Annual Update 2023: Livestock Production

Blackbird Co-op members Dan (Grow More Farms), Nat (Bellair) and Chris (Sylvanaqua) build Bellair’s first new broiler coop!

The return of broilers and the NEW Blackbird Co-op!

If any of you have been with the farm for a long time, you may remember that we used to raise our own meat chickens (known in the industry as "broilers"). We stopped doing it for several years but we are back in action in a big way this year. We are collaborating with two other producers, Sylvanaqua Farms in Montross, VA and Grow More Farms in Palmyra, VA on a pilot project for what will hopefully grow to be a robust and affordable provider of chicken to the entire Virginia region.

When we were doing broilers on our own, we liked lots about it: the application of manure to our fields, baby chicks in the spring, eating chicken from our own land. The tough part was managing the slaughter days. As you know, the biggest (labor-wise) part of our business is vegetables. We have a seasonal crew trained on vegetable farming. What we found was that while many of our crew enjoyed learning how to humanely kill, scald, pluck, eviscerate, and all the rest, we were SLOW at it. We only did it a few times a year and by the time the crew got the hang of it, it was the end of the season. Then the next year we would be starting from scratch training new folks. Those days always felt super hectic to me -- taking an entire day -- and an entire crew-- to set up, process, and break down. We would really feel that lost time in the veggie fields. Essentially, we decided it was not worth it anymore and started buying in chicken from other producers.

Blackbird is the brainchild of Chris Newman of Sylvanaqua Farms. For us, it theoretically solves the big problem we had with broilers. The plan is, for a network of growers to all share one processing facility at Sylvanaqua Farms. We will raise chicks here on the Bellair to a set standard of housing, feed type, breed, and employee wage. When the chickens are ready to harvest, they will be transported to Montross, processed, packaged, labeled, and frozen. We will be paid on live weight for birds produced. We will then buy back chicken from the co-op -- much like we do now, except many will be our own birds!

There is always trepidation with new projects, but we have faith in collaboration as a valuable and underutilized tool in the "small farm" economy. We love that this model solves that labor and training bottleneck for us and we think broiler chickens are a great way to incorporate livestock and manure into our uncropped fields. We will let you know how it all goes, but be on the lookout for Blackbird Chicken in our freezers starting late this spring/early this summer.

Our newest batch of steers in brand new fence standing around their brand new waterer — in an upland field!

Cattle -- fence and herd expansion!

The biggest news on the cattle front is that we just got a whole mess of new fence installed with the help of the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District. This program aims to help landowners and farm managers keep cattle out of waterways. They do cost-share funding for fencing and watering systems within their district.

We just fenced a huge part of the west side of the farm -- formerly Twenty Paces' sheep-grazing land, also known as the "Pace Farm," for the former owners of this land. The sheep use temporary electric panel fencing and don't drink a ton of water, so the need for those things is not high. However, cattle require larger areas of grazing and using only temporary fencing is risky. We've now got another hundred acres of grass in high-tensile perimeter fence with lots of waterers and quick-connection hose valves inside.

This fence expansion opens the doors to another expansion -- growing our beef herd! We see beef cattle as a great tool for land management. We have seen first-hand how cattle and grassland species can co-exist. We already had over 100 acres fenced for cattle, but that ground was all "bottoms" -- extremely low altitude flood plain with the water table just below the surface. In the summer, there's a LOT of grass down there, but it is super hard not to tear it to pieces in the winter when the whole bottom is one big mud pit waiting to happen. These new fenced areas are by and large on higher ground. This increases our ability to over-winter larger groups of cattle without having a huge "sacrifice zone" of mud.

Digging water lines in winter definitely causes disturbance, but will help us manage our pastures/grasslands better in the long term. We are feeding hay on the bare spots to re-seed and cover them.

However, just having the fence doesn't magically multiply the cattle. Cattle are a long-payout endeavor. You don't see your return on investment for buying a steer until about 2 years later! We have increased our herd by 5 head (from approx 30 to approx 35) and plan on continuing this incremental increase. We may also look into doing our own breeding, but that's yet another investment. For now, we are happy to have the infrastructural flexibility to do any or all of the above! Our herd, currently made up of some older, almost-finished animals and a young batch of steers, has been contentedly grazing all winter and we have scarcely fed a bale of hay! We are feeding hay only on some bare patches in the pastures to re-seed and rehabilitate those areas disturbed by putting in the water lines and fence.

