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American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
In support of pastured poultry, Dr.
McNitt, an original member of APPPA, has authored several educational
publications with regard to pastured poultry production, including topics on
marketing, pens, and brooding. The Southern University also holds
workshops to help educate farmers on pastured poultry.
In 2006, YaSin and Elaine started with a batch of 50 broilers, and Dr. McNitt helped him do the processing by
providing on farm instruct ion, equipment, and support. YaSin recalls
that Dr. McNitt warned that he would
get one processing demo, and then he'd be responsible for processing from that
point forward.
BASIC OPERATIONS
Now, Yardbird Farm raises between 300-600 Cornish cross broilers per batch
with an average carcass weight of three to three-and-half pounds at seven
weeks of age. In a season, they processes approximately 6,000 broilers.
The brooder house is a metal car port
with sides that sits flush on a cement pad. A 19 inch tall pipe provides
ventilation. Inside, YaSin uses an Ohio
Issue 62
Mar – Apr
2011
American Pastured Poultry Producers Association
Producer Profile: YaSin Muhaimin, Yardbird Farm by Mike Badger
In This Issue:
2 Board of Directors
3 Editor’s Letter
4 President’s Message
Continued on page 4
15 Grit! Scratchings
17 Classifieds
18 Upcoming Events
19 Membership by State
23 Membership Renewal
6 APPPA Scholarship Award
7 Processing Equipment
9 Build PVC Drinker
10 Wine and Dine Your Chickens
11 Google Places Tutorial
APPPA GRIT!
For 17 days, the water remained eight feet deep in YaSin and Elaine Muhaimin's
home near London Canal in New Orleans. As the water receded from Hurricane
Katrina, so did the urban life they knew so well. Before the hurricane, YaSin was
a instructional coordinator that taught
computer science, math, and network administration for a school district in New
Orleans.
Following the hurricane, the school that employed YaSin no longer had a job for
him, and he was forced to retire. The Muhaimin's were left with an opportunity
to start fresh, whether they wanted it or not. So, they invested their savings in a
five acre farm in Zachary, LA and become mid-life farmers.
MID-LIFE FARMER SUPPORT
YaSin credits Dr. James McNitt, an
animal science professor at the Southern University Agricultural Research and
Extension Center, in Baton Rouge, LA, for his start in pastured broiler
production. According to its own website (www.suagcenter.com), the Extension
Center's mission is to “conduct statewide
basic and applied research and to disseminate information to the citizens of
Louisiana in a manner that is useful in addressing their scientific, technological,
social, economic and cultural needs.”
2 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
APPPA Staff APPPA GRIT Editor: Mike Badger
16 Pine Run Rd
Hughesville, PA 17737
editor@apppa.org
570-584-2309
APPPA Coordinator: Jody Padgham PO Box 87 Boyd, WI 54726 grit@apppa.org 888-662-7772 The APPPA GRIT newsletter is published six times a year and sent to members of APPPA. To join, visit our website or write us. Information provided in this newsletter is believed to be accurate, but readers assume all responsibility for actions based on this information.
Eli Reiff (President)
Board member 2010-2012 Poultry Man
922 Conley Rd Mifflinburg, PA 17844
(570) 966-0769
Tom Wadson (Vice President) Board member 2009-2011
Wadsons Farm
PO Box SN 528, Bermuda, SNBX (441) 238-1862
wadsonfarm@ibl.bm
Don Brubaker (Treasurer) Board member 2007-2012
The Fertrell Company POB 456
Bainbridge, PA 17502
(717) 426-3594 don@fertrell.com
Jennie Watkins (Secretary) Board member 2009-2011
Ananda Hills Farm 553 Embody Road
Port Ludlow, WA 98365 (360) 732-0111
jewatkins@olypen.com
Michael Akey
Board member 2010-2012 Green Akeys Family Farm
2301 Cross Section Rd Westminster, MD 21158
(410) 857-0357 michaelweaselo@me.com
Greg Gunthorp Board member 2009-2011
Gunthorp Farms 435 N 850 E
La Grange, IN, 46761 (260) 367-2708
hey4hogs@kuntrynet.com
Keith O’Neal
Board member 2010-2012 Pleasant Prairie Meats
417 Road FF Satanta, KS
(620) 276-6197 meatguy@pleasantprairiemeats.com
Brenda Ostrom
Board member 2009-2011
Mountain Meadow Farms PO Box 913
Mariposa, CA, 95338 (209) 966-8432 bostrom@sti.net
Val Vetter and Deb Aaron
Board Member 2010-2011 Piney Woods Ranch
PO Box 381
Winnsboro, TX 75494 (903) 629-3332
pineywoodsranch@yahoo.com
Joel Salatin Board member-at-large
Polyface Farm 363 Shuey RdSwoope, VA 24479
APPPA Board of Directors
Visit us online
www.apppa.org
3 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
for the support a group like APPPA
provides.
If you hold a seminar, field day, workshop, or some other meeting that targets pastured poultry producers,
please let APPPA know about it. Not only
will we publicize the event in the Grit, but we can provide you with support and
resources.
