It appears that the demand for local, farm-raised protein is steadily increasing. Even prior to the pandemic which caused a run on grocery store meat supplies, we saw an increasing interest in our pastured products. During this pandemic, I think a person might consider knifing someone for a pound of hamburger (Walmart meat section can host sketchy characters). Farm-raised chicken demand has been huge in our area. We normally raise around 100 broilers each year selling half and keeping the other half to feed us through the year. This season, however, I believe I could sell every single chicken if we decided to.

Raising pastured poultry for farm income has been a great first step (right behind egg sales) in starting a farm business for many farmers. Joel Salatin has made that endeavor very popular and has explained the steps in great detail with several books. There are several good reasons why a small farm should consider starting their farm business with broilers:

  1. Low entry costs – Chicks are usually less than $2 each so a large number isn’t a huge expense (try buying 100 beeves).
  2. Minimal infrastructure – You don’t need large buildings or elaborate food and water management systems. Basic shelter and predator protection are all that is needed.
  3. Quick ROI – Since the life cycle of a cornish cross is around 8 weeks, you won’t have large sums of cash tied up in animals on the farm.
  4. Can process on farm – In most states, there are exemption laws that allow farmers to process up to 1000 or even 20,000 broilers on farm.

One of the biggest obstacles to overcome with a pastured broiler operation is the cost of the processing equipment. Sure, grandma (if she were around) would call you a big pansy for needing all this fancy equipment to process a chicken. She would probably start the conversation with, “Back in my day…” and mention things like an ax, a stump, or a clothes line.

While grandma definitely knew her way around a backyard chicken butchering, she probably wouldn’t understand the need today for efficient processing AND processing that meets regulatory food standards (sorry, grandma). Fast and clean processing is the only way a farmer can produce a quality product in a timely manner today.

Unfortunately, professional-grade processing equipment can be very expensive and can be the single largest barrier for small farms to run against. Pluckers can run in the thousands of dollars and scalders in the hundreds. While there are other options you can explore (small scale equipment or DIY options), most of these options don’t offer the reliability you need when processing for business. I don’t know that I would stake my entire production weekend on a plucker I built from a washing machine and an electric motor.

So how did we overcome this barrier and still remain profitable with our chicken production? We had help. This help came in the form of our local farmer’s market association. They wisely invested in two mobile chicken processing trailers with all stainless steel equipment and professional-grade pluckers and scalders. They make these trailers available to small farms in the area to rent for processing day (or weekend for us). Rental costs were less than $50 (net). Deposits are required but will be returned as long as the trailer comes back clean and in working condition. It has been a huge blessing for our farm.

The low cost rental allows our farm to process less than one hundred chickens and still be profitable in sales. If I were to purchase $5000 worth of equipment in order to process, then I would have to raise hundreds or even thousands of birds to try to break even not to mention the added costs for storage and maintenance of the equipment.

So is this rental option unique to our area? No, not at all. Fortunately, many agricultural organizations or state ag agencies see these equipment cost barriers as a real hindrance to local farms being able to thrive in business. Quite a few states have options listed for processing equipment rental via their Ag Extension websites. Just Google your state’s Ag Department or call them. Independent organizations may make them available as in our case. Even Featherman Equipment lists rental options across the country on their website (https://www.feathermanequipment.com/rental-equipment-locator/). 

If you are considering starting a broiler operation on your farm, do the research to see if you can rent processing equipment in your area. If you want your operation to grow, use the equipment at the start in order to help you save money to purchase your own equipment one piece at a time. This can keep you from taking on debt or risking cash up front.