Pastured Poultry

In a nutshell pastured poultry are given access to fresh grass on a farm pasture on a daily basis in addition to a normal feed supplement and fresh water. The taste of pastured poultry is much better than poultry raised in a factory farm.

Free range poultry is simply defined as giving the birds access to an outside area. In a true free range system the poultry return nutrients to the pasture area and one can clearly see the green grass where the poultry have been raised. There are several methods of production that are normally considered "free range".

In a minimal situation the door to the barn is simply opened to allow the poultry to go outside for a short period of time. This definition, although only minimal, meets a standard for "free range" and allows the producer to label his poultry as "free range". Other methods of raising pastured poultry are as follows:

Complete free range: In this method the birds are just turned loose on pasture and fed a supplement of feed and water. This method is seldom used except for a small back yard flocks for personal use. It does not allow for the safety of the birds from weather or natural predators. Pens may or may not be provided for the birds to roost at night.

Salitan method: This was developed by a Virginia farmer named Joel Salitan and is perhaps one of the most common methods of raising pastured poultry. The birds are placed in pens of various sizes with feed and water. They are on pasture and the pens are moved at least on a daily basis to fresh grass.

Day range: In this method the birds are released from a pen in the morning and returned to the pen for safety at night. The door will normally be left open to allow the birds to flee to safety in the event of bad weather. Pens are of various shapes and size and may be moved to allow rotation of pastures. Portable electric fencing may be used to rotate pasture areas and to protect the birds from predators.

At Promised Land Farm, we prefer the day range method. Our specialty is free range pastured turkeys for Thanksgiving. We have our turkeys in the pasture as soon as they are strong enough to survive we get the turkeys in as day old polts and raise them throughout the summer until Thanksgiving when they are sold fresh on the farm the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Our customers have returned each year to purchase what they have called "the best turkey they have ever had".

Our turkeys have the advantage of fresh grass and a locally ground feed on a daily basis. Early each morning they are allowed to come out of specially built pens to roam the pasture. We get to know our birds as we observe them coming out of their house in the morning and going back into it in the evening.