 3 bedrooms,
3 baths, eat-in kitchen with breakfast bar, dining
room, mud room used for feed and equipment
storage, huge walk-in pantry, separate laundry room,
and two car side entry garage. There is also an
office/library with beautiful built-in bookcases. Oak
floors in the main living area, dining room & kitchen.
Has well, septic and clear termite certification. Asking
Pastured Poultry Pens
Patent pending design developed by Absolute
Pastured Poultry's years of experience. Contact us at
[email protected]. (570) 788-1044.
Gibson Ridge Egg Washer
Sink-top unit scrubs eggs with hot water and brush at
a rate of 28 eggs per minute. Suitable for a 3,000
layer flock. Made in U.S.A. of as much U.S. materials
as
possible.
$1,875
plus
shipping.
Gibsonridgefarms.com or (740) 698-3330 (Ohio).
Rehoboth MINIBARN
D.I.Y. Plans for a 4-bird barn-shaped chicken tractor.
Features retracting wheels and open bottom for easy
grass pasturing and lawn fertilization, easy access
nest boxes. Detailed step-by-step manual complete
with materials list with sku #s from a national home
store. Preview and Order as immediate download
online at: www.rehobothinnovations.com or call 804244-1044 to order hard copy. Price: $18 for
download, $25 for hardcopy.
Calendar of Events
September 18, 2014: Poultry workshop in Twin Falls,
Idaho. Pre-registration is $25 or $35 at the door. Call
208-734-9590. Topics include poultry health and
nutrition, coop care, and breed selection. This
workshop made possible by a scholarship from
APPPA.
September 20, 2014: Turkey production at Jonathan
Coulimore’s farm in Vancouver, Washington.
Register online at http://www.apppa.org/blog/24242
or call APPPA for more information.
Issue # 82
20
Industry News
APPPA Restructures Memberships
Our first change is that our print only newsletter
(former Basic membership) has been reduced to $30/
year.
The Producer Plus membership will remain at $60
per year for the printed APPPA Grit newsletter and
online discussion list-serve. Producer Plus members
can opt for an electronic version of the APPPA Grit
instead of a printed edition for $50 per year. The
Producer Plus membership will continue to focus on
producers who pasture poultry as a farm-based
enterprise.
The new Family Producer membership will offer a
separate online discussion list serve and electronic
newsletter that focuses on family poultry production
at a backyard and homestead scale. The emphasis is
on pastured production for families who want to
produce all their poultry needs but are not producing
for profit. Membership will be $25 per year and will be
available in coming months.
After graduating college, he went to apprentice at
Polyface in the fall of 2008. That summer he met his
wife, Erin, (summer intern at Polyface), and they
married in March 2010.
After a year at Polyface, Grady returned home to
Oklahoma to farm alongside his father, mother, and
new bride. While he worked full-time off the farm at
various jobs, Erin and Grady began to build a direct
market farming business where they marketed raw
milk, pastured poultry (meat and eggs), grass-fed
lamb and beef, and pastured pork. In 2011, they
experienced the worst drought in recent history and
after a wildfire burned 75% of their grass in
September, they de-stocked, liquidated their
business, and moved to Virginia to manage a farm
for Polyface.
When they returned to Polyface, they managed a
herd of 300 cattle, 100 pigs, and 1700 laying hens.
They also produced and processed 5500 broilers and
APPPA Board Welcomes Grady Phelan
At the June 30, 2014, board meeting, the APPPA
board of directors voted to appoint Grady Phelan to
the seat vacated by the resignation of Michael Akey.
Grady will continue to serve the balance of Michael’s
term, which expires in 2015.
Grady is currently the Farm Manager for Cobb Creek
Farm in Hillsboro, Texas. Cobb Creek Farm is
owned by Cody Smith. Cody is a Pharo Cattle
Company Cooperator and brought Grady on board to
jump start pastured poultry and direct marketing as of
June 1, 2014.
Grady grew up on a ranch in southwest Oklahoma,
where his father ran stocker steers and a commercial
hair sheep flock.
For as long as Grady can
remember, his dad has practiced holistic
management, and as an avid reader, he exposed
Grady to many holistically minded authors and
farmers. Joel Salatin was one of Grady’s favorite
authors.
Issue # 82
21
600 turkeys each year. After 2 seasons at Polyface,
the couple returned to Oklahoma in December
2013, where Grady taught Chemistry at Ponca City
High School until June 1, when they moved to
Hillsboro and began their Cobb Creek Farm
adventure.
Cobb Creek Farm will feature pastured poultry and
run an inspected poultry processing facility, one of
only two small scale facilities in the state. They are
also developing a commercial composting facility
that will feed laying hens without the additional
expense of bought grain. Currently they have a
