Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
factors, from properly estimating overhead costs to charging a fair price. The Center for Integ-
rated Agricultural Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a poultry-
enterprise budget spreadsheet applicable to most kinds and sizes of poultry enterprises (see
step-by-step through the definitions and structure of a poultry budget. Poultry scientists, produ-
cers, and other experts reviewed this budget system in order to provide a thorough method for
determining economic viability. Careful use of enterprise budgets such as this can provide data
for better farm-business decision making.
Northeast organic poultry farmers have been and continue to be successful in the humane
and healthy production of eggs and meat. Many of the producers surveyed and interviewed by
this author have shown innovation and sincerity in their efforts to create integrated poultry sys-
tems that provide the birds with a natural life and themselves with a viable living. Most are
small producers with flocks of fewer than a thousand who have included poultry in their farm's
diversity. The job is more challenging for large organic producers, but they are also being creat-
ive in order to grow large numbers of birds under at least the minimum standards as currently
defined. Both ends of the spectrum are adapting their systems always, one hopes, to reflect the
spirit of the law and uphold the integrity of organic practices.
Table 11. Standards for Broiler Growth (Live Weight in Pounds)
Week Cockerels Pullets
1 0.27 0.25
2 0.61 0.54
3 1.09 0.94
4 1.66 1.41
5 2.24 1.89
6 2.91 2.42
7 3.66 3.00
8 4.38 3.58
Source: Based on information in Leonard S. Mercia, Raising Poultry the Modern Way (Charlotte, VT: Garden Way Pub-
lishing, 1975).
Table 12. Standards for Broad-Breasted White Turkey Growth— (Live Weight in Pounds)
Weeks
Toms
Hens
2
0.55
0 .53
4
1.40
1.20
6
2.50
2.00