APPPA also held an annual meeting at SSAWG that was well attended. After
conducting some organization business, we went around the room and each
person provided a brief introduction. As you might expect, the crowd was filled
with producers of all levels. Processing was a universal pain point for producers,
regardless of size or location.
On page 7, David Schafer provides a range of processing and equipment
options based on the size of your operation.
Editor’s Letter As this issue hits mailboxes, the winter conference season will be replaced by
spring preparations. However, I thought I’d share some of the highlights from
APPPA’s busy conference season.
In January, APPPA exhibited at SSAWG and met a lot of great pastured poultry
producers and soon-to-be producers. The enthusiasm for pastured poultry, as
well as for APPPA was unmistakable.
APPPA Coordinator, Jody Padgham summarized SSAWG like this, “I think
some of the best parts were hearing all the great plugs for APPPA, and seeing
the enthusiasm in people's eyes as they learned that there was a group of folks
out there ready and willing to share
poultry knowledge.”
The green APPPA book Raising Poultry on Pasture: Ten Years of Success was an absolute success and in demand.
That tells me that people are not only
willing to consider the pastured poultry production model, but they are eager
APPPA members enjoying a dinner at SSAWG. Starting at the bottom-left of the table and working clockwise:
Tom Wadson, Mike Badger, Brenda Ostrom, Kathleen and Eli Reiff, Michael Akey, and Jody Padgham.
Continued on page 14
4 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
Profile continued from page 1 President’s Message
Greetings from the beaut i fu l Bu f fa lo
Valley! I experienced one of the best birth-
days I ever had! I re-ceived 28 birthday
cards and phone calls anywhere from the Deacon in our church to Jennie
Watkins in Washington and Tom Wad-
son in Bermuda, all because I turned half a century old.
The SSAWG Conference and APPPA an-nual meeting are now history, as well
as our local PASA conference, resulting
in new friends and reunions of past friends.
This is the time of year that we collect maple sap. I don't now how long it will
run into the spring. We have thirty taps
out, and so far, we have a little more than three gallons of syrup to show for
our efforts. Sweet!
We are meeting with a contractor about raising broiler cockerels. They
would need about 360 head per week. They would supply shavings, gas, feed,
and hauling. The broilers would be processed at a fully inspected plant and
then go to Whole Foods. The thing that makes me leery is that they have to be
raised according to Global Animal Part-nership (GAP) rules. I wonder if any-
body else has any knowledge in that
line. The GAP guidelines specify things like no rat poison, no leg hold traps, no
tying the dog, and of course, bio-security.
We now have 20 lambs and still have a
lot of big ewes.
It's time to get your brooder house cat and rat proof!
Eli Reiff
APPPA Board President
brooder. The Ohio brooder was
developed and publicized by the Ohio Experiment Station in the early 1940's.
The brooder is a rectangular box built on legs. As the chicks grow, the legs can be
blocked up to allow the chicks to get under the brooder where it's warm.
Each end of the brooder contains a heat
lamp. The brooder design more evenly distributes the heat ensuring a more
controllable temperature. The chicks are able to self-regulate their heat needs by
freely moving in and out of the warm brooder.
At about three weeks, the chicks move to pasture pens. In the beginning, YaSin started with a cattle panel hoop house,
but now he has moved to a lighter weight PVC pen. The hoop house has
been re-purposed as a greenhouse.
The PVC pens are 12'x12' and are covered with recycled billboard material.
The lightweight pens are very easy to push across the pasture. In the pastures,
YaSin grows rye grass and clover; he
does not use any synthetic fertilizer or chemicals.
In addition to the five acres on Yardbird Farm, YaSin has access to an additional
19 acres of neighboring properties,
including a few acres of his brother.
YaSin plans to add some red broilers and geese to the poultry operation. He’s also exploring year-round production.
PROCESSING
All processing is done at an on-farm processing facility that the Muhaimin's assembled for approximately ten
thousand dollars. The processing building is a prefabricated shed that was
purchased from Lowe's. All evisceration
and processing happens inside the building. A Featherman scalder and
5 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
plucker are setup outside the building
on a cement slab, under the cover of a roof. Otherwise, the scalding and
plucking happens in an outdoor environment. The kill cones are setup in
the grass.
After processing, YaSin prepares his chickens for sale by vacuum sealing
them. The packages of whole and half chickens are labeled and ready for sale.
The feathers and offal are composted.
Yardbird Farm processes under USDA exemptions. In Louisiana, facilities
processing fewer than 20,000 birds a year are inspected by the Louisiana
Department of Agriculture and Forestry's Meat and Poultry Division.
HALAL CHICKEN
A halal processed chicken means it's
permissible for Muslims to eat because it was processed according to a set of
rules outlined in Islamic law. To qualify as halal, the following four conditions
must be met.
A prayer must be said before slaughter.
The chicken cannot be stunned.
The chicken must be slaughtered
by hand with a sharp knife by a Muslim or a person of the
scripture (Jew or Christian).
The windpipe, esophagus, and jugular are cut. It's not halal to
sever the spinal cord.
