Why Pastured Poultry?

As with all the animals we raise, our goal is to produce clean meat that is full of nutrients.   We do this by raising the animals as close as possible in the environment that is native to their species, with food that is found in nature, and natural to their species. This principle has driven us to adopt the pastured poultry model, where birds are raised outside, moved continuously, and allowed to range for greens, bugs, and grubs.

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Because of the wide range of food that the birds are able to forage, they eat a much broader diet than confinement raised birds.  This has been shown to develop a more nutrient-dense meat than birds that are raised entirely on formulated feed.  They are also allowed more sunlight and exercise than their confined counterparts.  Overall the pastured poultry are healthier, provide more nutrients, and have better muscle tone and flavor than confined poultry, which is what is found in most stores. 

The specific methods we use varies by poultry. 

Chickens are raised in shelters to protect them from ariel predators (like hawks and owls).  They are able to range in the shelter and eat the pasture and bugs.  Because we want them to be constantly able to eat bugs and pasture, we move the shelter each day to give them access to fresh forage and bugs.  

Turkeys are larger and have less problems with ariel predators, therefore we are able to keep them in a large pasture.  The pasture is protected from ground-based predators by electric netting, and has a shelter for the turkeys.  We move this pasture once a week so the turkeys have access to fresh pasture forage, and new bugs and grubs.  

We monitor the available forage daily, for both turkeys and chickens, and if needed we will move them more often to ensure that they have continual access to fresh-natural forages.  We supplementally feed both chickens and turkeys a non-GMO, organic feed mix.  This feed does comprise a large portion of their diet so we feel that it is important that we are not introducing chemicals or gene modification through pesticides or GMO's.  it is made of seeds, which is a natural feed of chickens, and we feel it is appropriate  and healthy for them to be given.  

We are always aiming to improve our meat and the systems we use to grow it.  The overall principles of nutrient-dense meat and mimicking the species natural environment will drive the decisions we make.

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