So there has been a good discussion going on about what is pasture-raised on a regional “Heritage Farming” email group I belong to…. It started out as figuring out hay issues for winter…. then moved into the what is pasture-raised… It’s funny how it seems to depend on the person and their actual farm. I’m just going to share my last couple of posts which might get you thinking as well.
“We raise up broilers – the cornish crosses. They are the LAZIEST birds and NASTIEST things we raise. And as much as I respect Salatin, I don’t think a tractor is appropriate for them. My reason behind this is that they will not move – period. I raise mine behind a portable electric fence. They have to go to the coop at night and come outside to eat or drink – they have to WALK. Mine take 10-12 weeks to get to the same size one in a tractor does in 6-8 weeks because they actually get exercise. If I put the food closer to the coop – they would walk that far and then stop and never get up the rest of the day. So my thinking is that if you have a bunch in a tractor with food & water right there and they only have to walk each day you move the pen – how can that be healthy for them?
Ok – that’s just my opinion once again. I know I can start a WHOLE argument on this one and debating – but it’s just something that popped into my head when I was reading your post.”
“For the large black we have – they don’t seem to root up a ton – and the 1/4 an acre (it may be more – I have no idea) is perfect. They run, play and all have their “own” space to get away it seems.
I think it depends on your pasture. I run 100-150 birds in 1 Premier fence (164′)….. HOWEVER the grass is VERY long this year down by that pen to the point we have to mow it because we lost some “in the jungle” of the grass. Now last year – the same amount of birds were behind 2 fences. Oh and the 10 ducks are back there too and a neighbor threw a hen with her chicks in that coop as well – LOL.
So I think it depends on YOUR farm and YOUR pasture. We are running 3 groups of hogs BESIDES our own. But a group may only mean 1-2 and up to 5.
The taste doesn’t change in my opinion with the cornish UNTIL it is a HUGE bird – then it seems to lose flavor. I think DRESSED they are perfect at 3-5 lbs. I have some “meat makers” from Mt healthy that I am experimenting with because of health issues. I’m just not sure. My problem is time. I have been 3 weeks without chicken because of losses due to the flood and it’s killing me. It’s about $200-300 I am losing per week because of no chicken sales.
Mine are more pastured I guess you can say. In an effort to stay neutral with most people I will say that they just get more exercise than one in a tractor (as I watch 5 try and catch a bug….. and the DUCKS win!) And I do think it makes a difference on taste and quality – but I’m not sure the direction – if that makes sense. We had a 4lbs birds for dinner one night and my husband thought it was the best we had done so far. But then the 5lb one – he wasn’t thrilled with.
Now I AM finding that the birds from Mt Healthy vs Moyers seem to take longer to grow in general (Cornish X’s) so I’m waiting to see how their health issues are – so far NO losses of them at all this go around (last time they got flooded and nothing I could do about that so it didn’t work as a test run).
I’m finidng this an experimental year with maybe some changes next season. I like the meat makers from Mt Healthy (heavy breed males) but I’m not sure how long they will take and that can be an issue – but then if I ran soemthing like that VS the cornish I would just need to plan differently – but the price is right up my alley ($30 for 100 birds or I think it was $32 for 200 of a different type!)”
The farming experiment continues…..
