An Acre A Day, A Farm Blog
Matt Furbee, Food Raised Right

The chicken tractors are out in the pasture!!

What? You don’t know what a chicken tractor is? A chicken tractor is a way of raising chickens outside, in open air and on pasture. It allows the birds to do what birds naturally do, eat grass and scavenge for bugs. An as a bonus they’ll drop their droppings on the ground where it will fertilize the soil and make the grass grow stronger.  That, in turn, will make more bugs and worms want to live there…and the chickens can then eat them next year.  So as Walt Disney would put it you have the circle of life – Hakuna Matata.

These birds will be moved daily (the whole pen moves, hence the name “tractor”) so that they can browse and decide what they nibble on and they do not have to stand in their own droppings. They will also have a natural free choice feed available to them with protein, vitamins and minerals. 

Now many of you may be saying that you buy “free range” chicken. If you don’t want me to burst your bobble stop reading now… anyone left? Good, for those of you still here let me explain what that really means. When chicken is labeled as free range it simply had to have access to the outside for the last two weeks of its life. So, in these large factory farms where they raise hundreds of thousands of birds in confinement they simply open a small door in one end of the barn. Most of the birds probably never go out the door, not even once (a great book that covers this topic is “The Third Plate” by Dan Barber). In fact, I’d bet the most fresh air these birds get, is on the ride to the factory processor (but that’s a topic for another blog).

And now if you are asking yourself, “How do I get my hands on such a well raised, delicious and nutritious chicken to feed my family?” Then you are in luck my friend. The first batch of the year will be ready on June 3rd. Reserve yours today, the 4-5 lb (purchase/carcass weight) whole chickens will be $16 each. Pickup will be the evening of June 3rd on the farm where you can also chose from our offering of beef, lamb (when available), eggs and honey. While here please stay for a little while so you can see how all our animals are raised and cared for. #foodraisedright