Pastured Poultry
Pastured Poultry is a production system that employs raising chickens directly on pasture. This model has been developed over the last twenty years and allows the birds to receive up to 20% of their feed intake from pasture forage which includes: grass, legumes, hay, bugs, worms, and grit. The birds are moved regularly to fresh pasture. This allows the birds to be raised in a cleaner, healthier environment.
Why Raise Pastured Poultry?
People have been raising poultry on pasture for centuries. In fact most domesticated poultry was raised out doors until the 1950s when large confinement operations were begun. With vertical integration of both meat and egg production by large corporations in recent years, the vast majority of poultry is now produced in huge factory confinement farms. By huge, we mean 8,000 to 15,000 birds per barn and 5-10 barns per property. That’s 250,000 birds per property. Eeeeooowww! That’s a lot of chicken!
Many farmers and consumers question whether health, safety and humane treatment of both farmer and animals have been compromised in these large operations.
A number of growers have chosen to raise their poultry using elements of traditional systems, combining outdoor movable shelters and utilizing range, to produce a high quality, farm-fresh, all natural product.
The pastured poultry movement has found great support among consumers for these high quality products. Producers continue to see a growing demand for pasture raised poultry and eggs.
Free Range verses Pastured ..all these terms..what is right for me?
Here’s the break down of terms used for poultry and eggs.
Organic: chickens are fed certified organic feed. May or may not be processed organically. Check label.
Vegetarian fed hens: Hens that are fed strictly vegetarian feed. These birds cannot go outside since foraging for “bugs” is not considered a vegetarian diet.
Cage-free: housed in large poultry barns of 3,000 or more on open floor.
“Free range” by definition means only that the animals have access to the outside. Poultry can “free range” on sand, dirt or even concrete!
Pastured Poultry: Pastured poultry are housed and/or ranged on pasture, with grass, legumes and insects comprising a significant portion of their diet. They may or may not be organic. Read label.
Day Range Pastured Poultry: Chickens are free to range outside in large rotating fenced pasture during daytime and housed inside a permanent or semi-permanent coop at night, with an open floor (no cages).
Pasture Pens: Chickens are housed in outdoor moveable shelters. The pens have no floors, so the birds live right on the ground. The pens have covers at one end so the chickens have refuge from the hot sun or rain.
Day Range Layers
We use a Day Range pasture poultry model for our laying hens. “Day Range” means the chickens are fenced in rotating pastures and sleep and nest in a permanent or semi-permanent (moveable) structure. We rotate pastures regularly, but not daily, like we do with pastured pens, since the fenced paddock covers a much larger area than a pasture pen.
We fence our chickens for their protection. Fencing keeps our chickens safe from predators such as hawks, fox, raccoons, dogs, weasels and other predatory animals. Fencing them in also encourages them to forage in just one area, as opposed to free ranging in my flowerbeds. We allow for the hens to use up half of the green pasture in the paddock, and then we rotate the poultry netting to a new area. Fencing also keeps the chicken from crossing the road!
Pasture Pens for Broilers
We use outdoor moveable shelters or pens for raising our broilers. The shelters have an open bottom and sit directly on the pasture. The pen is moved to a new location daily as the birds grow. The chickens eat pasture grasses and bugs, get plenty of sunshine, fresh air, clean water and the opportunity to forage naturally.
All of our chickens are fed chemical-free feed milled here in Mt. Gilead. Most of the feed ingredients are locally grown and we control the feed recipe. Along with wholesome feed and pasture, our chickens are raised under the most humane conditions. We never use drugs, hormones, or chemicals. Our chickens go outside every day, weather and age permitting, and forage for bugs, eat grass and absorb plenty of sunshine and fresh air. This, coupled with daily exercise, substantially increases the nutritional value of the poultry, particularly in Omega-3 Fatty Acids and in Vitamin A, with a significant reduction of total fat content. Best of all, these chickens have excellent texture and taste. Those who say that anything without much flavor “tastes sort of like chicken” have forgotten what real chicken tastes like.
The Benefits of Pastured Poultry
Why Eat Pastured Poultry?
Research shows that pastured poultry eggs are better than eggs laid by confined hens:
- Pastured eggs contain 20 times more omega-3 fatty acids with a ratio of 1 to 1 omega-6 to omega-3. Factory eggs have a top heavy ratio of 20 to 1.
(Ref: New England Journal of Medicine -1989) - Pastured eggs have 10% less fat, 40% more vitamin A, 400% more omega-3 fatty acids. *
- Pastured eggs have 34% less cholesterol. *
- Pastured eggs produce positive HDL or good cholesterol and lowers “bad” triglycerides.
- Pastured poultry have 21% less total fat, 30% less saturated fat, and 28% fewer calories vs. conventionally raised. Meat has 50% more vitamin A and 100% more omega3s. *
(Ref: Nutrition -1993) * (ref: USDA Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education Program).
Egg yolks are the richest known source of lutein and zeaxanthin, essential vitamins not found in your multi-vitamin tablet.
Eggs are gaining new respect from nutritionists, partly for their abundance of two carotenes — lutein and zeaxanthin. These antioxidant vitamins are essential for the protection of the macula, an area of the retina that provides our best central vision. Eggs are the richest known source. “Macular degeneration,” the term for damage to this area of the retina, is the leading cause of blindness in people over 55 years of age. Lutein and zeaxanthin protect the macula from the destructive effects of light. The deeper the yellow-orange color of yolks, the more lutein and zeaxanthin they contain and the more eye-protection they offer.
There is also new evidence linking lutein and zeaxanthin with a lower risk of colon cancer. According to a recent study, “Of all the carotenoids investigated, only lutein and zeaxanthin showed a protective effect against colon cancer, with an enhanced effect in younger people.”
(Slattery, M. L., Benson, J., Curtin, K., Ma, K. N., Schaeffer, D., and Potter, J. D. (2000). Am J Clin Nutr 71, 575-82.)
Eggs from pastured layers are higher in omega-3 fatty acids and
vitamin E.
In a recent study, one group of chickens was confined indoors (the conventional system) and another was allowed to free-range. Both groups were fed the same commercial mixed diet. The chickens that were able to add grass to the menu produced eggs that that were higher in omega-3s and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E.) Both omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E have been linked with lower rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease in humans.
(Lopez-Bote et al, “Effect of free-range feeding on omega-3 fatty acids and alpha-tocopherol content and oxidative stability of eggs.” Animal Feed Science and Technology, 1998. 72:33-40.)
