Chapter 14
On-Farm Slaughter:
The Advantages
Pastured poultry is valueless until it is prepared for cooking. That means the birds need to lose their heads, feet, feathers and entrails.
Processing is what scares off many would-be poultry graziers. Poultry processing differs markedly from beef, swine, sheep and goat processing.
Poultry processing in America is concen- trated in the hands of a few large vertically
integrated poultry companies. These companies own their own breeder flocks, feed mills, hatcheries and processing facilities. Not many years ago, it was common for each community to have a small poultry processing facility similar to the many neighborhood livestock slaughtering facilities still in existence. But with the integrators these facilities have largely gone by the wayside.
To my knowledge, there is only one in Virginia. States do vary significantly on what
is allowable and available. For example, some allow state inspected facilities to process and sell those birds anywhere within that state.
Still others have several small federally in-
spected facilities. Prices vary from 60 cents a bird to $1.50 or more. In any case, in no state are these facilities as accessible or numerous as the local livestock slaughtering facilities.
Most producers must drive 20 miles or more to get to one and then pay an average of $1.00 to
$1.25 per bird for the processing. Transporta- tion exacts a heavy toll on these birds due to stress. Remember that their metabolism is extremely high. Being deprived of feed and water
for a couple of hours is equivalent to a beef going a day without nutriment. The animal tightens its muscles and begins shutting down vital functions to conserve body moisture and stay alive.
Animal rights activists, for all their misdirection, are right on target when pushing
for animal slaughter as close to the point of production as possible. Not only does it relieve stress, a direct cause of tough meat, but it is far more environmentally sensible. The cost of trucking the live birds, then processing the offal, then transporting the carcasses across the country is much higher than a more local or regional slaughtering approach. Processing on the farm where the birds are produced is best.
But the reason for on-farm slaughtering goes far beyond both stress and logistics. The way large scale processors slaughter birds can render the best pastured poultry unfit for human consumption. The media are being flooded with reports regarding Salmonella contamination and unsanitary practices in the poultry processing
industry. Every time one of these hits the press, we receive calls from people wanting to bail out
of the conventional poultry market.
Just for examples, let me describe a couple of procedures that are crucial. The first is
execution. Conventional processing electro- cutes the birds, then slits the throat. This procedure reduces muscle contractions and re- duces the ability of the carcass to bleed. The Biblical Mosaic law of slitting the throat is by far and away the best way to kill animals, not electrocution. We put the birds in a cone and slit the throat so that the autonomic nervous system keeps functioning and the heart actually pumps the blood right out of the body.
Evisceration is done, conventionally, with a stainless steel loop that exerts pressure as it scoops out the entrails, or by vacuum. Often the intestines tear apart and the feces splash all over the inside and outside of the bird, contaminating the meat. Some processors put the birds through as many as 40 separate chlorine water baths to kill the germs caused by all this
fecal contamination.
The large refrigerated cooling vats in which the birds are placed after processing accumulate as much as a foot of fecal sludge in the bottom after a day of processing. In fact, some reports say that 10 percent of broiler weight in the meat counter is composed of this fecal soup. The muscle tissue, lacking tone due to production methods, is highly absorptive and soaks up this
fecal soup.
The point of all this is that the production model merits nothing unless it is consummated with a complementary processing model. A very small processing facility can stay much cleaner than big ones. For example, we only process about 4 days every 3 weeks. In between times the sun sterilizes our shed, rains wash away bits of blood and feathers, and anything else gets eaten or decomposed by microscopic critters. We eviscer- ate by hand so we don't tear the intestines and
rarely spill feces anywhere on the bird.
Checking over the birds carefully to make sure they are squeaky clean keeps the water in the cooling vats extremely clear and clean. The fact that our customers come right into the processing shed and see their chickens in the cooling vats requires that we run a clean ship. We have customers who work in the processing plants but purchase their chicken from us, vowing that they won't eat one out of the store.
We have customers who have allergic reac- tions to chemical residues and chlorine contami- nation on normal birds, and yet have no problem eating and handling ours. The fact is that it is much easier for a person to keep his home kitchen clean when it is used to prepare 10 meals per day than if it were used for 1000 meals. The magnitude of the processing facility inherently
changes cleanliness and control.
By slaughtering on the farm, the chickens do not undergo transport stress, and we need not haul them away. We get to stay here on the farm, which is where we like to be. We process in the morning and customers begin arriving at 1 p.m., bringing their ice and coolers with them. We need not
refrigerate, bag or deliver. We do what we do best - produce the world's best, cleanest chicken - and our customers meet us halfway. We can't bag, deliver or freeze any better than conventional
services. By focusing on the niche in which we excel, we capitalize on our strengths and do not get bogged down in ancillary services. We have no desire to feed the world or build an empire.
The small, efficient on-farm production and processing encourages regional food self-suffi-
ciency and sensible marketing.
For people who have dressed poultry by hand.
the idea of a husband and wife processing 50 birds an hour or better is practically inconceivable.
But it's like any acquired skill. After you do it enough, you get good at it. The automation then augments your own skills and allows you to go even faster. Much is technique, much is organization, and much is just physical strength and endurance.
