At Shire Farms, we follow the sustainable and regenerative practices pioneered by Joel Salatin when raising our meat chickens, from the use of "chicken tractors" to protect against predation while on pasture, to the the species-appropriate formulation of their supplemental feed.
These Cornish Cross birds spend all of their time on pasture, where they forage for tasty morsels by pecking and scratching at the ground. This activity in turn helps de-compact and aerate the ground, while their foraging contributes to natural pest control and weed management. The droppings they leave behind also provide a source of organic matter and nutrients, acting as a natural fertilizer that enriches the soil. Their activity always leaves the soil in better shape then it would be without them.
Once a day, each chicken tractor is moved to a new piece of ground on the pasture, preventing overuse of any one section and giving the chickens a fresh supply of new forageable ground. Over time, an entire pasture can be revitalized using this innovative technique of raising chickens.
