We often get the question as to why our chicken costs more than other chicken if we're raising them "As Nature Intended", which should be basically free, because they're essentially wild at that point. I can see the logic but I will do my best to explain how we're not the world's richest farmers... To set the framework for this short blog, I will just say that we are doing things that others won't or can't and there is a reason they won't or can't... it's hard. So lets jump right in. The Farming Peeling back the layers on where the significant cost lies really tells a sobering story of just how far our food system and landscapes have shifted away from "As Nature Intended". What do I mean by that you ask? The cost of producing feed that is 100% non-GMO, 100% free of glyphosate, is exhorbinate because nearly everything, everywhere is contaminated with chemicals... fields, yards, road ditches, golf courses, football fields, gardens, you name it, it's been sprayed with something. Sourcing 100% non-GMO seed takes some extra energy but then getting that crop to pass a glyphosate test at the end of the season is a whole other layer no one else is talking about, because almost all feed has traces of glyphosate from "drift" (the process of chemicals being carried by wind currents onto neighboring lands) or cross contamination at the mill. To combat drift, you have to create a chemical-free zone. The problem is, chemical drift can impact acres miles away so the sanctuary needs to be a relatively significant land mass of tens of thousands of acres or more. The mill also needs to be obsessive about cleaning equipment between batches or deem their facility chem-free entirely to avoid any potential cross contamination. Another factor in our feed cost is the kind of ingredients we use. Soy & corn are the top 2 ingredients in traditional animal feeds for a reason; they're readily available across the country, provide high amounts of protein and energy which are the 2 main components as it relates to animal feed, both crops have highly advanced engineering for massive yields, and they're cheap. Finding clean, natural alternatives to those feed ingredients is challenging to say the least but even when we find a good alternative, growing the crop is more costly and the yield is much less per acre. The process of sourcing seed, raising, and harvesting the crop is costly but then layering on these other factors that require significant steps of intentionality compound the cost involved in producing our 100% non-GMO, soy & corn free, glyphosate-tested feed supplements. The Feeding CAFO chickens grow fast. They're essentially on "steroids". Our chickens grow much slower and take 50-65% longer to get to butcher weight. That's a lot more days eating a lot more expensive feed. Yes, they live on pasture consuming bugs, clovers, and all the sunlight they can get but land is anything but free these days. Acres aren't cheap. And speaking of acres, we debunked an old wives tale this past year; we decided to open up our poultry pens even further to give each bird more room (we're now more than double the recommended space per bird). The wives tale is tightening up the pen gives them less room to run around burning too many calories and looking like a roadrunner at the end than a nice meaty chicken. Well, the opposite happened and they actually increased in average weight at harvest rather than shrinking and had even healthier looking skeletal structure and organs upon harvest. So maybe there's something healthy about exercise?? Imagine that!! That said, that doubles the land requirements per chicken. We also move our poultry pens daily... that means our watering travel route and facilities increase by double. It also exposes them to more predatory risk the farther they get away from home. And the foxes, racoons, an eagles don't pay us for their meals unfortunately. We also don't have automated feeding and watering systems like in a CAFO barn where people don't even go do chores but instead check a camera and some metrics on a graph from an office and then are shipped out by automated sweep systems and conveyor belts for slaughter. We have families feeding, watering, caring for and interacting with these birds every single day. The Payoff All this cost adds up but the payoff is the healthiest chickens on the planet, for the planet. Period. And as I said at the top, we're not the richest farmers on the planet but we love what we do and find a way to make sure we make enough to support our families, keep our farms, and raise more chickens again next year. The extenuating, non-cash impacts of our "As Nature Intended" raising practices are also massive... The health of the watershed, the wildlife, a people community built on honest, hard work done with pride and integrity. All of this from choosing to raise some chickens differently. |
