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MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES 92 Poultry Your Way MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES Explore Your Alternatives Every system has its advantages and disadvantages. What works well for your neighbor may not be the best choice for you and your family. Similarly, you may find that a combination of the systems described above may work best. It’s not uncommon to start out using one management alternative and modify along the way. In the real world, no management system is pure (see Farm Profile: Returning Chickens to the Range). Your decision about which management system or combination of systems to employ will depend on your proximity to markets and processors; buyer preferences for how meat/eggs are produced; market competitors; other enterprises; management and marketing skills; available physical resources; financial opportunities; and of course, your goals. The best way to learn more about a particular management system is to visit an operating farm. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Do a little reading and research on your own. Last, but not least, crunch some numbers to explore capital investments and annual expenses for the alternative(s) you’re considering. Contact the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems for a copy of the Generic Poultry Enterprise Budget. Use this worksheet to begin estimating your projected sales revenue, variable costs such as feed and birds, fixed costs for buildings and equipment, and labor and management costs. From there, you’re ready to calculate net income from your poultry enterprise. And remember, your enterprise budget is only as good as the numbers you put into it. Make phone calls to hatcheries, feed mills, and other suppliers to obtain accurate expenses estimates. Several contacts are listed in Resources under Feed and Diet, Hatcheries, and Suppliers.
FARM PROFILE • Pasture and Market Transition Returning Chickens to the Range Despite not being raised on a farm, Mike Hansen feels he was born to be a full-time farmer. When he met his future wife, Debra, a dairy farmer’s daughter, it was love at first sight. “I became absolutely infatuated with farming,” Mike describes. The day after returning from their honeymoon in 1985, Mike was digging in the dirt of Debra’s family farm. But it has taken a long time for Mike to fulfill his destiny. For 14 years he worked office jobs while operating market gardens, raising chickens, and tending livestock on the side. In 1995 Mike and Debra purchased 76 acres in central Wisconsin, which they certified for organic production in 1998. They launched “Gifts From the Good Earth,” which offers organic, pastured poultry, beef, and pork finished on intensively managed pastures. In 2002 they raised 4,600 broiler chickens, selling them through restaurants, groceries, on-farm purchases, and Internet orders, even as both Mike and Debra worked off the farm while raising three children. Farming and working full time got to be too much for Mike, so the Hansens cut back to 1,200 chickens for 2003. But Mike wasn’t giving up his dream. He decided to scale back to half time at his county rural planning job, and quit altogether late in the year. “It just got to the point where we knew I had to do it, because this really is our dream,” Mike said. In 2004 the Hansens aimed to grow and sell at least 4,000 organic, dressed chickens, along with 25 head of grass-fed beef and smaller numbers of turkeys and hogs. For the chickens Mike is developing brooder and pasture-growing systems that he believes can allow one person working half time to produce up to 20,000 birds annually. Even more important, Mike said, is the enterprise’s effort to refine its marketing system to sell those birds to customers far removed from their isolated farm. Starting chicks The Hansens buy day-old, Cornish Cross chicks from a commercial hatchery starting no earlier than May 1. Mike converted a portion of an old dairy barn into a brooding pen capable of starting 1,200 chicks. The 12 ft by 30 ft area is bounded by wire hog panels covered with chicken wire. The pen is topped by netting to prevent sparrows and barn swallows from entering. Mike leaves the barn doors open during warm weather to allow for ventilation, but hangs lightweight cloth over the outer sides of the brooding area to control air movement through the pen and prevent the chicks from being startled when a barn cat walks by. The concrete floor is bedded with pine shavings. Mike and Debra Hansen, Gifts From the Good Earth Farm Milladore, Wisconsin Day-old chicks gather under LP-fired brooders and drink from elevated water lines in a brooding room. For the new chicks, a portion of the pen is heated to above 90 degrees F by an LP gas-fired brooder. Temperature levels are decreased as the birds grow. They eat a starter ration from hand-filled, hanging feeders, and water is 93 MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES
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A Guide to Management Alternatives
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In memory of Ron Desens and Tom Gut
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WHAT THIS GUIDE WILL HELP YOU DO
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2 Day-range chickens on pasture. Po
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TAKE STOCK 4 People (describe skill
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TAKE STOCK 6 Poultry Your Way TAKE
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OVERVIEW 8 Figure 1: Comparison of
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OVERVIEW 10 Waterfowl, particularly
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OVERVIEW 12 Commercial performance
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OVERVIEW 14 FARM PROFILE • Altern
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16 Poultry Your Way
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MARKETING ALTERNATIVES 18 Poultry Y
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MARKETING ALTERNATIVES 22 Figure 10
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PROCESSING ALTERNATIVES 28 Poultry
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MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES 38 BROODING
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MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES 40 Poultry
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