The mid morning sun shines piercing amber light through rowsand rows of grapes, their leaves the color of fall during these last daysclinging to the vine after a bountiful harvest. Soon these vines will be naked, waiting out winter in Southern California,until they can be pruned and brought back to life by careful hands. I’m in Temecula, a little valley of wineand agriculture between Orange County and San Diego, in the southwest corner ofRiverside County. It’s harvest festival weekend, so the wineries are full andlimos and party buses creep along the 2 lane roads, but I make a turn, and whenthe pavement ends I park up a sloping driveway and am greeted by a tall smilingman, welcoming me into his garage.
I’m at Primal Pastures, a project launched by Tom McDaniel topromote local, sustainable eating. Hefound that finding good quality, pastured meats in Southern California wastough, and why truck in something from out of state when we practically have ayear round growing season? While he’d alwaysbeen interested in healthy living (he even mentioned the old hippy staple,Mother Earth news) and had been toying with the idea of getting somethingstarted, it took a few family members – and coincidentally Crossfitenthusiast/Paleo eaters – to really get the operation up and running. The family rallied, and his ‘pasture’ wasborn. Taking cues from Joel Salatin, whois considered a pioneer in pasture farming and a voice for conscious eating, heset up his 2 acres, built some pens, and ordered some chicks.
What are pasture meats?
Pasture farming is different than free range. The USDA defines free range or free roamingas such: “Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowedaccess to the outside”, but the definition of allowing access is up fordebate. It could be that the coop dooris left open to a concrete slab, or the chickens have access to outside sometime in their life but not consistently. They do not have to have access to grass and bugs, or the ability towalk around, peck, nest, roost, and engage in general chicken shenanigans.
More conventional (factoryfarmed) chickens are kept tightly packed in pens, where they are so crowdedthey’ll often peck at each other. Thishas led some farmers to ‘de-beak’ chicks when they hatch, which may seembarbaric and inhumane, but has yet to be outlawed. The McDaniel’s chickens not only have thefreedom to roam, but they can establish a pecking order and sort out anyissues. A few of the chickens puffedchests and made little squawks, but they soon moved on to eat grass and enjoythe sunshine. While you might see“vegetarian fed” eggs and chicken in the store, chickens are notherbivores. They eat bugs and worms, sowhile it’s good to know that supplemental feed doesn’t have any ground upanimal parts in it, pasture chicken will not be vegetarians....read more after the jump!
“It’s amazing how much grass they eat”
The chickens have a coop and penthat moves with them as they forage, always having access to as much greengrass, bugs and worms as they can eat. Whenthe grass has been close to depleted, the pen and the chickens move over to anew pasture and the process repeats itself indefinitely. While the amount of grass and bugs/worms theyeat is substantial, The McDaniels also supplement their diet with an organicfeed, that while expensive, is a great soy-free, GMO-free mix made of mostlyclover and alfalfa. It does have some cornand wheat in it, but chicken have the ability to process those items better dueto the specialized digestive system. When they pick at the ground they swallow rocks and pebbles that helpmash and digest things that a human wouldn’t be able to.
Most people feel that this way of farming is more work, hasless returns, and itnot sustainable. Rob McDaniels saysthat’s “misleading”. They both agreethat it’s probably amore work right for them because they’re still learning and working out so manykinks, and there aren’t too many pasture meat producers to look to, especiallyin Southern California. He alsomentioned that they are a relatively manageable and quiet animal (the roostersonly start crowing at an age that occurs just after processing, so they makelittle noise), and I was impressed at how little noise those 140 chickensmade.
Nutritional Impact
So why spring for pastured meats? Aside from knowing you won’t be feeding yourfamily any hormones or antibiotics; you also get higher Omega 3’s (the goodfats) and a lower ratio of Omega 3 (good) to Omega 6(bad) fats. I asked if they ever had sick chicken, andthey said they did…once. They gave himsome raw milk and apple cider vinegar and he sprang back to life, and whilethey let him live out his days with the rest of his flock, he wasn’t sold afterprocessing as a precaution.
