I wish I had a drone this week. The cattle have moved into the field where the chickens are making their rounds. It is difficult to capture in a picture, but you can see above that the cattle are all standing in an unnaturally straight line. There’s not shade right there, so what could it be?
Cattle tend to spread out, and rarely form any sort of linear formation, but there is one thing that really catches their attention: the tasty dark green grass that grows back after the chickens peck, scrounge and leave their manure behind. The chicken coops move in a fairly straight line, since we drag them forward each day with a tractor, and my human mind has been trained to make straight lines, but that is another story. It takes about 3-4 weeks and some rain, but the grass that grows back is dark green, and bursting with the abundant fertility and nutrients left behind by the chickens.
Most chicken raised in this country, and the whole world for that matter, are raised in a barn. Chicken manure is very potent stuff, there is volatile nitrogen in the form of ammonia as well as methane and readily available phosphorous and especially potassium. The crazy thing is these compounds, which are just the leftovers from hungry chickens, can either be great fertility on our pastures, or a hazardous pollution source building up in a barn. Even with Organic Chicken found in the grocery store, the barns fill with the same pollution source. For us the solution is clear: integrate the chickens into our pasture rotation and turn a potential pollutant into a great source of fertility, instantly applied, all while raising happy, healthy Organic Chickens.
Reber Rock Farm is Hiring!
Interested in learning more about how we produce our Pasture Raised Organic (PRO) chicken? We’re hiring starting right away! Learn how we move the chickens every day, even learn how we use our working dog to “herd” the chickens. Help us catch and move chicks to the field and more. Check out the job description here.
Pay starts at $16/hr. No experience necessary
Requirements:
- Must be able to carry 30 lb buckets of feed.
- Experience driving vehicles is a plus, we can teach you how to drive the tractor.
- A willingness to learn and maintain curiosity on a daily basis.
Interested? Get in touch with me:
Nathan Henderson
nathan@reberrockfarm.com
c. 518-573-8713
Reber Rock Farm Blog 