As poultry processors know, cutting the jugular allows the heart to continue to
pump the blood, draining it from the chicken. Draining the blood is a
requirement for halal chicken.
MAXIMIZING MARKETS
Yardbird Farm has a standing order of 100 birds a month for a local store. The
Muhaimin's are also a favorite vendor at the Red Stick Farmers Market in Baton
Rouge where they sell organic produce,
broilers, and eggs.
YaSin says they sell out of approximately 200 dozen eggs in the first thirty
minutes of market.
The Muhaimins have developed several chicken products that sell very well. In
addition to selling whole chickens, YaSin has developed a chicken sausage that he
sells to market customers. The chicken sausage evolved from the boneless,
skinless breasts that he sold because a
survey of his customers pointed to a demand for chicken sausage. So, the
breasts evolved into sausage.
More recently, YaSin started selling whole pecan-smoked broilers at the Red
Stick Farmers Market for $15 a bird. According to YaSin, the chickens are in-
demand and they move quickly.
The chicken feet are saved and sold to the ethnic markets.
LOSSES
When asked to put a number on his losses, YaSin estimates his normal loss
rate at about four to eight percent. He quickly followed with “Louisiana used to
have good weather,” implying that
protecting his flock from the elements is a challenge.
YaSin lost a lot of chickens by moving them outside in bad weather. When
moving chicks from the brooder to
pasture, it pays to hold them in the brooder for a few extra days if the
weather is bad.
Yardbird Farm has also faced some heavy predation from domestic and wild
animals. YaSin recounts a dog kill that took 100 chickens and 8 ducks in a
single night. He also had to deal with the other “normal” predators – hawks, owls,
raccoons, and possums. To curb the
Continued on page 16
6 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The APPPA Board awarded the 2011 Scott and Marilyn Jondle Education fund
to Dean and Kim Zimmerman of Coulee View Family Farm. The $500 award will
help the Zimmermans offset the costs of attending conferences, learning new
skills at workshops, and purchasing educational resources to help launch
their new farm enterprise.
The Zimmermans plan to attend the Midwest Organic and Sustainable
Education Service (MOSES) conference in February 2011. The scholarship funds will
help them publicize efforts to get a poultry processing plant started in
southwest Wisconsin that is focused on
pastured poultry, animal welfare and organic poultry.
At the MOSES conference, the Zimmermans plan to attend workshops
and seminars that help them start
growing some of their own poultry and hog rations. They are particularly
interested in listening to Jeff Mattocks, a poultry nutritionist with Fertrell and
APPPA business member.
By attending Michael Fields Agriculture Institute (MFAI) workshops, the
Zimmermans will continue to network and promote their efforts to start a
processing plant in southwest Wisconsin. They will also attend workshops that
focus on new farm enterprises.
The Zimmermans have started a small, on-farm hatchery for slow growing
broilers. To help support the hatchery efforts, they plan to attend the pullorum
tester seminar through the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.
Rounding out their educational materials,
the Zimmerman’s plan to order a couple of audio CDs from Stockman Grass
Farmer that focus on Metro Buying Clubs to help them determine if metro buying
clubs are a viable option for their farm. The Zimmermans plan to purchase the
latest edition of Joel Salatin's Pastured
Poultry Profits so they can apply the updated turkey shelter design to their
operation.
We have started a small, on-farm hatchery for slow growing broilers. We
will attend the upcoming Pullorum testing seminar in Richland Center to
support this new enterprise.
Dean and Kim Zimmerman are APPPA members and raise pastured chicken,
turkey, geese, pork, and lamb on their farm in Wauzeka, WI. You can learn
m o r e a b o u t t h e m a t www.couleeviewfarm.com.
The Scott and Marilyn Jondle
Scholarship honors the life of the Jondles, who started farming as second
careers. Scott was an active APPPA board member when he and his wife,
Marilyn, tragically passed.
APPPA is the only organization dedicated to serving the needs of those interested
in raising poultry on pasture. The mission of the organization, incorporated
in 1997, is to help members become better pastured poultry producers
through sharing information and networking.
For more information about APPPA, visit www.apppa.org or call 888-662-7772.
Zimmerman Family Receives
APPPA Scholarship
7 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
What equipment do I need for processing?
The answer depends on how much poultry
you plan to process. No matter what size, the three basic processing jobs are killing,
scalding and picking. For killing the birds, you need an adequate restraint. for
scalding, you need hot water. For picking, you need agitation. Let’s start small and
work our way up.
A FEW ROOS - SCROUNGE
If you just have a handful of roosters that need to go, you can get by with
scrounging. Have a friend restrain the roosters with two hands around the body
while you carefully slit the carotid arteries while holding the head. Have the water
ready at 150 degrees and dip the roo up
and down, jiggling while in the down
position and draining for three to four seconds in the up position.
Test for readiness by pulling wing feathers. When they easily release, wipe
the feathers off with your hands and pull
reluctant feathers with fingers and tweezers. Singe if there are a lot of hairs
left on.
Cost $0. Time: 3 birds/man hour.