From an income point of view, though, let me illustrate why this do-it-yourself processing is important for the success of your venture. The average cost of processing a chicken is $1.25 per bird. If we add the transportation time and expense, assuming an average of 50 miles round trip, the cost goes on up to $1.50 per bird.
Teresa and I can do 50 an hour, which is a saved value of $75. Divided in half, this would figure out to be $37.50 per hour for each of us. Taking off a couple of dollars for depreciation on equipment and energy costs, we are left with about
$35 per hour for our labor.
I don't know about you, but I have no problem working for that price. I can do just about
anything for a few hours a month to earn that kind of money. I guarantee you no contract poultry grower working for one of the large integrators is making that kind of money per hour. Most of them are happy to make enough to cover the mortgage on the confinement facility, the fuel bill and maintenance costs.
All we have dealt with here is the economics of the decision to process on the farm. We haven't addressed the quality of life issue, of being able to stay on the farm with your work instead of going elsewhere, and fighting traffic. When you take the whole picture into consideration, the on-farm processing is the alternative that yields the
greatest return in both quantifiable and nonquantifiable measurements.
Of course, if anyone comes by to help, the processing goes faster. If Mom helps (and she usually does) , we can speed on up to 60 an hour and if Daniel, our 11-year-old, helps, we go on up to 7 0 or better. Many things can by done by children just as efficiently as by an adult.
We have customers who occasionally like to come out and help just for the fun of getting
"connected" to their food. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all the energy uselessly expended in walkathons and similar fund-raising activities, could be channeled into farm work? But when we transport the processing off the farm, we can't utilize that energy. Furthermore, folks who want to learn or teach their children where their food comes from miss the opportunity. If one of our ultimate goals is to reconnect the urban and rural sectors of our culture, on-farm processing affords us a technique to accomplish that goal.
About half of our processing days now we have some sort of help, whether it is a customer or someone coming to learn the skill and then begin raising chickens themselves. If we love people, and make room for them, we can give them the pleasure of being helpful in many ways. If someone does not want to get involved in the processing, we can use them carrying feed or water to the pens, which expedites chore time and allows us to get back to the processing faster.
The point of this whole discussion is that when you are at home you can teach, you can utilize free labor from those who yearn for a food connection in their lives, and you can save a pile of money in the process.
Invariably, someone will look at our labor return and surmise that hiring the work done would be ideal. Why is it that the goal of most
Americans is to never get their hands dirty again?
Our culture has for the past generation succeeded in reducing honorable work to something akin to criminal activity.
Hard work is wonderful. It allows you to enjoy a big meal without getting fat. If we would
spend all the energy we expend on exercise equipment and playing at the local fitness center on meaningful, calorie-intensive work, our economy would be the envy of the world. We would be healthier, happier and richer. But no. Physical exertion is supposed to be shunned like a plague, and the ultimate "job" is the one that offers the most vacation, the most relaxation and the least exertion. One of the most frustrating experi- ences I have is when college students come, especially those taking agricultural economics courses; within five minutes they are telling me that all I need to do is hire all this work done so I can go in and sit at the desk all day. I don't want to sit at the desk all day.
Hiring people exacts a toll on your quality of life and quality of your product. An employee does not have the same stake in the success of the business as you do. He is not as committed to each detail being done properly. You simply cannot duplicate yourself. Sure, we hire people occasionally to do some things, but it is extremely limited and the job must be closely
supervised. Hiring the processing done with part time committed labor can be done, but I think that needs to come later as the business grows.
Initially I think you need to do it yourself.
An employee will not turn out the quality at the same speed that you can. Besides, as soon as you have an employee, then you have a host of paperwork to fill out. You must pay workmen's compensation, you have withholding and other
things to deal with. It is not a free lunch, for sure.
No, I still say the best way is to use family;
get your own hands dirty so you can see firsthand what those chickens look like. There is no
substitute for keeping your hands right on the pulse of the product. The benefits and personal satisfaction of processing the birds yourself, ensuring the quality right through to the customers, being personally responsible and gratified, makes on-farm processing the way to go.
One advantage worth noting is in the disposal of processing water and slaughter wastes. That is a major cost for the commercial poultry industry. A plant that processes 100,000 birds per day literally has tractor trailer loads of offal, feathers, blood and millions of gallons of processing water to treat.
We use about half the water per bird required in the commercial processing facilities. They use about 5 gallons per bird and we use only about 2.5. That means right off the bat we have far less usage and far less effluent.
Because we only process a few days per month, and use only a few hundred gallons at a time, and our processing is in the summer when the soil is dry and plants are growing, we can use our water for irrigating the garden or run it out on the pasture, and we do not overload the environment's ability to break it down and handle it. As soon as you begin routinely dumping thousands of gallons of water on an area, and do it off season to boot, a whole new cost in treating the effluent becomes necessary.
That is one reason why I am not interested
in a central facility for processing the birds for several pastured poultry producers. I would much rather see a portable rig that could go from farm to farm and spread out the effluent and offal in such a way that the environment could handle it without expensive treatment facilities. It is also a reason to stay relatively small, rather than trying to build an empire.
