By Tom Woolman, poultry industry consultant
Last month I went and visited a poultry farmer who is doing things a bit differently.
George Ford used to finish pigs for a living but switched to turkeys and chicken, producing them in a ‘pasture-raised’ system, under the Nempnett Pastures brand.
Taking inspiration from US regen farmer Joel Salatin, George evolved his turkeys from barn reared over a number of seasons. Now they basically live out in the field once they are off heat, perching on an old caravan chassis, dubbed the ‘Gobbledygo’.
He has three Italian sheepdogs of the Maremma breed, which were bred to live in the mountains and protect sheep from wolf attacks.
Although they look cuddly, the dogs live out all year round with the birds and are very territorial. George told me that the fencing around the birds was more to keep the dogs away from the footpaths, rather than keeping the chickens in.
This isn’t just like one of those free range farmers who bought a grumpy alpaca as a marketing gimmick. These dogs are the only protection the poultry receive and George says the system wouldn’t work without them.
There may be some poultry farmers who would be quite snotty about producing chicken and turkey this way, almost certainly labelling it as hobby farming. But I think anyone that can make a living out of 650 turkeys, 1,900 chickens and a few beef cattle is more likely to be a business genius.
Finally, after a successful stint of self-employment I am diving back into the world of work with Annyalla Chicks as their new customer service manager.
In the meantime, I am going to take a break from writing these columns while I find my feet. Thanks for all the positive feedback over the past year and I’m sure you will be hearing from me again.