TWENTY TO FIFTY BROILERS – BEG,
BORROW, STEAL
This could represent several days work for two people if you try to scrounge to get it done. So look hard for a unit near
you to borrow or rent. Restraining kill cones can be fashioned from riveted light
sheet metal, highway safety cones, and
buckets. None of these are “stand alone” and will require your vigilance to prevent
the bird from backing out.
Proper restraint is a huge part of humane slaughter and should be taken seriously.
Consider purchasing one cone to see the difference.
Having enough water for two birds gets important at this volume. There are lots
of turkey broiler units available for $60 -
$90 that would be a good investment at this processing level. Keep two
thermometers handy and be exact about the scald temperature, as it will make
the biggest impact on final quality of your birds. A Coleman camp stove
doesn’t have the BTUs for this job. Find or buy a serious burner, such as the
turkey fryer. Add as much water as is
removed after every few birds.
Picking may still be done by hand if you have a big crew and your scald is right
Continued on page 18
What Equipment do I need for Processing? By David Schafer
Continued on page 8
8 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
on. If you can find a table top model this
reduces picking time from 10 -15 minutes down to 3-5 minutes per bird.
Again, you may have to singe if the scald is not accurate.
Cost: $30-cone, $69-turkey fryer, $200-
used table top picker; total $299. Time: 4-6 birds/ man hour.
Fifty to Two Hundred Birds – Time for Creativity
You have crossed over into the business scale unless you have a really big family. Processing may look like the biggest
hurdle to you and you would be right; it
is. This is where the do-it-yourselfers get creative.
We [Alice and I] thought we could do this volume with a tabletop picker, but we
quickly realized otherwise and went
shopping. We wound up with a PickWick dinosaur. It was a four-feet in diameter
plucker for $750, plus a 10-hour round trip drive. It turned out to be too big to
pick four birds well, so we tried to ramp up to eight and our scald and dunk got
crazy. Learning curve.
You have many more options now than we did 15 years ago, but you must have
restraining cones, a good scald system, and an automatic plucker.
Option 1 – Do It Yourself
It’s not rocket science. My Amish
neighbor made the first trash barrel tub
plucker back in 1995. Now , a very elegant set of plans is available courtesy
of Herrick Kimball, Anyone Can Build A Tub Style Plucker. If you have access to
a spare ¾ or 1 horse motor and are reasonably handy, you have the major
obstacles out of the way.
Typical costs range from $300 to $700 to build the tub plucker and a large and
energetic support group awaits you online to answer your questions and help
you with parts. Herrick now also has plans for a home grown scalder.
Cost: Books $50, 2 – 4 cones $70-$140, Scalder $150 - $400, Plucker $300 - $700. Total cost $570 - $1290.
Time 20 hours building, 6-10 birds/ man
hour.
Option 2 – Rent, Share, Custom process
One way or another you’ve got to have equipment. Rental units are becoming
increasingly available and have the
advantage of the owner’s knowledge and experience for you to tap into.
If no rental units are within a couple hours drive, how about partnering with
another farm in a similar quandary as
you? You’ll cut the cost in half and simply have to coordinate processing
Continued on page 19
9 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
For a relatively low cost, you can
build your own drinking system for broilers, layers, or other small
animals. Using PVC pipe and a float valve, you can have a gravity flow
drinker that will provide ample water supply to your livestock. If
you have some left over four inch PVC pipe available, all you'll have
to buy is a couple of end caps, J
hooks, and a float valve.
I started with 4 inch PVC schedule 40 pipe; after building it, however,
I realized you could certainly use NDS pipe without any difficulty. I
purchased a two foot length of PVC
Schedule 40, which is expensive compared to NDS.
To assemble, cut the 4 inch PVC pipe to
whatever length you want.
Next, cut a portion out of the middle-top
half of the pipe that is long enough to allow as many birds to drink at one time
as you want. Be careful to leave material on each end of the pipe in order to be
able to glue the end caps to the pipe.
Attach the end caps to the pipe with
cleaner and PVC cement. On one of the end caps drill a ¾ inch hole slightly
above center in order to insert the float valve on the end. That pretty much does
it for the assembly of the drinker.
My parts list included:
One two foot length of schedule 40
PVC pipe
Two 4 inch PVC end caps
One ¾ inch x 3/8 inch brass tubing adapter (to attach float valve to a 5 Gallon pail)
Two J hooks
One float valve from Cornerstone Farm Ventures
The only other thing you have to do is
connect the tubing to the pipe adapter, and the attach it to a 5 gallon pail. Fill
with water and you're already go.
You can use the J Hooks to set the
Build Your Own PVC Drinker By Jim McLaughlin
Continued on page 13
10 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
INCREASE EGG PRODUCTION AND
BROILER GROWTH
While on the lookout for fun poultry information, I came upon a Popular
Mechanics article from April 1912, that advocated feeding laying hens wine as a
way to increase their egg production.
A French chicken farmer claims that a small quantity of wine increases the egg-
producing capacity of hens to a considerable degree. He divided a flock
of 16 month old hens into two groups of six. Each group was fed exactly the same
amount of grain and bread.
