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Good morning from your Farmer(s),
Contents:
- 1. Bird Flu in 4 days
- 2. Flawed Science
- 3. Pullet Shortage
- 4. Auto Insurance
- 5. Product Availability Update
Bird Flu in 4 days!
This week the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA) shared the USDA weekly disease update for Feb 4-10, 2025, a 4-day activity of exterminated chickens that is unnerving. During this timeframe 4.1 million chickens were exterminated. Most were egg layers and Ohio was the hardest hit. Here is the link that APPPA shared that tracks the outbreaks from the beginning - February 8th, 2022.
FLAWED SCIENCE
In a recent "Musing" Joel Salatin writes The PCR test is a bit like a virus microscope and you can adjust the magnification (called "cycles") to find smaller and smaller bits and pieces. Massachusetts Dept. of Ag, to my knowledge, is the only state that has officially and publicly said anything above 30 cycles is fraudulent. In other words, you can magnify until you find parts anywhere--on your eating utensils, in your hair, and certainly in feathers. The USDA is using 45 cycles.
In other words, when you get particle size low enough, you can find almost anything anywhere. Kind of like the Russians who said "show me the man, and I'll show you the crime." In other words, if you want to arrest someone, we have enough rules to find something he offended.
So, what are we doing here on the farm to take care of our hens? Not really anything different than before. What we read is sunshine, fresh air, and constant moves (across pasture) is the best thing for the hens to have a healthy immune system against disease(s). We also only use NON-GMO feed that is not contaminated with chemicals that contribute to inflamation plus fresh well water that goes through our underground water lines and comes out at the nipplers inside their shelter. Thus, no point of possible contamination from wild birds.
As I mentioned before, the culling of complete flocks vs. only the sick birds does not make sense. There is a very good chance the birds who are alive have developed immunity and they are the ones you want to build your flock around.
PULLET SHORTAGE
Many times in my life I can testify that God was really looking out for me. That was the case about 10 days ago when a farmer friend mentioned someone had a flock (4000+) of brown egg layer pullets for sale. I called and he said he had them and quoted an $11 price delivered each. Sounds good, right?
Since 4000 was more than I needed I contacted 4-5 farmer friends in my area that I knew would also be interested. Collected all the needed information and relayed it back to the seller. He said let me get the delivery set up and I'll be in touch.
The next time I heard from him the price was now $14.50 each and the delivery was going to take some time.
Then another guy who I knew called to say he was looking at bringing the pullets to us, but the price would be $15.75 and I also learned the pullets were located in Ohio (I did not know the issues OH was having with outbreaks at the time). Lastly, the original seller I contacted did not own the pullets, but was a broker who worked with large farms to sell their flocks. It's obvious he was bidding the price up to get as much as he could for them. That is when I (and we) baled on the deal.
I receive calls and emails daily from retail wanting to buy our products. A restaurant last week wanted us to supply 300 pounds of tallow per week! Which is way above our capability. Several local folks this week stopped by who wanted to buy our hens. I politely let them know our farm is a direct to consumer farm and we value our customers...so we would not be interested in their business.
AUTO INSURANCE
Inflation reports came out this week. Once again Auto Insurance lead the report with the highest number - 11% (but that is down from 19% late last year).
I also received my work truck renewal this week. Up $300. That makes almost a 50% increase in two years. So, I called around to check options. One very knowledgeable lady told me the primary reason is the growing number of uninsured motorists in Mississippi. She also stated that our legislature will not do anything to help this and mentioned states like Arkansas who updated their law where if you don't have insurance, your driver's license is suspended. I like that idea!
This week we were finally able to but some of our yearlings on our winter grass pasture. They had been standing near the fence for days admiring the lush green pasture, so when it came time to move them it did not take any coercing to get them to cross the road - once inside they quickly put their head down and started grazing. Watching the cows graze is very rewarding to me.
At Nature's Gourmet Farm, our intent is to create a community that evolves around one of the most intrinsically important things of the ages, and that’s the provision of sustenance. That's our passion - to raise healthy food to nourish families and strengthen immune systems.
If you are new to our farm then maybe you have been looking for premium ALL NATURAL GOODNESS of beef, pork, chicken, and eggs raised on pasture as God intended - with emphasis on Regenerative Principles and NOT conventionally raised animals (with growth hormones, drugs, chemicals, and antibiotics) - and where animals are treated humanely - then you have come to the right farm. Our delivery schedule and product availability are listed below along with order buttons that will take you to our website where you can browse over 90 product choices and place your order from the convenience of your home. It's that simple!
** Product Availability Update **
NOTE: Restocks are made about 6 PM on the dates indicated below!
Chicken - Restocked February 12th. Next Restock will be February 26th
Turkey - Restocked Ground Turkey, Wings, Legs, and Thighs November 22nd. It will be mid 2025 before the next restock.
Eggs - Restock each (NOW) TUESDAY PRIOR to YOUR delivery date.
Beef - Restocked January 26th. Next Restock will be February 21st.
Pork – Restocked Patty & link Sausage Feb. 7th. FRESH items February 12th. Smoked items follow 12-14 days later
Lamb - Restocked October 8th
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