Wal-Mart recently announced the addition of many "organic" foods to their stores. The buzz words surrounding America's food include "locally-grown, organic, naturally-raised, free-range, chemical-free." The average American consumes more than 85 pounds of chicken per year and many of them now want healthier, more natural foods for the table.

Enos Hoover, Sunny-Side Meadows farm, appears to have been ahead of the curve on this new craze.

Enos' poultry version of 'Home on the range.' These portable, floor-less field shelters protect the poultry from fox, hawks, eagles, and numerous other predators. A simple wooden box holds the feed, kept near the shelters for quick and easy access. A five-gallon watering system works great for the pens. A water hose fills a 100-gallon trough where pails are filled daily.

In 2002, while raising dairy cattle on his farm, Enos began searching for a way to improve the income of the dairy farm, and to see the profit returns in a more timely fashion. He read the book, You Can Farm, by Joel Salatin. After Enos finished reading this book, he read Pastured Poultry Profit$, also by Joel Salatin and his farm plans would soon change drastically. He immediately began raising broilers by the free-range method described in Pastured Poultry Profit$.

On Enos' 40-acre property (he rents an additional 20 acres for crops), he raises beef cattle, pigs, rabbits, turkeys, ducks and chickens on pasture. The cattle take down the tall grass, with weight gains up to four pounds per day. The poultry follow the cattle in pens, which he moves daily. At about eight to 10 weeks, the birds are slaughtered, processed and sold to customers. He and his family were seeking a method to work on the farm full-time, and for them, this works.

How It's Done

Enos raises his poultry-and other animals-based almost exclusively on Joel's book. When questions come up, he goes "back to the book, it's in there."

Enos buys 1,000-2,000 straight-run, day-old Cornish Cross, Comets and Buff Orpingtons from the hatchery. (He buys from Mt. Healthy Hatchery, www.mthealthy.com because it is close and he has always received healthy birds with low mortality rates.) The quantity of birds purchased is based simply on pre-orders from customers. Enos occasionally runs advertisements in the local papers, but most orders come from previous customers and word of mouth.

The Egg-mobile-a converted hay wagon-serves as the shelter for Enos' free-ranged egg layers. They get much of their diet from grass and bugs, and, according to Enos, 'may be the happiest chickens in the world.'

The chicks are kept indoors on deep litter for two to three weeks, then moved to pasture. The indoor bedding used for the chicks is the same concept as was described by Jean Nick in the sidebar article on page 43 of the Dec/Jan 07 issue. The deep litter brooder generates a low-level heat. The pack is about six inches deep. The bedding offers natural heat, so unless the spring is exceptionally cold little additional heat from brooder lighting is needed. He uses shavings, not sawdust, because the chicks will eat the sawdust and then he sees a higher mortality rate. Enos mixes his own feeds and uses the same feed from day 1 to slaughter. He offers free choice feed. Some growers state this will give the birds bad/weak legs because of the rapid growth but Enos finds that if they are free-ranged and get exercise, this does not happen.

His feed mix includes soybeans, oats, corn, sea kelp, lime, calcium, fishmeal and sand for grit. He only grinds enough feed for a week at a time, which keeps the feed fresh and free from mold and loss of vitamins.

Enos and his able assistant, son John Aaron, move the 12-15 poultry pens daily.

The chickens are caged in pens (50 birds per cage) and the cages are moved daily around the pastures. He states that when he first began this pasturing method, one of his fields had lots of thistles but after three years, the thistles gave way to lush grass with no required seeding.

The birds are offered free-range feed and water at all times, and Enos estimates the birds get about 30% of their food from the pasture.

The turkeys are let out of the cages to free range during the day, and put in the cages at night for protection. He raises about 45-50 turkeys each year, again based on pre-sold orders.

Going Forward

At the beginning of his plan, he raised only cattle and chickens. Once he had an established clientele, he began adding "value-added" products if he could find that they fit well with the current plan and didn't require much, if any, additional up-front costs. These products included rabbits, pork and beef cuts. He added deer processing this fall, and has yet to see how that will work. Since he already had all the processing equipment, this only required adding a winch to the plan.

Enos has a custom processing plant on his homestead. He is licensed for poultry and pork processing but his product is not inspected, and his packaging must say so. To be "inspected" a licensed inspector must be on site during the entire butchering process. This is not necessary for customer-direct sales. When customers come to the farm to pick up their product, he is happy to show them the entire operation, and keeps a clean, safe environment for them to see.

He also offers frozen beef and pork on-site, and finds that once a customer has tasted the pastured poultry, they are also eager to buy his other products. (Over and over again.)

One of the last (but certainly not least) steps of on-farm marketing efforts is, of course, ringing up the customer's purchases.

Enos sells his whole fryers and roasters for $1.85/pound dressed, averaging 4-5 pounds each. This compares to generally under $1.00/pound at the grocery store, and boneless, skinless breasts are $7.99/pound compared to $4.99/in-store. He gets $2.75/pound for cut up chickens, and also offers whole ducks and geese.

The prices could be-and in many areas of the country are-much higher, and does not seem to affect customers' desire to purchase natural, chemical-free meats.

As Joel Salatin states in his book, Pastured Poultry Profit$, regarding the poultry industry, "If there were an alternative-cleanly, humanely produced poultry-consumers would flock to it, no pun intended."

Enos places his focus on "local" products and strives to provide the best food he can. He finds this lifestyle gives him personal satisfaction, and his customers are very pleased. This is proven again each spring when customers flock back to his farm for more, and they bring a friend too.