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Daily Move Pen Management: Pasture
Joel Salatin is a Virginia farmer who popularized the idea of “pastured poultry” for broilers when he published
Pastured Poultry Profits in 1993. We refer to this poultry management system as the “daily move pen” model.
Since then, thousands of farmers across the country have adopted Salatin’s daily move pasture model for poultry.
This management system relies on daily movement of pens and is suitable for broilers, layers, and turkeys. Fresh
pasture encourages foraging, which, in turn, improves bird performance and feed efficiency while minimizing the
risk of pathogen and parasite build-up in the housing areas. In Salatin’s words, the system can be characterized as
“high density, short duration grazing.” Pens make it relatively easy to move the birds and provide 24-hour shelter
from predators and weather. We present an overview of the system detailed in Salatin’s Pastured Poultry Profits.
Birds: Cornish Cross broilers
Stocking density: 1,000 chickens per acre
Daily Move Pens Management Overview
Land: Level, well-seeded grass and legume mix pasture
Housing: 10 ft by 12 ft by 2 ft floorless pens
Equipment: Bell waterers, five-gallon buckets, nest material, dolly
Labor: Feeding and water daily; move pen daily
Operation: Seasonal
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ALTERNATIVES
PASTURE: DAILY MOVE PENS
Advantages: Raise large number of birds on small land base; 24-hour protection from
predators; inexpensive; builds soil fertility; easily integrated with other livestock
grazing enterprises; niche marketing opportunities
Disadvantages: More labor intensive than day-range; bird stress may increase with daily moves
and exposure to temperature extremes
Birds and Performance. Joel Salatin raises broilers and layers using the daily move pen system. He
purchases day-old chicks from a reputable hatchery. For broilers he uses the Cornish Cross, saying that, despite
their problems, the Cornish Cross birds do well with the pasture-pen model because they do not have to roam
more than 12 feet during pen movement or for fresh foraging material. All of the chicken breeds described in the
day-range pasture system should do equally well using Joel Salatin’s daily move pens.
Pasture. By “fencing the birds, not the pasture” and moving pens daily, Salatin raises up to 1,000 chickens on
one acre of pasture. If you are just establishing pastures, your first consideration should be topography. The
daily move model relies on moving shelters daily. You won’t want to haul shelters over rolling hills nor will you
want your birds sitting in low lying, damp areas. Design pastures so that they have an eight-week resting period
or longer for chickens and at least a two-year resting period when pasturing turkeys. Coccidia can survive eight
weeks in the field and other pathogens can survive longer (Manitoba Agriculture and Food, 2002).
In response to criticism that daily pen movement is too labor intensive, Salatin claims “you simply cannot get
the level of health and forage utilization without the [daily move] pen.” He recommends maintaining pasture
grasses at a height of 2 to 4 inches. He suggests mowing ahead of the pens or, preferably, introducing other
grazing animals ahead of the flock to achieve the desired pasture height. It is not necessary to allow a rest period
between livestock grazing and the flock—there should be enough good forage left over for the birds.
Housing. Salatin designed three pasture housing alternatives to accommodate brooders, broilers, and layer hens.
The brooder house is a semi-permanent structure, while the broiler pens and layer pens are both designed for
daily movement. Salatin constructs all of his huts and pens with simple, inexpensive materials: pressure-treated
lumber, aluminum (corrugated) roofing, plywood, and chicken mesh/wire. The descriptions below are what we
call “classic” Salatin-style housing and come directly from his book: Pastured Poultry Profits. See the book for
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MANAGEMENT
ALTERNATIVES