My Trip To California
Most people just looked at me with a confused expression when I said I’m traveling to the very northern tip of California to learn about chickens for 2 days. First of all how could you possibly talk about chickens for 2 whole days and second of all (Kelsey) haven’t you been raising chickens since you were a little kid, what more do you have to learn about them? The answer: You would be amazed at how engaging the conversations were and how many profound lessons I learned! I realize that not everyone is able to take 5 days away from the farm to go to an event like this so here’s my recap of what happened…
Let me paint a picture of how remote this place is because most people when they think of California think about people everywhere. If you fly into San Francisco and rent a car you are in for a 7 hour drive North, through rolling hills and valleys full of vineyards and wineries, passing sections of ancient Redwood trees that are so huge you really cannot fathom until you see them in person, through Elk valley where the herds of Elk are ruminating by the side of the road and bulls with 6 ft antlers are fighting for territory. Even though it’s a slower drive its worth hopping over to highway 1 for part of the trip where the road is nearly falling off the hillside directly into the ocean 100 feet or so below. This coastline is remote and ancient, with massive rock outcroppings standing like giants bracing themselves against the ceaseless wrath of the Pacific Ocean. This is not a beach where you find the usual sunbathers relaxing for hours, it is rocky and windy and incredibly beautiful. The only humans out braving the icy water were surfers cloaked in wetsuits looking like seals out in the foamy waves. Finally make it to the sleepy coastal town of Crescent City and your almost there, Alexandre Family Farm is located just north of the redwoods, right on the coast benefiting from the unique climate that the sea and the ancient forest have created, lots of rain in the winter months and a heavy fog coming in almost every day in the summer. They are mostly surrounded by the sea and by seemingly endless forests, this is not an agricultural area so their lush green pastures with cattle and chickens as far as the eye can see is very unique to the region.
So why did I travel all this way, thousands of miles from my home? Because I am on a mission to grow our farm business into something that is truly sustainable and profitable for generations to come and Alexandre Family Farm is a model of what is possible. They have multiple family members from multiple generations working together to produce eggs and dairy products on a scale significantly larger than any other truly regenerative operation that I am aware of. There are plenty of greenwashed brands out there who claim all the same things (pasture raised, Organic, Grass fed etc.) but Alexandre is the real deal, in fact in many ways they are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the world of regenerative ag. The Alexandre brand has been so successful that they have been able to grow each year and purchase more farmland in the area, creating over 150 jobs and healing thousands of acres of conventional farmland. I have visited several operations at this scale and been disappointed when I arrived because often times as an operation gets larger they end up going down the same path that the industrial farms went down…producing more food more efficiently so they can compete financially with the other major food producers, this path leads to making seemingly good financial decisions that have extremely negative consequences in regards to environmental sustainability and quality of life for the livestock and the farmers. To be honest the only other operation I have visited that compares in scale and in moral integrity is White Oak Pastures in Georgia. I went specifically to attend a Pasture Poultry seminar hosted at the farm, so that was the focus of the 2 days spent at Alexandre, learning everything about their production methods and business management. Below I have detailed the lessons that stuck with me that I am now adapting and implementing on our own farm.
Lessons I learned at Alexandre Family Farm:
Pasture Flock management:
· Smaller paddocks, more frequent moves, twice weekly (better quality pasture, less disease, more bugs, quicker regrowth so more forage for grazing animals). We have been using a large 8+ net area for about the same flock size 2k-2.5k birds and moving the coops forward once per week inside the area, moving netting every other week. Now we switched to Alexandre’s model of 4 net square moving 2 times per week (this does add some labor on our operation, but I think it will pay for itself in pasture quality and chicken health/foraging ability). This means the chickens are in one particular patch of pasture for only 3 days which means fresh pasture and bugs every 3 days, less impact on pasture and more regrowth time, allowing us to graze more animals on the same land. (Moving every other day or every day would be even better, but labor is the main factor holding me back)
· Spread waters farther apart, water in shade, clean waters every day. Jeff Mattocks stressed the importance of plenty of access to clean water in the shade, pointing out that water is even more important to feed for a chicken…4 hours with no water will completely shut down a birds production cycle. I had one central watering point where the birds would come to water but now have split up these open waters purchasing some houses so now have at least one water tub by each of the coops in the pasture, also we switched from cleaning water tubs when visibly dirty to cleaning them every single day, which has eliminated any issues with dirty water.
· More cover from sun and rain is always better, ideally 2 sq ft of cover per bird…happy chickens lay more eggs. I think most pastured systems don’t have anywhere near this, including our operation, but cover is expensive, I think the best solution is planting more trees, tree shade is cheap and is far more cooling than man made shade!
