MINERAL POINT, Wis. — Landowners, farmers, and members of the military community in Southwest Wisconsin are invited to a farm breakfast and farm tour about alternative poultry production. “I’m excited to share tips for how to get started raising chicken, turkey, and guinea fowl for meat and eggs. Plus I can’t wait for everyone to try my delicious egg sandwiches and fresh coffee roasted on the farm” says Nicholas Bryant, owner of Bryant Family Farms.
The workshop is part of the Mentorship Program for Future Livestock Farmers, which connects beginning livestock farmers to financial coaching, business mentorship, land, and training through the Southwest Badger RC&D Grazing Broker. The mentorship program is funded by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
With support from the mentorship program, Bryant Family Farms recently received a Farmer-Rancher Grant from North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) to compare the effects of housing methods and breeding on guinea fowl production and marketing. “I’m excited to share results of my comparisons of five breeds of guineas since May. From past experience I know that French Jumbo guinea fowl produce the largest eggs and have the largest bodies after processing” says Bryant.
“Pastured poultry are a low-cost way to start farming because capital investment is minimal and the turnaround time can be as few as eight weeks. A chicken tractor can raise three to four groups of broilers during a season with little input beyond pasture, feed, water, and daily labor” says Gene Schriefer, Agriculture Agent for University of Wisconsin Extension Iowa County. The discussion and farm tour will also cover the market potential of poultry, mobile production methods, diets and ration selection, breeding and genetics, challenges of species, and poultry processing.
The “Alternative poultry production pasture walk and farm breakfast” is scheduled for August 12, 2017 from 10:00 am-12:00 pm at Bryant Family Farms, 5179 Hwy 39, Mineral Point, WI. The event is open to the public but RSVP is requested by August 5th to Robert Bauer at 608-732-1202 or robert.bauer@swbadger.org. Admission is $5 at the door and includes tour and breakfast sandwich, coffee, and orange juice. Event co-sponsors are UW Extension and SARE.
Southwest Badger Resource Conservation & Development Council, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization working in the Southwest Wisconsin region. The organization’s mission is to implement natural resource conservation and rural economic development in the area through education and best practices relating to agriculture, grassland, forests, and surface waters.
— Southwest Badger RC&D Council
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