The real threat to these chickens is predators. Because they live outside most of the time,they can be extremely vulnerable. Between a bobcat and the neighbor’s dog, the McDaniel’s lost 60 chickensin about a week. They’re also targetsfor owls and other birds of prey, and raccoons. The McDaniels have since put some electricfencing around the chickens to keep predators out, and usher them into a coopat night to keep them safe. The newchicks that arrive spend about 3 weeks in a heated, enclosed, floorless coopuntil they’re large enough to move outside. I saw a few cats roaming the property and asked if they were ever aproblem, and I was told they keep the gophers down, have never bothered thechickens, and even get some innards at processing time.
Tom McDaniel has a little garden, where he’s toyed with theidea of offering organic produce to his customers as well. They place woodchips in the bottom of thefloorless coops , which makes great compost when it comes time to move thepen, so he had some great luck with asubstance crop. He also hoped to starthis expansion soon, adding some sheep and then cows. They also just bought some ‘layers’ in thehopes to offer pastured eggs in the very near future.
So easy a caveman coulddo it?
Hanging out with the McDaniels made the whole process seem soeasy, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t inspired (I went home and researchedthe best ‘backyard’ chickens and asked my bewildered husband if he liked myplacement in the yard for a coop), but make no mistake, these guys workhard. Tom’s son Rob frequently does themorning feeding and once, when he was a little late getting up, the chickenshad busted down the pen and were waiting for him by the back door. I toldhim that sounded like a horror movie – I can’t imagine 140 chickens “waiting”for me – but he just laughed. TheMcDaniels have such an easy disposition, that even when they discuss thehardships, they do it with a smile. Theyrealize that the learning curve is steep for them, and that they have morechallenges because they’re making mistakes and making changes, but have a lotof desire for a good end result and truly believe in the mission.
Pasture to plate
They process chickens about every 3 weeks, and have a simple,yet sophisticated area set up that is similar to the method used at Salatin’sPolyface Farm. The USDA Human SlaughterAct*, which was passed in 1958 to decrease suffering oflivestock during slaughter, doesn’t mention poultry, so slaughter methods can vary, but theMcDaniels place the chickens upside down in a “kill cone” where they become woozy and partially consciousbefore swiftly cutting the throat for a quick bleed out. Then there is the scald and the automatic plucker which makessure they’re feather free. Thesemachines have helped the McDaniels process more birds, while maintaining acommitment to compassionate and sustainable farming. They remove the head, innards, and feet,and then let the bird air dry in the fridge for a few days which allows theenzymes to denature the meat and make it tender. Then they vacuum seal them and freeze them.When you get your chicken it will look exactly like it does in the store, exceptit will taste better, provide a better nutritional profile, and have a smallernegative impact on the environment.
It may seem graphic for most, but this is the way that littleroasted bird gets to your plate, and if you haven’t been exposed to it, itmight seem daunting. Rob McDaniel saidthe night of his first processing he couldn’t eat chicken, but after a fewtimes through he had a newfound appreciation for the chickens, and has notrouble enjoying them on any day. Iguarantee you if you search for videos on YouTube of cow/pig/chicken slaughteryou will be horrified and disgusted at what you see. Watching a video of the Polyface slaughterpractice (the same at the McDaniels) after that will seem so much more humane. I haven’t had much experience with hunting (Iknow I can reel in, gut, and eat a fish), so I asked if I could come back andhelp with processing. I feel like it’simportant to know where your food comes from, and I’m definitely veryappreciate of the McDaniels because I’m not sure I’d have it in me. Perhaps that’s part 2 of this article?
The guys were nice enough to send me home with a couple birdsand while the meat was excellent, they made the most delicious broth I’d evertasted. I thought Tom McDaniel was alittle wacky when he said he drank the broth for breakfast a lot, but I foundmyself doing thesame thing.
Interested in getting on the pasture meat bandwagon? If you live in Southern California, get on Primal Pasture's waitlist. (you can pick up your chicken in Temecula or they have several drop off locations). If you don't live in CA, check out your local farmer's market, EatWild, or look into getting some of your own!
The Recipe: Paleo Rosemary & Black Tea Crockpot Chicken (and broth)
* (a) in the case of cattle, calves,horses, mules, sheep, swine, and other livestock, all animals are renderedinsensible to pain by a single blow or gunshot or an electrical, chemical orother means that is rapid and effective, before being shackled, hoisted,thrown, cast, or cut; or
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