However, the bread given to one group was soaked with wine. In the four
months of the test, the wine fed hens laid 148 eggs more than the hens that
were not fed wine.
The test was repeated using eight month
old hens of the same breed. Again, a
flock of 12 hens was used. This time the wine-fed hens won by 87 eggs.
Being a bit skeptical and thinking that the motivation for the article was to sell
more wine to farmers, I asked Jeff
Mattocks, a poultry nutritionist with Fertrell Company to weigh in. Jeff
supports the wine-fed premise, saying he advocates feeding vinegar to hens
because it achieves the same results.
The vinegar (or wine) increases the chickens ability to break down
carbohydrates and fats, which leads to better digestion of feed. As a result of
the enhanced digestion, broilers grow better and hens lay more.
You can mix apple cider vinegar into the
chickens water at a rate of at least one ounce per gallon. I imagine the wine
mixture would similar.
This sounds like a fun research project. Any takers?
Wine and Dine Your Chickens By Mike Badger
11 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
Be Found with Google Places By Mike Badger
It's no secret that people have increasingly replaced the yellow pages
with an Internet Search, and if you can't be found with an Internet search, you
could be missing new customer opportunities. Of course, the business
here is your farm, and being found helps
you sell your pastured broilers, turkeys, eggs, and other products.
You don’t need to use the Internet or computers in order for potential
customers to find you via an Internet
search. For example, I can search Google for “poultry dressing Mifflinburg pa” and
find Eli Reiff’s business listing, as seen in the following image.
Eli is not a computer user, and he doesn’t use the Internet. Yet, here is his
business listing on Google. Eli is an
established business and the online search engines have done a good job
(depending on your perspective) of incorporating information from all kinds
of print sources, including phone directories.
I’m going to show you how to get your
farm listed on Google Places, so that you can increase your visibility and attract
more customers when someone in our community searches for the products and
services we offer. This tutorial will focus on Google, because Google has become
synonymous with Internet search.
You should also note that if you do not have a website for your farm, the service
we're about to talk about can act as a
rudimentary website. Even though these listings are akin to a yellow page ad, you
can describe your farm business in more detail, and best of all, the Google Places
listings are free.
If you are not a computer or Internet user, a trusted friend, neighbor, or local
marketer (though a marketer will likely charge for the service) could work
through these steps on your behalf.
As we work through the tutorial, I'm going to use
Google's terminology of “business” instead of farm.
That way the information I describe will match up with
what you see on your computer screen.
G o t o h t t p : / /www.google.com/places and follow the Places for
Business link. You will need to sign in with your Google
Account or create a Google
Account, if you don't have one.
Click the List Your Business button.
You will be prompted for a telephone
number.
Select your Country from the drop-down
list and enter your business Phone
Number.
Next, click the Find Business Information button, and Google will
search it's site index to see if it already has a listing for your phone number. If
Continued on page 12
12 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
Google finds a business that matches the
phone number, you will have a chance to claim it. If Google does not find a
business with your phone number, it will automatically display a blank page so
you can enter the details of your business.
Though you can enter so much more,
you must enter at least the business name, street address, city, state, zip,
main phone number, and category. Note, the main phone number you enter will be
publicly visible. This is the number of your farm.
After you enter your business information, click the Submit button. Google will prompt you with a verification
method.
If you're a new listing, you'll need to verify by postcard, which will take
approximately two to three weeks to arrive. If you claim an existing entry, you
may be able to verify by phone number.
Click the Finish button and wait for your verification code.
BUSINESS VERIFICATION
When you receive the verification code,
go back to Google Places, login with your Google Account, and then enter your
code to claim your business.
The verification process gives Google some reasonable assurance that you are
entitled to speak on behalf of the business, and they will treat you as an
authoritative source of information about that business listing. This means that
you can now edit your business listing to add a website, photos, videos, coupons,
special offers, operating hours, and business categories.
In essence, you can create a mini-website with your Google Places listing. If you aren’t willing to invest the money
to build a proper website, this is a down
and dirty approach that would get you by
for a while.
I'll offer one word of warning regarding the updating of information. If you change the business name, the address,
or the phone number on the listing,
Google will have to re-verify the listing. You will lose access to the listing and will
be unable to make changes to the listing until the re-verification is complete. So,
complete those items right, the first time.
VISIBILITY IS KEY
Now, when someone near your location
searches for the products you offer, your listing will display towards the top of the
Google Search results.
The key benefit is visibility.
Using your Google Places business listing, you can attract the attention of a searcher and you have at least three
ways to turn that visibility into a lead for
you. Using the listing itself, the person may call, request driving directions, or
visit your website, if you have one listed.
ANALYZING THE TRAFFIC REPORTS
After you verify your listing, you will be able to log in to your Google Places
account and view your listing activity, which primarily consists of impressions
and actions.
An impression is simply how many times your business listing showed up in the
search results.
Actions may include clicks to your website, clicks for driving directions, or clicks for more information about your
business.
