Our first chicken harvest is right around the corner and we couldn't be more excited! We thought we had planned well for the increase in interest for these amazing meat birds but we ran out about a month ago, so we'll be so happy to have the freezers stocked once again. We decided to raise a few extra this year so that we can meet the demand.
There really is an amazing difference between factory raised meat and meat that's raised on a small farm with ample room, fresh air and a clean diet. We love hearing stories from some of our oldest (in age) customers that tell us that this meat tastes like the meat that they had as children. It is a testament to the raising practices that we embrace and those comments always make us strive to do our best possible here on the farm.
The chickens that we raise grow a little slower than the conventional Cornish X birds that are the industry standard. The red feathered broilers here at WVF are a strain of chicken based on one developed in France for their prestigious Label Rouge program which is a method of raising chickens on pasture. These Freedom Rangers as they are known as, are great foragers which means that much of their diet comes from what they find on the pasture and less from the supplemented grain that we give them, in turn making them healthier eating for us.
Chicken harvests are a weekly happening here on the farm and although we are slaughtering, plucking, cutting and bagging all day, we enjoy each other, we relish in the fact that these birds have had a pretty good life, and we feel tremendous satisfaction knowing that we are feeding our friends and neighbors wholesome food from this small farm.
We'll have chickens starting this coming week so if you've been waiting, the time has come! Hope to see you soon on the farm!
Caitlin
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