Profitable Poultry

Profitable Poultry: Raising Birds on Pasture features farmer experiences plus the latest research in a guide to raising chickens and turkeys using pens, movable fencing and pastures. A Kentucky family nets between 90 cents and $1.50 per pound from Louisville customers for birds raised on pasture. A New Mexico producer who rotates birds across his property year-round has seen dramatic improvements to his desert soil. And a Wyoming producer was able to quit a full-time, off-the-farm job to stay home and raise pastured poultry with help from her school-age kids. With those examples and more from around the country, the bulletin touches on the system's many opportunities to improve profits, environment and rural family life. With original ideas for marketing poultry products and a page of additional, expert resources, the 16-page bulletin offers a jumping-off point for new producers.

Worldwide, concerns about the avian influenza virus, which causes varying amounts of illness in poultry, are growing. Those viruses can infect chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, ducks, geese and guinea fowl, as well as a wide variety of other birds. According to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), USDA, migratory waterfowl have proved to be a natural reservoir for the less infectious strains of the disease. For more information about avian flu and what you can do, visit http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/birdbiosecurity/hpai.html.