Pastured poultry
From Free net encyclopedia
Pastured poultry is a sustainable agriculture technique that calls for the raising of laying chickens, meat chickens (broilers), and/or turkeys on pasture, as opposed to indoor confinement. The documented health benefits of pastured poultry, and grass-fed animals in general, in addition to superior texture and flavor are causing an increase in demand for such products.
Joel Salatin of Swoope, Virginia, pioneered the technique at Polyface Farm, and wrote his book Pastured Poultry Profits to spread the idea to other farmers. Andy Lee and Herman Beck-Chenowith expanded on Salatin's techniques, and created some of their own.
Jo Robinson, a health writer in Washington State, has been on the leading edge of trumpeting the health effects of pastured and grassfed meats. The higher levels of Omega 3 fatty acids and CLA (Conjugated Lineolic Acid) have been well documented.
This idea may seem out of this world, but pastured poultry really can be profitable. If you rasied five batches of chickens in sixteen pens, thats fifty chickens per pen. That means four thousand chickens in one growing season. If sell each bird at about four pounds for two dollars per pound that's a total of thirty-two thousand dollars in six months.
The pens that house the fowl are very cheap. They can be made from wood and scrap metal. If you prefer a prettier pen then your pens can be made out of PVC pipe and nice white tarps.
Pastured poultry is also gaining popularity because it helps the farmer, through reducing capital costs, and increasing pasture fertility. It is very well suited to incorporate within a system of managed intensive grazing.
Pastured Poultry is not limited to chickens and turkeys. It includes a variety of other birds, inluding ducks, geese and exotics in the Poultry family.