new flock of Delaware chicks that will be certified by
the Sustainable Poultry Network as breeding stock.
Next year they will be selling day old chicks and
started pullets. The goal is to breed a better
chicken for use on pasture systems.
Pastured poultry and education are very important
to Grady, and he hopes to continue to do both
together. Grady looks forward to helping APPPA in
any way he can.
Poultry Industry Experiences Chick Shortage
For producers raising Cornish Cross, this may be of
passing interest. The chicken industry is short on
breeders, which is causing a shortage of birds for
growers. According to meatingplace.com, poultry
companies cut back production in 2011 amid high
corn prices, which pushed some growers to retire or
go out of business.
At the same time the conventional industry was
cutting back production, Aviagen was making
changes to the male Ross breeding stock, which,
according to the Reuters report, accounts for as
much as 25% of the nation's chicken supply. Some
companies experienced a low hatch rate with the
new genetics.
Keep the Grass Short
—Mike Badger
Sometime last year, I realized that my birds were
dirtier than they should be on processing day despite
being pastured. I also noticed the grass where I
pastured my birds was matted down with a nice
covering of manure, and it took an extraordinary
amount of time to recover.
Then I rediscovered pasture height. One day I was
browsing through my copy of Pastured Poultry Profit$
and read Joel Salatin’s description of the ideal
pasture length.
Joel recommended a pasture length of just one to
three inches, and mine had been running more in the
five to seven inch range. As a result, when the birds
poop, the manure sits on top of the grass because
the pen move lays grass down flat. The birds actually
walk on the bent over grass.
The bent over pasture prevents the manure from
falling down through the grass and onto the ground.
With the manure sitting on top of the grass, the birds
get extra dirty. The manure mat burns down the
grass and extends the regrowth time. And to state the
obvious, if we’re allowing our chickens to move
around on a mat of poop, even for 12 or 24 hours,
we’re inviting disease problems into our flock.
As soon as I started managing my pasture length, my
birds got cleaner and the grazed grass recovered
quicker.
There are other reasons to keep a short pasture,
such as predator control. Joel also talks about this in
Pastured Poultry Profit$. Tall grass is awesome cover
for ground predators. And if the tall grass brings the
coyote, fox, raccoon, possum, or other critters right
by your pen full of succulent four week old birds,
you’re inviting trouble to your doorstep.
The short-term cost cutting combined with the
genetic problems means a chick shortfall that won’t
recover until the spring of 2015.
Issue # 82
22
Homeopathic Toolbox:
Aconite
—Mike Badger
Aconite is sometimes referred to as aconitum. It can be
used to treat symptoms of anxiety, trembling, fast
breathing, loss of appetite, excessive thirst, diarrhea,
emaciation, coughing, sneezing, and Coccidiosis.
Renew Membership
(Renew at apppa.org or return this form with your
check.)
Membership Level
Producer Plus with online benefits:
□ w/ printed newsletter—$60/yr or $105/2yrs
□ w/ electronic newsletter—$50/yr or $95/2yrs
□ Print Only Newsletter—$30/yr (REDUCED!)
As a preventive treatment it can be administered to the
flock immediately following stressful situations, such as
shipping or severe weather.
Dissolve a 30c pellet into water. Alternatively, the aconite can be dissolved in water and applied to the flock
by way of misting them lightly, which may be helpful if
the birds are not drinking.
Sources: APPPAPlus listserve emails from Susan
Beal, DVM, and “Remedies for Health Problems of the
Organic Laying Flock” edited by Karma E. Glos.
Have something to advertise? Contact us about a
business membership.
Producer Information (if different)
Name _____________________________
Farm _____________________________
Address ___________________________
City, State, Zip ______________________
Phone ____________________________
Email Address ______________________
APPPA, PO Box 85, Hughesville, PA 17737-0085
Issue # 82
23
APPPA
PO Box 85
Hughesville, PA 17737
PRSRT STD
U S POSTAGE PAID
Eau Claire, WI
Permit #203
If the number printed above your address is #82 or earlier, renew by mailing the form
on page 23 or renew online at www.apppa.org.
Call for our free color brochure.
Specializing in hatching
guinea keets, bantam silkie
chicks, Muscovy ducks, and
Khaki Campbell ducks.
To order ducks, please
contact Fifth Day Farm, Inc.
717-445-6255. To order
Guinea keets or silkies,
contact JM Hatchery.
178 Lowry Rd, New Holland, PA 17557
717-354-5950 | Fax: 717-354-0728
www.jmhatchery.com |
[email protected]

apppa grit - APPPA - American Pastured Poultry Producers

Transcription

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