Originally, Trevor and I were planning to celebrate our 10-year anniversary in Las Vegas, but instead decided to take a short trip to Virginia and attend the 2014 Polyface Farms Field Day. Polyface Farms, a multi-generational farm run by the Salatin family, is a self-described "non-industrial food production oasis" that is known for its holistic animal husbandry practices and its use of perennial polycultures. Polyface Farms has been featured in documentaries such as Food, Inc., Farmageddon, and Fresh, the Movie. Joel Salatin has written nine books including The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer and Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World.
We arrived at the farm at 6:30 a.m. prepared for a long day of touring and workshops. Since none of the scheduled activities took place until 8:00 we had some time to wander around the farm and peek at the buildings, gardens, and animals. It took me all of 30 seconds to get cow poo smeared on my leg.
We arrived at the farm at 6:30 a.m. prepared for a long day of touring and workshops. Since none of the scheduled activities took place until 8:00 we had some time to wander around the farm and peek at the buildings, gardens, and animals. It took me all of 30 seconds to get cow poo smeared on my leg.
At 8:00 a.m. we started the walking tour with Joel Salatin and about 900 other guests.
First we visited the pastured broiler shelters. These shelters are also currently housing pullets that just started laying eggs and will soon be replacing old layers in the Eggmobile.
First we visited the pastured broiler shelters. These shelters are also currently housing pullets that just started laying eggs and will soon be replacing old layers in the Eggmobile.
We have studied extensively the Polyface model of raising pastured poultry and were already very familiar with this operation, though it was interesting to witness the perfectly staggered pattern of all the shelters on pasture. We currently have one shelter that is nearly identical to those shown here, only 60% the size.
One helpful bit of information we gathered is that these shelters are held together by a wire that runs across the ground, halfway through the length of the shelter connecting the two sides. We use a 2'x2' for this same purpose but have had problems getting chicks stuck under the 2'x2' when we are trying to move the shelter. The wire also has the added benefit of cutting down on the overall weight of the structure.
The next stop on the walking tour was a scenic 15-minute hike across a walking bridge and up the hill to visit the cattle. The cattle are contained by 2 strands of electric wire in a long, narrow paddock. They are moved to a new paddock every day. It sounds like a fairly simple operation of moving the stakes, running the wires, moving the basic shade structure, and calling over the cattle (who are eager to move to a fresh "salad bar").
Joel Salatin considers himself to be a grass farmer. His goal at Polyface is to properly manage the pasture by introducing cattle to pasture when the length of the grass is in its "teenage" stage--not too short and not too long, and where grazing results in rapid regrowth. The paddock size should be just right so as to graze every bit of pasture once. If there are lots of areas that are left ungrazed, the paddock size is too large, and if there are areas that are grazed a second time and are too short, then the area is too small.
Joel Salatin considers himself to be a grass farmer. His goal at Polyface is to properly manage the pasture by introducing cattle to pasture when the length of the grass is in its "teenage" stage--not too short and not too long, and where grazing results in rapid regrowth. The paddock size should be just right so as to graze every bit of pasture once. If there are lots of areas that are left ungrazed, the paddock size is too large, and if there are areas that are grazed a second time and are too short, then the area is too small.
The "Eggmobile" always follows behind the cattle. Layers in this system are free-ranging birds that earn their keep on the farm by working as the pasture sanitation crew. They scratch out the cow patties to help even out the manure load on the pasture and they gobble up bugs, worms, and fly larvae (maggots). The Eggmobile is always three days behind the cattle specifically because fly larvae turn into flies in four days. Eggs from these birds are just a bonus.
For some reason it just really tickled me to watch the free-ranging layers out amongst us, scratching for bugs and totally oblivious to the 900 people standing around.
The Millennium Feathernet is a large structure at Polyface that houses chicken layers whose purpose is to produce eggs. The large structure is surrounded by a very large electric poultry net and the entire paddock is moved every three days. We use a scaled-down version of this same model for our layers.
Next, we visited the turkeys on pasture, which are raised in a similar system as the chicken layers. They have a very simple shelter for roosting and an electric poultry net for "free-ranging" that is moved every few days. We learned that turkeys are very sensitive and prone to illness and death while in the brooder during the first several weeks of life, but after seven weeks of age they are hardy birds that can tolerate a wide range of weather conditions on pasture.
Right next to the turkeys is the simple barn that houses cows in the winter and pigs in the spring. The barn is completely open on one side and has many open areas to allow great ventilation for the animals. The cattle are fed hay in the harshest winter months and are kept on a deep straw bedding. As the cattle add manure, more layers of straw and corn are added to the bedding. The deep carbon bedding keeps the cattle dry and healthy, and the corn slowly ferments in the anaerobic bedding. As soon as the cattle are put out to pasture in the spring, pigs are moved in. They root through the bedding digging for the fermented corn, aerating the litter in the process. The bedding is then turned into a nice compost which increases the farm's fertility. Polyface originally acquired pigs with the intention of using their "pigaerator" qualities. Pork was just a delicious bonus.
Pigs are also kept in wooded paddocks and are rotated every 5-10 days. In order to consistently monitor the amount of animal pressure on this land, the determination of when to move the pigs is simply based on when their feeder runs out.
As the pigs have rooted around in the paddocks they have cleared areas in the previously-forested land, which has naturally filled in with grasses, herbs, and weeds. Joel Salatin referred to this area as a pig savannah. What really impressed us was the complete lack of pig smell; it was a beautiful area that had no odor whatsoever.
As the pigs have rooted around in the paddocks they have cleared areas in the previously-forested land, which has naturally filled in with grasses, herbs, and weeds. Joel Salatin referred to this area as a pig savannah. What really impressed us was the complete lack of pig smell; it was a beautiful area that had no odor whatsoever.
The tour ended right before lunch. The rest of our day spent at the Polyface Farms Field Day will be included in Part 2.
- Diana
- Diana