By composting, the offal becomes a wonderful asset rather than a liability. And how much simpler to handle it through composting a few feet away from the facility than trucking, rendering, dehydrating, grinding and all of the things entailed in handling it by the commercial industry.
From every angle, then, on-farm small-scale processing offers the best alternative.
Chapter 15
Slaughter Mechanics
Twelve hours before slaughter I remove all feed to let the craw clean out and make processing easier and cleaner.
Using a plywood partition like a giant paddle, I push the chickens to the front of the pen. By removing both doors, I can catch the chickens easily and put them in crates for transport to the processing facility. I do not put them in a large container or they will pile up and suffocate. It is important to use crates.
On the following three pages, Photos 15-1 through 15-6 illustrate how we catch the chickens on processing day.
Photo 15-i. Catching chickens on processing day.
Remove the feeder and solid door and insert the partition.
Photo 15-2. Use birds around the
the part it ion as front of the pen
a paddle to ease the
Photo 15-3. Finish the partition.
Photo 15-4. Set off the other door. The birds won’t jump out.
Photo 15-5. Catch the birds and load the crates. We usually load 8 to a crate.
Photo 15-6. Loaded and ready to head to the house
To kill a chicken, we put it head first in killing cones. The head sticks out the bottom.
The goal is to slit the main artery with a knife, but not cut the windpipe. This way the bird dies
slowly and does not go into shock. The autonomic nervous system continues to function, allowing the heart to keep pumping and actually pump the blood out of the bird.
The cones can be mounted over a trough which ducts the blood into a bucket. The cones eliminate bruising when the muscular contrac- tions occur, and allow control over the blood.
Photo 15-7. The ndisassembly11 line and processing shed. In the rear, Joel loads birds in the killing cones. Then comes the scalder and picker. Daniel, our son, works on the eviscerating table and Mom, Joel’s mother, checks things over on the "quality controln table. Initial soak is in the double sink beyond her elbow, with final vats beyond on the floor.
A concrete slab was poured around the locust poles to build the facility.
Photo 15-8. Joel loads the birds in the killing cones.
Photo 15-9. Slit the throat, at end of trough.
Blood drains into bucket
Photo 15-10. Hanging the birds on our homemade shackles in the scalder/dunker.
Photo 15-11. Up and down motion is essential for a good scald.
After contractions have ended, the birds need to be scalded to loosen the feathers. The procedure we like best is about 145° F for about
a minute. It is helpful to pull the birds clear out of the water several times to encourage feather flocculation, which helps displace oxy- gen at the feather follicle and aids water penetration. We add a couple tablespoons of Shaklee Basic H biodegradable soap to the water to break surface tension and encourage penetra- tion. The soap also cleanses the birds so that they come out squeaky clean.
I made a set of shackles from boards and high tension band steel that encircles bundles of fence posts or packing crates. Some people use a basket. Anything is fine, as long as the birds move in and out of the water at a certain temperature for a certain period of time. Water
access to every square inch of the bird is essential. The more uniform it is, the more uniform the scald.
Scalders and dunkers can be purchased commercially. We made our scalder by building a wooden box inside a box. Then we purchased a submersible thermostat and a couple of 4500 watt hot water heater elements and took the box and parts to a sheet metal company. The fabricator covered the exterior with a heavy gauge galva- nized sheet metal and fit a tank inside, soldering the joints so it would hold water. He plumbed in the thermostat about halfway down and put in the elements through the wall about 8 inches up from the bottom of the tank. The stale air space between the two box frames serves as insulation.
The dimensions of the water tank are 22 inches x 17 inches x 30 inches deep. It holds about 35 gallons of water and will keep water hot for roughly 700 pounds of birds per hour, which is
equivalent to 125 chickens. Scalders are always rated in pounds per hour.
The dunker is a counterbalanced piece of pipe rigged to a geared down electric motor that gives us about 8 cycles per minute. Although this system may not be as snazzy as a factory-made outfit, it is far less expensive and quite acceptable for processing at our speed.
The idea of the scalder/dunker is to keep the birds moving in the water, preferably in and out, because this movement is essential to getting good water penetration. Commercial outfits use a shower gauntlet and high pressure water. If the birds just sit in the scald water, the difficult feathers simply will not loosen by the time the tender areas like the breast and the thin skin between the thigh and breast begins to burn. The action ensures that all parts of the bird get equal water access.
Our dunker automatically turns off and on.
It has both a timer and a button, or switch, that the dunker arm depresses when the time runs out.
In order to shut off, the assembly must be both out of time and depressing the button. That ensures that the chickens always stop outside the scalder. If we just had it on a timer, the birds would often stop in the scalder and I would have to flick the switch on again for a few seconds to raise them up so I could get them off the shackles.
I originally made this assembly so that Daniel, who was then only 5 years old, could dunk the four birds at a time. It worked so smoothly that immediately I asked an engineer to design a system that would be fully automatic. It helps to have smart friends. You can be sure that Bill Anderson gets all the free chickens he wants.