November is a busy season. Ideally our cattle go to the butcher in the fall. This maximizes weight from summer grass and minimizes winter hay costs. Meanwhile it cools down enough to run Cornish Cross meat chickens.
Then there’s plenty of barn clean out and winter prep to do. Our efficiency in winter chore time requirements has improved each year and that requires proper staging.
Early in October we completed goat meat deliveries for local customers. We ran a bit of a discount to clear freezer space for the incoming beef and chicken.
For beef, we took two steers to the butcher. One, they were the right size. Two, they were both very mooey and their time of serenading in the pasture was at an end. One was Beefy, a scrappy looking Angus type we picked up off Craigslist. His origin was with a family where each spouse thought the other wanted the cow, but neither would do much caring for him. Turns out neither wanted a cow and a sudden unemployment motivated that realization. Beefy looked cheap and was sold cheap. Then the healing power of grass, sunshine, and kelp went to work. Warts fell off, bald spots covered over and happy ears returned for his two years here. After turning his health around, he was a good investment for us and puts some very high quality beef on family tables.
The butcher did very well splitting our cuts this time. Sorting and delivery was smooth, and all meat delivered still frozen solid right into customer freezers. Happy customers, happy us, another success of grass made beef from Raising Wood.
Then it was time for the chickens.
In the spring we wanted a 22% protein blend of food and settled for a 20% protein feed, on account of availability. This fall we were able to get ahold of the 22%. I relished the thought of averaging 8lb birds. I had done the math, see, and we would process a week earlier then spring with great results
Didn’t work out that way. We started with 45 birds and ended with 25. Strange and frustrating deaths persisted throughout our the raising process. No predation, just frequent “that’s a dead chicken” moments. I am guessing the feed was too strong and many bodies didn’t maintain health with the accelerated muscle growth. Back to 20% in the spring.
We moved some work flow stations around and then dispatched the boys to bring in fresh birds.
I made a lower height kill station and brand new shiny steel cones. The birds didn’t fit in the cones, so it was right back to the buckets we made in a hurry in the spring.
We abandoned the propane water heater solution and went with this electric unit from Roots&Harvest. Vast improvement in temp consistency and reliability. Double wall tank retains heat very well and there’s no flame to quietly blow out. You drain and wash it after the last scald, then refill and reheat to seal bagged chicken. That turn around takes 2 hours, which is long. Clean this first then heat it over lunch.
Then the bird goes to the plucker. I added a foot pedal switch to the circuit. Instead of bending over to it a switch every time, just step on the foot pedal. Great ergonomics.
Sometimes you find something in the bird that just ain’t right. We just remove that whole bird from the harvest and count it as loss.
I’m sure these are always removed from the food system in a factory, every time, right?
Home brew design for air drying the birds before bagging. This was new and experimental. It solved several problems from previous generations. It collapses into a smaller shape for storage. It is thicker pvc so less wobbly posts. It has braces on the bottom of the top x beam to minimize tip risk.
After thanking our friends who joined, we put 19 chickens in the freezer. Avg weight 7lbs. $2.90/# per bird in total costs. (Chicks, feed, ice, bags) Labor was made of love so no costs I guess.
A smoked seven pound bird is good for 3 dinners and 1 gallon of stock. At one per week that covers a lot of dinners, and we get a healthy bird on the table for the family. We’ll do this again in the spring.