In the future, we look to increase wholesale and whole-animal marketing of our beef. We can dramatically increase the stocking density of our fields -- all to the benefit of those grassland ecosystems. Here's to healthy cash-flow that allows us to do just that!

Welcome, Decker and Deuce, our newest animal additions. Please help us keep our chicken safe :)

Laying Hens:

Nat and I had a great egg year the first year we took over, in 2020. Nat was focused on complete laying hen nutrition through grit, calcium, and access to forage. After that, it's been a rough ride on the egg front. Predation has been at an all-time high. We are grateful for our thriving populations of wildlife -- everything from skunks, raccoons, possums, foxes, hawks, eagles, even owls. However, we have GOT to find a way to keep them from eating our hens. We have had pretty abysmal losses the last two seasons. We have tried everything: hawk lines, double-chargers on the electric fence, scarecrows, balloons -- Nat has even camped out with the birds at night to try to shoot the varmints that appear at 3 am. However, all of these things have made a minimal impact at best. Our main predators are actually avain -- hawks and eagles. Not only would we not want to hurt these creatures, but they are also protected by law from any harassment at all. We lost a lot of birds and a LOT of money trying to sell eggs last year.

We love the laying hen program for a lot of the same reasons we like growing broilers -- the nitrogen is an excellent input for our veggie fields and we love eating and selling our own eggs. However,we had to face the music and the numbers this year. We have one last thing we have yet to try -- livestock guardian dogs (LGDs). You have probably heard of dogs guarding sheep or goats, but chickens? Yes, it apparently can happen, and is the only sure-fire way of keeping wildlife off of them. However, it's obviously a big commitment to bring yet another species of domesticated animal onto the farm. We weighed our options and it was either try out an LGD or drop the egg program -- we cannot afford these continued losses, financially or emotionally.

So that means, welcome to the farm Decker and Deuce, our newest animal additions! We have these 6-month old pups on loan while we make sure they are a good fit for the farm. They will live in the barn with the chickens for winter (as we said in our first Annual Update for 2023, it’s our first season having them in a barn for winter!) and move out to the net fence in the field with them for the summer. We really really hope this works out to solve our issues with predation of the flock. We will keep you updated on all things egg production moving forward!

Pigs on big pasture! Each paddock is about an acre and we move them every 3 weeks.

Pigs and Processors

Not a ton has changed on the pig front -- we are still operating with the same land management objectives as described in last year's update. We feel great about the impact the pigs are making on the land and how we can limit it through rotational paddocks. We just built a second bulk feeder to further streamline chores and limit our trips to the pig paddock.

Finding piglets and processing dates -- and more importantly -- lining those two up -- continues to be the pinch point for pig production. Ever since the pandemic, processors have been requiring booking out dates up to a year ahead of time. When it comes to pigs, that means booking a slaughter date before that pig is even born! As you an imagine, it's a little overwhelming and not always efficient.

For the past several years, we have been using two main processors: T&E Meats (Rockingham Co.) for pork and Finest Butcher (Fauquier Co.) for beef. We're pretty happy with them both and keeping the same processor is great for ensuring consistency of product to our customers. However, with all the volatility in the marketplace and each processor having its own limitations and timelines for booking, we are looking into expanding our processing options. Both T & E and Finest Butcher process both beef and pork, so we may be doing a little of each at each one. We're also trying out a completely new processor, Piedmont Custom Meats in Asheboro, NC. It might seem a bit crazy to try a processor that far away, but trust me, they are the closest USDA facility with booking capacity beyond the other two options we have.

Right now (Feb 2023), we have new pork cuts from our new processor, PCM, in stock! It is kind of fun to see the new cuts and options that different places offer. For example, PCM offers andouille sausage and smoked, sliced jowls!

The landscape of processors is always changing and we want to insulate ourselves against those changes. We have seen all kinds of volatility and have been "bumped" multiple times out of scheduled dates. There's a new facility proposed in Augusta County and we're eagerly awaiting word on that. In the meantime, we will continue to play the field to the best of our ability and use processors who can get us dates that line up with the maturity times of our animals. What that means for you is there may be a little variation in packaging types of cuts offered over the next little while. You can rest assured that if we are selling it, it is OUR OWN Bellair Pork and Bellair Beef, always. We will be offering a lot of the new cuts through our Carnivore Share first, but eventually, they will be in the normal market rotation. We would love to hear your feedback on any of the new or old cuts and offerings.