Free-Range Poultry on an Amish Farm
Melvin Fisher started raising pastured poultry on his Organic Grass Farm in 1997. In 1998, after seeing an article on the free-range system in a magazine Melvin ordered the book Free-Range Poultry Production and Marketing by Herman Beck-Chenoweth. Later he attended a workshop on range poultry production. In 1999 Melvin built six poultry skids using the plans in the book and stocked each with 400 Cornish Cross broilers. He retired the pastured poultry pens and never looked back. In 2002 he produced more than 6,000 chickens and 150 turkeys and dressed them out in America’s only U.S.D.A. Inspected non-electric poultry processing facility. This year he expects to raise, sell and process twice as many birds for sale to restaurants in Indiana and for the many customers who pick up at his scenic Park County farm.
Melvin’s operation is unique in many ways. Not only is his processing plant diesel powered, he uses horsepower to move the skids to fresh range (short-grass pasture) twice a week. A 16-year-old apprentice uses a two-horse Belgian-Percheron hitch to pull the skids. He loads the float-valve waterers and feed trays on board and pulls the skid ahead about 100 feet.