Newly Revised Profitable Poultry: Raising Birds on Pasture Now Available

Published on by andrew.bernhardt
Melissa, Linnea, Jason and Annabelle Fischbach (left to right).

The Fischbachs of Ashland, Wis., like the small scale and minimum requirements of pastured poultry. Photo: Beth Probst

Jason and Melissa Fischbach have discovered good value in raising pastured poultry on their Ashland, Wis., farm. “There’s a good profit margin raising chickens and turkeys on grass,” says Jason, who earns between $2 and $6 per bird, “as long as you know your inputs, get your prices right and keep your mortalities low.”

Their small-scale operation is viable in large part because they do purchasing, processing and marketing through a cooperative with two other small-scale farmers. Plus, the Fischbachs are happy with poultry because it is safer for their young children to be around them than larger animals.

To help farmers interested in pastured poultry learn more about these important considerations – pasturing systems, animal health, cooperative marketing, quality of life concerns and much more – SARE is pleased to present the newly revised, Profitable Poultry: Raising Birds on Pasture.

Profitable Poultry, originally published in 2006 and updated in 2012, combines farmer experiences and the latest research to serve as a comprehensive primer on pastured-poultry systems. Download the bulletin now.

The 16-page bulletin has been updated to include more information about the increasing variety of popular alternative poultry systems. Along with the original Salatin-style moveable pen, farmers are now taking advantage of other systems that help meet their needs and resources, including day range, free range and chicken tractor systems.

“The more uses you can get out of your flocks, the more profitable they become,” says Terrell Spencer, a Nebraska pastured-poultry farmer and sustainable poultry specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology.

Also updated is the list of additional resources on page 16, which now includes many new resources on poultry processing and budgeting.

Profitable Poultry is available as a free PDF download; hard copies are also free (shipping and handling costs may apply for rush orders) and can be ordered either online or by calling (301) 374-9696. To learn more about ordering publications, visit the SARE WebStore.