The clicks for driving directions will tell you where the person requested driving
directions from. This may help you
Continued on page 13
13 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
determine if there are opportunities to
increase more marketing efforts in a given community.
You will also be able to see the actual search terms that triggered your listing
to display. If you have an existing
website, it's a always a wise move to pay attention to keyword research, which
tells you what phrases your customers use to find you when searching for
information.
And the research doesn't get much better than the biggest search engine in
the world telling you exactly what words people used to trigger your listing. You
can use this information to make sure your website is optimized correctly. The
buzzword here is search engine optimization (SEO).
For the marketer looking for an edge in the market place, all of these stats provide some valuable information. Your
job, and it can be challenging, is to interpret the information into actionable
items.
OTHER OPTIONS
Google is the place to start, but Yahoo! and Bing also offer local business listings.
The Yahoo! listing I tried to create for my farm was denied because my address
was not identified as a business address.
Your results may vary.
About: Mike Badger is the APPPA Grit! Editor with a background in
I n t e r n e t m a r k e t i n g , communications, and website
management.
drinker on the ground. Keep in mind
that the birds will defecate in the drinker, if it is flat on the ground.
Remember to always keep drinker and feeders at the height of the birds back.
Total cost of the drinker is $26.75.
2 end caps $4.00.
1- 4”x2’ PVC pipe $6.50.
2- J hooks $2.25.
Float valve $14.
If you have PVC pipe left over from
another project you wouldn’t have to spend as much buying a short piece.
The drinker can be as long as you like and can be adjusted up or down for
different age birds.
Cornerstone Farm Ventures can be
reached at 607.334.9962 or www.cornerstone-farm.com.
Drinker continued from page 9
14 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
Editor’s Letter from page 3
Dealing with state regulations is quite
another story and that was definitely a dominant topic at SSAWG. It seems the
best strategy for dealing with processing regulations is to be informed, stay
persistent, and seek support from your community members.
At the APPPA booth at SSAWG, we heard
the frustrations of an untold number of producers regarding processing. By the
time the conference closed on Saturday, however, we were able to connect
groups of people with common processing miseries, so they can pursue
a solution together.
PASA
APPPA also attended the PASA Conference in State College, PA. Our
booth was situated on the second floor of the conference, next to Featherman and
Cornerstone Farm Ventures. Once
conference attendees realized there was a second level of exhibitors, people
began to steadily visit the APPPA booth.
Eli Reiff, is somewhat of a chicken rock star in central Pennsylvania, and his
introduction to pastured poultry workshop was attended by over 100
people. Eli’s a good book salesman, too.
In 2012, APPPA will hold its annual
meeting at PASA in State College. The board voted and passed that motion at
its last meeting in SSAWG. Mark your calendars and make some plans to join
us.
THE GREAT AMERICAN PLUCK-OFF
At SSAWG, David Schafer (Featherman) and Eli Reiff (Poultry Man) made
tentative plans to hold "The Great American Pluck-Off" sometime in the
next year or two. The two hatched the idea as a way to promote pastured
poultry, publicize APPPA, and have a bit
of fun.
David and Eli are both long-time business associates and friendly competitors. However, it's clear that
pluckin' rights are on the line. David was
lobbying for a Missouri based pluck-off while Eli was eyeing PASA as a possible
stage. I vote Bermuda.
The details of the competition remain fuzzy. Stay tuned for more details.
Mike Badger
APPPA Grit! Editor
From left to right: David Crank, Jody Padgham, and Michael Akey present a workshop at SSAWG.
15 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
Grit! Scratchings
ON MOVING CHICKS TO PASTURE
“If it's too cold for my wife Kathleen to sleep outside, it's too cold for those little
white birds to sleep outside,” says Eli Reiff to a standing room only crowd at
the PASA conference. Eli was presenting a pastured poultry 101 workshop and
spent considerable time talking about
moving the chicks from the brooder to the grass.
Eli cautions you to watch the weather and hold the birds in brooder if the
weather looks bad. Springtime in the
north means extreme day and night temperature ranges and cold rain. Let
the weather pass.
APPPA EMAIL TROUBLES
The APPPA email addresses were experiencing delivery problems in
February. If you sent an email to either editor@apppa.org or grit@apppa.org
(Coordinator) and did not receive a response, we apologize for the
inconvenience. Please resend your email.
A N N U A L M E M B E R
DIRECTORY
The May/June issue of the
Grit! will feature the annual member directory
listing.
The member directory lists APPPA members by state
and can be a great networking opportunity for
producers who want to connect with other local
p a s t u r e d p o u l t r y producers.
Inclusion in the printed
directory is voluntary, and you must opt-in to the
listing. So you if you were not included in
last year’s member directory, and wanted to be, don’t forget to update your
preference. Send an email to grit@apppa.org or contact the Grit! Editor
(see page 2 for contact details).
ANCONA DUCKS FOR EGGS
Jenny Watkins posted the following message on the APPPA ProPlus discussion
list:
“After reading a VERY INTERESTING book this month The Resilient Gardner: Food
Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times by Carol Deppe PhD I am seriously
considering ducks. The duck she favors is the Ancona, which she describes as the
best layer of the medium breeds, up to 270 eggs/yr.”
