Pastures on Earth’s Harvest Farm were full of scrub brush like this that Swale bush hogged before grazing his poultry.
An orchard can grow pastured poultry underneath. A beef cattle or sheep farm can run pastured poultry behind the herbivores, like the egret on the rhino's nose. – Joel Salatin
A chat about farming with Eastern Ontario small farmer, Luke Swale, quickly reveals that if there’s one thing he’s passionate about, it’s pasture management. Swale talks about grazing animals the way a microbiologist talks about bacteria, and with good reason; the former New Zealand dairy farmer came from an area where ineffective pasture management was simply not an option, and where every square inch of grass needed to be measured and used to its fullest potential.
At Earth’s Harvest Farm, Swale has put his knowledge to good use, raising up to 2,000 meat chickens annually while rehabilitating formerly fallow pastures and transforming them into fertile fields his livestock can thrive upon. Using poultry to fertilize and rehabilitate his fields is a win-win-win for Swale, who gains income from poultry production at a fraction of the feed cost while creating quality pasture for other livestock, and producing healthier birds.
“If you’ve got time, pastured poultry is an alternative to spending $200,000 on pieces of equipment and chemicals,” Swale said. “We need to improve the land we have through our animals.”
Although enjoying popularity over the past 15 years, raising poultry on pasture isn’t a new concept, and brings with it a number of advantages: pastured birds consume less feed (potentially up to 25 per cent), and thanks to exposure to fresh air and sunshine, they also tend to boast improved health and wellness.
In Swale’s case, the condition of his land made pastured poultry a necessity, and one he treats with the same meticulousness for detail he uses when grazing his cattle.
“These fields were hayfields 10 to 15 years ago,” Swale explained, “When I bought the property there was a two-inch mat of dead organic matter in the field, and nothing but golden rod, milkweed and a few grasses here and there.”
Swale’s efforts to transform his fields from overgrown pastures into lush, rich farmland are bearing fruit. Three years ago, his fields were producing only three or four bales of hay a year, but now those same fields are producing between 30 to 40 bales of hay, while feeding his birds at the same time.
The weeds are diminishing every year and the high-quality grasses that are making an appearance aren’t as a result of seeding; as Swale’s chickens graze they scratch the ground and turn over the seeds previously buried beneath a thick layer of thatch, fertilizing them as they go.
“The manure that’s coming out of my chickens is gold for my pastures,” Swale said. “Where there was no clover, there is now clover. It’s been very interesting to watch.”
Pastured or free range?
Pastured and free-range poultry are often confused, but the two terms refer to completely
Swale’s modifications to Joel Salatin’s chicken tractor design included strengthening of the framework to handle a heavy snow load, improved ventilation and more shade.
different ways of raising birds. Pastured poultry are raised in pens that are moved daily to fresh pasture, while free-range chickens are raised in a defined area, but are able to move about freely, with a portion of the day spent outdoors.
Swale settled on pastured poultry as opposed to free-range after speaking with a local farmer who said he free-ranged 500 chickens each year in order to get 300 birds to slaughter.
Swale’s modifications to Joel Salatin’s chicken tractor design included strengthening of the framework to handle a heavy snow load, improved ventilation and more shade.
“Between foxes, owls, raccoons, skunks, weasels . . . he knew there was a set amount he could raise, and that he had to feed the local wildlife,” Swale said, “Mother nature will prevail.”
The theory behind the chicken tractor is that animals don’t like the way it moves, Swale explained, adding that he sets traps around his chicken tractors to keep predation to a minimum, which so far has been fairly successful.
“Raccoons know what’s going on, they know I’m watching them as much as they’re watching me.”
Chicken tractors for a Canadian climate
The term chicken tractor was coined by author Andy Lee where he described mobile poultry housing that acts like a “tractor” on a field. Joel Salatin, and his book Pastured Poultry Profits, was also a strong driver for the pastured poultry movement.
Swale used Salatin’s poultry housing design as a starting point, but with modifications to better suit a Canadian climate. Swale’s modifications included preparing the structures to handle a typical snow load for his area.
Extra beams on the top and strengthening for the skeleton made the structure sturdier, although also heavier. Swale also found that a full cover on top with openings works better for the high humidity and scorching summer heat of the Ottawa valley.
“It works better on a hot summer, the birds have full shade all day,” Swale explained, “If you’ve got it half covered, you’ll have overcrowding early morning and late afternoon.”
Swale calls pasturing poultry a numbers game, one that calls for constant evaluation of livestock needs and grass growth. Pastured grazing recommendations are for two-square-feet per bird. Swale pastures his chickens in 20 pens, 10 feet by 20 feet, that he moves daily to provide his birds with access to fresh grass.
When considering where to position his chicken
A good example of the effect pastured poultry can have on pasture. Swale is shown here amid the lush grass grown after grazing his poultry the previous year. The grass immediately to his left is more sparse, and has not yet been grazed by his chickens.
tractors in the field, Swale chooses the longest part of the field to begin his rotation for one simple reason: It’s less work.
“I’m using the longest run I can get so I can do the least amount of turning,” Swale explained, “Less turning means less work for me.”
Once his poultry have grazed a large enough space and the grass has regrown thicker and lusher, Swale pastures his cattle on the same grass.
Pasturing poultry may reduce feed expenses, but it’s not without its downsides. It takes Swale up to two hours daily to reposition his 20 chicken houses, and feeding and watering rituals can also be a labour-intensive process.
Pasture management tools
Pasture management tools can be as simple as a
Swale brought his New Zealand pasture management tool, called a plate meter, with him when he moved to Canada.
pasture stick or as technical as the New Zealand tool Swale uses, called a plate meter. The plate meter measures dry matter content in grasses, or as Swale puts it, “tells me how much money I have in the bank in grass.”
For the first two or three years Swale used the plate meter every two weeks to identify his growth rate and determine how often to rotate his chickens and cattle to maintain the ideal grass height of less than eight inches.
- Amy Hogue