Harmony, Diversity, Respect
Harmony, diversity, and respect for the whole of creation are the guiding principles of Morning Has Broken Farm located in Granite Falls, Minnesota. Owners, Carolyn and Larry Olson raise chickens, hogs, and cattle on pasture “with homegrown grains and loving respect.”
Carolyn and Larry raise chickens in a new chicken-raising system publicized by farmer/marketer Joel Salatin. Salatin wrote a book about raising chickens on pasture, selling directly to consumers, and making a good profit. “When we started [raising chickens] a few years ago, most of our chickens went to relatives,” recalls Larry. “We raised 500 at a time. Then we discovered a way to utilize modern genetics and got into pasture-raising poultry.” The chicken-raising season lasts until approximately late October. In order to allow the chickens to range the pasture and still protect them from predators, they place them in movable cages made out of corrugated metal and mesh measuring 10x12x2 feet. 75 chickens are placed in the cage at a time.
Environmentally Friendly and Economical
They are thinned out as they mature, until there are 50 per cage. The coops are equipped with a set of wheels that allows them to be dragged to a different spot once a day at first, then up to three times a day depending on the pasture, explains Larry. The chicken manure left behind creates a nutrient rich environment for perennial forages to thrive in, offering an economical way to improve pastures.
Some of the chickens are removed when they reach a certain weight. That is part of the thinning process. The weights are determined by customers’ preferences. Some prefer chickens that are three pounds, others wait for them to reach seven or eight.
“We could have them done in 10 to 12 weeks, but our main concern is providing our customer with what they want,” says Olson. “Our chickens can take up to 16 or 18 weeks, which we think gives them a better flavor and better muscle texture. We don’t feel the need to rush them.”
A Tasty Yield
Larry and Carolyn feed their chickens a corn/barley/soybean mixture twice a day which, when combined with the exercise the chickens get and the longer growing period, yields tasty and firm meat that they say is not tough. The advantages of this new, yet old-fashioned pasture raising system are numerous. Mobile coops can be easily integrated into many farming systems. They can be made out of salvaged materials, so they need not be costly. Like Larry and Carolyn, many dairy, beef, and pork producers nationwide have produced chickens on their livestock pastures.
Cash-crop farmers have also found its low-labor requirements fit well into their field-work chores. Finally, because the chickens are raised on pasture, not in a confined, indoor space, their natural resistance to disease is stronger. This makes it much easier to raise poultry with minimum antibiotics or drugs. “We have never used medication with our chickens,” states Larry.
Once the chickens reach market weight, they are commercially processed, USDA inspected, and flash frozen. Consumer demand for free-range chicken is rising and farmers, are having trouble keeping up with demand. Before the USDA inspection began in the mid-1990’s, farmers like Larry and Carolyn could not advertise their chickens. They relied on word-of-mouth. Larry and Carolyn direct market their products and are using the Internet as a marketing tool with other local, sustainable farmers at Prairiefare. Some of their chicken is sold at a local coffee shop. However, they prefer the word-of-mouth method for selling their products. “Word-of-mouth is slower, but it creates a loyal customer,” Larry observes comparing the two marketing systems.