Many list members responded favorably to
ducks in general and the Ancona specifically. The Ancona duck is a dual
purpose heritage breed, pictured here.
Ancona Ducks. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
16 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
predation, he installed electric poultry
netting.
GIVING BACK
YaSin and Elaine give back to their community by hosting educational programs for youth. They enjoy the
opportunity to help young kids
understand the role that agriculture plays in their lives.
YaSin will often ask a group of kids, “Where does corn from?” The students,
while standing in a field of corn, will reply
with the stereotypical answers: “From the store and “From a can.”
After they take a taste of that corn, however, the connection lasts.
WE'RE ALL FARMERS
In wrapping up his presentation at the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG), YaSin offered
this advice to the audience. “This is not a hobby. We're farmers. Producers. Don't
let anyone, including the USDA
Secretary, tell you any different. We're not in competition with commercial
poultry. Our customers wouldn't eat commercial poultry anyway.”
Profile from page 15
Broiler & Layer Chicks Ready-to-lay Pullets
Equipment/Incubators
Fertile Eggs
266 E. Paletown Road, Quakertown, PA. 18951 Ph.: 215 - 536 - 3155 www.moyerschicks.com Fax: 215 - 536 - 80 34 orders@moyerschicks.com
APPPA - STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
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.
APPPA exists to facilitate the free flow of
creative ideas. Member producers are encouraged to consider all poultry species and all pasturing models,
assuming personal responsibility for adapting ideas and models presented through APPPA.
APPPA passionately embraces humane, people-friendly, environmentally-enhancing, pasture-based production models. While we respect the freedom of
others to engage in industrial confinement factory farming, we believe our approach is superior.
APPPA assists both producers and consumers to transact business with as little government intervention as possible. APPPA does not
discriminate in membership or programs based on the business size of producer or consumer. Realizing
that production models must be profitable to be
successful, APPPA's interests include processing,
packaging, cooking, marketing, and any other
topics related to pastured poultry enterprises.
APPPA's world vision is to see pastured poultry adopted as the model for environmentally,
emotionally, and economically sensible poultry production. This vision includes decentralized food systems, farmstead-sized processing, and as much
interaction as possible between producer and consumer.
(Adopted by the APPPA Steering Committee, August 27, 1997)
17 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
SHRINK BAGS FOR SALE
Size:10x16”. Material: 55 micron high barrier, arc cut bottom/top. Cost was:
$199/1000 (Sold only by the thousand at this time.).
Freight cost: FREE in Northeast. Pay-
ment: Check or money order.
Tim Koegel
Windy Ridge Natural Farms
POB 1162, Alfred, NY 14802
607.587.9684
timk@windyridgepoultry.com
PICK-UP POINTS FOR SCRATCH AND
PECK FEEDS
Scratch and Peck Feeds available at the following pick up points:
North Seattle, WA
W Seattle, WA
Olympia, WA
Tacoma, WA
Sacramento, CA
Please visit our website or call 360-318-
7585 for more info.
www.scratchandpeck.com
FREE CLASSIFIED LISTINGS
Reach pastured poultry producers in the U.S, Canada, and Bermuda. Sell your i t e m s , p l a c e w a n t e d a d s ,
advertise employment opportunities, and
more.
Grit Classifieds are free for members; $0.25 per word for non-members. To place an ad, email editor@apppa.org or
call (570)584-2309.
EGG WASHER FOR SALE
New Sink top unit scrubs eggs with hot water and brush. 28 eggs per minute
max. Suitable for a 1000 layer
flock. Made in USA of as much US con-tent as possible. $1830 plus shipping
www.gibsonridgefarms.com. (740) 698-3330 (Ohio).
Classifieds
Advertise with APPPA
Reach pastured poultry producers of all sizes with a 1/4 page ad in the APPPA GRIT.
6 issues for $200
Return the membership application on page 23 or contact grit@apppa.org for
more information.
APPPA does not endorse Grit advertisers or their products/services.
Featherman Equipment
Offers Free Rental Listing
for any Poultry
Processing Equipment
Email Featherman what you’ve got for rent, how much you charge, where you are located and your contact info. They
will post the listing on their website at www.featherman.net.
Check the listing if you are looking for equipment to rent.
David Schafer, owner of Featherman, says:
“We are trying to make entry into the poultry business a lot easier for
folks today than it was for us 15
years ago.”
Email your info to info@featherman.net
or call 660-684-6035
18 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
Upcoming Events
Coop Construction-April 6, 2011. The New Entry Sustainable Farming Project
will hold a field training to cover mobile poultry housing. Contact Sam Anderson
f o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n a t sanderson@comteam.org or (978) 654-
6745.
HLW Acres 9th Annual Poultry Program—May 21, 2011 from 8:00 am
to 5:00 pm. The program will be held at 1727 Exchange St. Attica NY 14011 585-
591-0795
This year’s main speaker will be Peter McDonald of Pasture Pride Farm Romulus
NY. Pasture Pride is a diversified 220 acre pasture based farm that raises
11,000 meat chickens, 120 beef, 200
lambs, 400+ turkeys, 90 hogs, 250+ layers per year. Peter will present his
program on how these multi species are grown on pasture, and how they are
marketed to both retail and wholesale customers though out New York State.
