Virtual Broiler Field Day
Event Details
Date
September 20, 2023
Time
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location
Online Webinar - Zoom
Host
Southwest New York Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops ProgramKelly Bourne
585-268-7644
email Kelly Bourne
REGISTERING FOR THIS EVENT WILL REGISTER YOU FOR THE VIRTUAL FIELD DAY ONLY. IF INTERESTED IN OTHER EVENTS, PLEASE REGISTER FOR EACH ONE SEPARATELY FROM OUR EVENTS PAGE.
You can access registration via this link: https://tinyurl.com/BroilerVirtual
Poultry is a low-cost farm enterprise with a short turn-around that holds potential to be a profitable business venture. Many beginning farmers are choosing to start with poultry, but may have questions including: what it takes to raise them; if they should process themselves or send them out to a certified processor; how to add value to a whole chicken; and is raising chickens something that can be profitable for me?
This series of 5 workshops (four in-person and one virtual) will provide farmers tools to answer these questions. The in-person workshops are being hosted by chicken farmers across the state, providing the opportunity to tour other farms and see how they raise their poultry. Each farm has been selected to showcase their unique ways of raising and/or processing broiler chickens.
The series schedule is:
Friday, August 9, 2023, 1pm - 4pm at HLW Acres in Attica, NY
Hermann and Laura Weber run a 5A Small Enterprise poultry processing facility in addition to raising their own broilers.
Thursday, August 24, 2023, 4pm - 7pm at Sunny Cove Farm in Alfred, NY
Meghan Snyder raises small batches of organic broilers, processing them on-farm under the 1,000 bird exemption.
Monday, August 28, 2023, 2pm - 5pm at Laughing Earth Farm in Cropseyville, NY
Annie and her team run a 5A processing facility and 20C kitchen for their own farm's use, which allows them to process over 1,000 broilers a year and gives them the capacity to make value-added products like sausages and stock.
Tuesday, August 29, 12pm - 3pm at Majestic Farm in Mountaindale, NY
Brett raises slow-growth broilers and takes them to outside processors prior to sale as whole birds, pieces, and chicken sausage.
Wednesday, September 20, 2023, 6:30pm - 8pm Virtual workshop over Zoom
Learn the ins and outs of setting up your processing equipment, processing chickens, adding value through cuts, and pricing your chicken to make a profit!
The same information will be shared at each of the in-person workshops, while showcasing the specialty of each host farm. We will not be processing broilers at these workshops, though we will have the opportunity to tour each farm's rearing and processing set-ups, get hands-on experience cutting up a whole chicken into retail cuts, and critically evaluating costs of raising broilers on pasture in New York State. The virtual webinar will review processing equipment, chicken processing, adding value through cuts, and pricing chicken to earn a profit. Video demonstrations will accompany the lecture portions of the virtual field day.
All who are interested in raising or are currently raising poultry for meat are welcome to register for these free events. Feel free to register for more than one event, though you will need to register for each event separately. Pre-registrations are required and can be made by visiting the links that follow each program description or by contacting Kelly at 585-268-7644 ext 10 or klb288@cornell.edu. The webinar will be recorded and sent to all registrants for future viewing.
Please bring your questions. We're looking forward to seeing you there!
These programs are provided free of charge thanks to work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number LNE22-435.
Dairy
Livestock
Grazing
Forages
Grains
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The first ever Bale Grazing Winter Pasture Walk
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Do you want to learn the nuances and logistical context for implementing this regenerative practice?
Are you interested in seeing the impacts of bale grazing on land and animals from a practicing farmer?
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If you answered Yes to any question, The Northeast Region National Grazing Lands Coalition, the Cornell Cooperative Extension SCNY Dairy & Field Crops Team, and Angus Glen Farm are teaming up to showcase The first ever Bale Grazing Winter Pasture Walk!
Announcements
Farm Participants Needed for Bale Grazing Grant!
Information on the Project:- Approximately 10 acres total needed to bale graze two different bale densities
- "Core" farms will graze two winters, "Demo" farms will graze one winter.
- Payments for both "Core" farms and "Demo" farms
- Baseline soil sampling by bale grazing team
- Forage measurements in early season by bale grazing team
- Late season clipping if residual not trampled down by farm
Cornell Cow Convos - New Podcast
On-going podcast, New episodes released on the last Thursday of the month.Guest speakers, CCE Dairy Specialists.
Housed on Soundcloud Channel is CCE Dairy Educators
- Preventative healthcare for cows
- The trend of beef on dairy
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- Socially grouping or pair-housing calves
Dairy Acceleration Program Funds Available
- organization of financial records/benchmarking up to $1,000
- continued business planning (for farms awarded in a previous year) up to $2,500
- business planning up to $5,000
2018 Drug Residue Prevention Manual
For more than 30 years, the U.S. dairy industry has focused educational efforts on the judicious use of antibiotics through the annual publication of a Best Practices Manual. The 2018 edition of the National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management? Milk and Dairy Beef Drug Residue Prevention Manual is the primary educational tool for dairy farm managers throughout the country on the judicious and responsible use of antibiotics, including avoidance of drug residues in milk and meat.The manual is a quick resource to review those antibiotics approved for dairy animals and can also be used as an educational tool and resource for farm managers as they develop on-farm best management practices necessary to avoid milk and meat residues. Visit the Manual and Form Library to download copies of this important tool!
Follow us on Facebook
The team updates our facebook page frequently - follow us to be updated on our events, see some fun videos and get local area updates!facebook.com/SCNYDairyandFieldCropsTeam
ProDairy Forage Management
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We are optimistic that the upcoming turn in weather will allow these task to be accomplished in a timely manner, but at this point it is time to ask yourself: Are you willing to change your spring routine?
In addition to adverse weather it is no secret that everyone is facing extremely tight economic times, and dealing with forage inventories of poor digestibility forages from 2017. This combination of factors makes it more critical than ever to be ready to tackle the task that will have the most impact on your business at the proper time.
Recent reference articles on dealing with tough times:
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• Resources for Dealing with Spring Weather Delays
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o Strategic Forage Storage Planning
o When More is Better
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The window for planting for silage is generally wider than for grain, which is why first cutting can and should take priority over corn planting. However, in the event of extreme delays in planting corn, performance will diminish with late plantings. If corn planting progresses into late May or early June, begin to consider alternative options for those acres. Previous research from Cornell and Penn State suggest a 0.5 to 1 ton/acre per week decline in silage yield for planting after mid to late May.
Multi-Tasking
First and foremost during a time of year that can be very busy and stressful, taking every precaution to keep your team safe is critical.
The idea of fitting all of this work into a condensed time period, and still getting key tasks completed before critical deadlines can seem impossible, but year after year many find unique ways to get it all done. Consider working with neighbors, custom operators or renting equipment to accomplish these key tasks on time.
If you currently utilize custom operators, now is a good time to set up a time to meet with them and make sure you are on the same page to get tasks accomplished in the time-frame needed. Make sure that your expectations and goals are clearly defined. They will also be under stress to fit their work into a condensed period and meet their customers' expectations, so defining expectations and pre-planning how to most efficiently get the work accomplished when the custom operator arrives can go a long way to increase the chances for success.
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