· Act quick when disease is detected and always do chores youngest to oldest. Keep in mind when you send samples out if AI is detected all the chickens on your farm will be killed…talk to other vets and farmers to try to diagnose before you send off samples.
· If you grab an electric fence it wont shock you…it only shock when you rub up against it…I’m still too scared to try it though, haha. APPAA has a Youtube up showing this explanation and demonstration.
· Adjust the lighting to just be in the morning rather than split between evening and morning? This is something Jeff recommended; I have not switched our lighting schedule to this yet.
· If restricting feed ideal is 40% in morning 60% in evening. This is more advice from Jeff but is not really practical for us…we feed by hand and the work crew is out in the mornings so that’s when we feed most, then we top off in afternoon. Once I have an automated feed system might be able to shift this a bit.
· Stress reducing electrolyte formula for new pullets/ heat waves etc: 2 oz vinegar, 1 oz molasses, 1 tbsp. ginger, 1 tsp. salt per gallon of water. I plan to do this for the next batch of pullets that we have coming.
· Brooding at scale: honestly this intimidates the hell out of me more than any other aspect of scaling up the egg business. For right now I will keep buying pullets but eventually we probably need to move in this direction, particularly because we are going Organic and its hard to find Organic pullets. Will take investing in a good facility that is secure from rodents, automated feed and water system, has plenty of space (1+ sq ft per bird), has proper ventilation system. Brooder needs a dedicated person checking multiple time per day who is paying very close attention to health of birds.
Record Keeping:
· Clip board management you can’t manage what you can’t see!!! Create clipboard for everything you want to track…food safety records, flock records, egg production, mortality, feed conversion, inventory. We currently have daily clipboards for: egg counts from each flock, mortality and updated flock numbers, amount to feed, chore checklists, egg sales, lay rate, and food safety stuff like cooler temps SE testing, rodent control etc. * keep in mind that the only valuable records are the things that you actually make management decisions from…tracking numbers but not using them to improve your business is just a waste of time.*
· Quarterly reports imputed into computer…tracks weekly numbers (13 weeks is a quarter so everything can be divided by 13 to get weekly numbers). Quarterly inventory of cartons, flats, boxes, tape. Average price per dozen sold/average cost per dozen produced.
· Focus on what matters! Weekly Eggs, weekly feed and feed price, eggs sold per pound of feed, labor per week, egg inventory, gross margin. Dollars earned per week trumps all other record keeping! If your not consistently making a profit, you wont have a business to track for very long.
Business management/ marketing philosophy:
· People deserve to pay more to get more…it’s a human right! To have the opportunity to purchase food that has wholesome nutrition, tastes better, is better for the planet, does not exploit other humans or animals in order to produce more food cheaper. The right to purchase products that have a positive impact on the world that we don’t have to feel guilty about.
· Marketing strategy: 1. Price signals quality. 2. The Table; once you bring it home, does it taste good, does it make you feel good (nutrition). 3. The Story; how is this unique? Why does it matter?
· Charge what you need to cover all the costs including feeding wildlife! And customers will recognize that your high price means that you have high standards once they come visit and learn more about your operation. Regenerative farmers are not just producing food for humans, we are feeding the life in the soil, feeding wildlife above the soil, diverting rainfall from running off and creating flooding, capturing carbon out of the atmosphere and sinking it into the soil.
· Don’t overproduce and then have to sell at discount, try to always slightly under produce for the market demand, scarcity creates more demand and flooding the market decreases demand! If your producing more eggs than there is demand, cull immediately, you can always build supply back up meanwhile demand will be strong. *read this again!! Its important and its against your natural inclination to produce more more more and hope that someone buys it!*
· Never compromise on values especially as you scale, this will set you apart from the competition. Alexandre is a prime example of how this is possible…so many operations I have visited that have scaled up start cutting corners and going more to chicken house wheel and spoke model and convincing themselves that is just as good, but it’s not.
· Educate your customers about your practices and the health benefits, by all of us doing this together we create a rising tide that helps us all out!
· Track everything and pay attention to what really matters most; Dollars Spent and Dollars Earned!
· Packaging and advertising don’t need a bunch of fancy graphic design it needs to be direct and authentic. The hook to catch new customers attention needs to be on the front flap, that’s what they see on the shelf.
· Recipe for success: FOCUS, creating a vision/goals, dedication to that vision/goals no matter the hardships, ability to adapt quickly and being prepared to make tough decisions on the spot, sticking to your core values and production philosophy even when it might make more money to cut corners, eliminate all distractions that are blurring your FOCUS!
If you are a poultry farmer let me know if any of this information was helpful!
-Kelsey