Also Dave Snyder from ADM Alliance
Nutrition Inc. will be here to talk about nutrition and feed quality for poultry.
Brian Fleischman from Wyoming County
Chamber of Commerce and Wyoming County Tourist promotion will discuss
upcoming agricultural programs and the benefit of chamber memberships.
Pre- paid registration of $45 per person
or $80 for 2 people is requested by May 11 2011. After this date the price will
increase $20 per person. For more information call Hermann and Laura
Weber at 585-591-0795
Share your events! Conferences, events, meetings, and field days happen
year round, in all parts of the country. Share your events with APPPA members,
email that event to editor@apppa.org or call Mike at (570) 584-2309.
Processing from page 8
dates. Or, better yet, do your birds
together and help each other.
The third possibility is to purchase equipment and pay it off rapidly through
custom processing and/or renting to others. If you are already good at
gutting this is a real viable alternative as you can charge $2 to $4/bird depending
on your location and pay off your entire investment in little more than a thousand
birds.
Cost: Rental $100 per day, 6-15 birds/ man hour.
Share $1800 - $2500, 6 – 20 birds/man
hour.
Custom process - $3600 - $5000, 6 – 20 birds/man hour.
Option 3 – Purchase the plucker
Any dang fool can make water hot, it’s the feather removing gizmo that you
absolutely have to make, borrow, or buy. At this level of production the cheap
Chinese imports found on Craig’s list are viable.
Cost: 2 - 4 cones $70 - $140, Scalder
$69 - $400, Plucker $400 - $750. Total cost - $539 - $1290.
Time: 6 – 10 birds/man hour.
Option 4 – Go all in
If you’ve done the homework and have a market, you know pastured poultry is the
rock star of health food and going straight up in popularity. Buy the best
equipment you can afford and expect to grow into it.
Two Hundred to Twenty Thousand Birds – Shop in GRIT!
This is the threshold that justifies purchasing a turnkey set of equipment.
Look at the suppliers in this newsletter
19 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
for the options available. At this level,
you pay back your equipment costs in one to three years. Plus the rental and
custom processing options are available to you to reduce that payback time if you
desire.
Cost - $3500 - $7500. Time 6 – 25 birds/man hour.
Over Twenty Thousand Birds – Quick Kick!
If you’re over 20,000 birds, drop back and quick kick; you’ve gone too far. Read the GRIT cover to cover and come
back to human scale farming with us.
David Schafer has raised pastured poultry since 1993 and started the
Featherman Equipment business in 1999.
20 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
21 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
DDOTSONOTSON FFARMARM
ANDAND FFEEDEED Distributors of Fertrell
Poultry Nutri-Balancer and the complete line of
Fertrell Products.
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
Fertrell
Palmetto Pigeon Plant
22 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
Success With Baby Chicks (2003) by Robert Plamondon 155
pages, $15.95
The Dollar Hen (1909) by Milo Hastings 250 pages,
$18.95
Genetics of the Fowl (1949) by F. B. Hutt. 590 pages,
$44.95
Feeding Poultry (1955) by G.F. Heuser 632 pages,
$39.95
Norton Creek Press 36475 Norton Creek Road, Blodgett OR
97326
http://www.nortoncreekpress.com
Jonathan Coulimore
Fertrell Distributor for WA, OR, ID, MT, CA,
AK, HI, BC.
Products in stock are: Original &
Organic Poultry Nutri-Balancer,
Laczyme, DE, Redmond Conditioner,
Azomite, Non-GMO Corn and
Roasted Soybeans, Fish meal and Kelp meal.
Jonathan Coulimore,
Vancouver, WA
503-209-1555 cell,
e-mail beerite@msn.com
Other products available on request.
23 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Issue # 62
Check above your address for your final issue number. If it is #62 or earlier, PLEASE RENEW TODAY!
Go to www.APPPA.org to renew or fill out the form on pg. 23 and mail it in!
APPPA GRIT! PO Box 87
Boyd, WI 54726
PRSRT STD
U S POSTAGE PAID
Eau Claire, WI
Permit #203
3 ways to get APPPA GRIT! - Producer Membership $60/yr:
Every issue of APPPA GRIT! delivered to your mailbox.
An invitation to join our exclusive, members-only online Yahoo! discussion group APPPAplus .
Members-only Web site with back issues of APPPA GRIT!, marketing brochure, and a pastured poultry nutrition guide (can request a paper copy by mail), and more.
Business/Partner Membership $200/yr:
Support the production of healthful food, sustainable family farms, and humane treatment of animals and share YOUR message with people who are interested and
ready to buy!
Membership includes all of the above, PLUS a quarter-page ad in each issue of the APPPA GRIT! and a listing on our Web site.
Subscription to GRIT! $40/yr :
If you do not use the Internet or prefer not to become members.
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