As “wanna-be” homesteaders, we are blessed that we currently live just a few hours away from Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farms. Joel is widely known for his successful beyond organic, grass-based farm as well as his ability to teach and mentor aspiring farmers. We are working our way through all of his books and have visited his farm three times (so far). Two of the visits were of the lunatic tour variety, where Joel or Daniel Salatin take groups on hayride tours to see and discuss the farm’s practices.
Here are some pictures of our tour-based visits and a small snapshot into Polyface Farms.
The Egg-Mobile
This is the “eggmobile”, which carries 500 Rhode Island Red chickens. The chickens move daily to fresh pasture where they follow 3 to 4 days behind the cow rotation. The chickens are nicknamed the “sanitation crew” because they dig through and spread out cow patties and eat the fly larvae. The fly larvae are at the perfect developmental stage to give maximum nutrition to the chickens. This cycle controls the fly population on the farm, as well as well as providing needed protein to the chickens. And the result of the cleanup crew is delicious, pastured eggs!
Salad Bar Beef
The cows or “salad bar beef” were a fun stop on the tour. The cows move daily to fresh pasture where they eat grass at its “juvenile” height, promoting healthy grass at maximum nutrition for the cattle. They are put in an area where they completely mow down the grass; if they are in too large an area the cows will only eat their favorite grasses and leave the rest, which does not provide maximum nutrition for them. By moving them daily, they sequester carbon and fertilize the ground, which builds soil.
Happy, Pastured Pork
The pigs were one of my favorite stops on the tour! In April, we were able to see them work the compost from the winter animal housing. In the housing, they dig for fermented corn and do all the work of getting the compost ready to spread. The pigs are happy! They use the plows on their noses to do what ordinarily would take a lot of time and work for the farmer. Amazingly, even though we were looking at ten feet of manure (and my son was running around in it!) there was no smell at all!
On our tour in June, we saw the pigs in the forest. They root for acorns and other food and disturb the landscape. This is very beneficial for the trees — the pigs eat insects around the base of the trees that would otherwise cause harm. It was neat to see the pigs so content and happy “at work” and doing yet another job that benefits the farm.
The Broilers / Chicken Tractors
The broilers (meat chickens) are moved daily in the lightweight chicken tractors. These shelters keep the chickens safe from predators while providing fresh air, sunlight, and fresh grass for the chickens. Because they are enclosed at eye level, the tractors even protect the chickens from raccoons who don’t realized they could climb on top of the tractors.
They are processed at 8 weeks old and are a favorite of the customers. I have to agree — we brought home some broilers and I’ve never had better pastured chicken!
You Should Visit!
If you are ever within a reasonable distance of Polyface Farms, I highly recommend a visit — especially a lunatic tour. Joel and Daniel graciously take time to answer questions throughout and after the tour; they are so encouraging. We left freshly inspired and better equipped for our own plans.
I mentioned we took two tours, and what we found was that each visit is completely different. There is always more to learn! The animals and enterprises change with the seasons. Also, different visitors ask different and helpful questions.
Of course, if you can’t visit, Joel writes informative and entertaining books. 🙂
Have you visited Polyface Farms? What were the highlights of your tour? If you aren’t able to visit, is there a favorite farm in YOUR area giving tours and sharing knowledge that you would recommend visiting?
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Awesome! This is great, and I absolutely love the pictures. Great job Jenny, I am so proud of you!
Thanks so much Amber! 🙂
Joel Salatin is my hero! It is a dream of mine to visit his farm one day!
Lindsey, I hope you get to visit one day! 🙂 It is well worth the trip!
Make a plan and GO!! We stopped there one afternoon while traveling… the power failed and they were able to stop work and answer questions. I was enthralled with actually seeing the farm. And totally shocked that farms around them obviously do not follow the practices of Polyface!!
It is such a wonderful, place, isn’t it Ruthie? 🙂
It is truly wonderful! Just think how much better off we would all be if every farmer followed Joel’s system!!
Thank you so much for sharing. We’re glad that you had a good time! 🙂 Come back again!!
Thank you so much, Sheri! 🙂 We will hopefully be back for at least part of the the Farm-to-Consumer-Defense weekend in September. Blessings to you! So grateful for all you do 🙂
Loved the pictures! I am hoping to make a visit to Polyface sometime soon…..as much to see the farm as to see my son. My son is currently an intern there this summer. He is having the best time and learning so much. He just loves it there.
What a wonderful opportunity for your son! 🙂 I hope you enjoy visiting!! It is soooo beautiful there – we really enjoy the drive when you start getting close! One of the neatest things to me is you can look at Joel’s land and then right across the fence you can see another farm..are you can SEE such a difference in the land 🙂 Polyface really is an incredible, inspiring place 🙂
It’s great that the animals in that farm eat natural food. However, it’s really hard to eat an animal if you saw their live version. 🙁
Thanks for touring us to Polyface farms!
I totally understand how you feel, Jemma!! 🙂 I really like seeing the animals alive, however, as I know that they have lived a happy, healthy life and were processed in a humane way. 🙂 You might actually like a post on my blog that I did recently on dealing with farm death. http://livingacres.blogspot.com/2013/05/dealing-with-death-on-farm.html 🙂
Joel is an inspiration to many. Our family has attended the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, PA where he has been a speaker. We are attending again this September and he will be there as a speaker again. Even our kids, ages 11 & 13 enjoy listening to him speak. His sessions are always full, with many people standing just to learn from him.
We aren’t raising our own meat but we are growing many of our own fruits and veggies and preserving them. We are up to our eyeballs in blueberries right now. We also have 6 hens who are giving us fresh eggs everyday! This spring we have ventured in to beekeeping.
Thanks for this post. I really enjoyed the pictures.
Hi Sonya, I’ll have to look that event up! I think we may be close enough to go! 😉 Joel is such an engaging speaker – he’s so funny! It sounds like you have a wonderful homestead going – I would love to try bees one day. 🙂
I would LOVE to visit Polyface Farm! Unfortunately we are in SoCal… FORTUNATELY we have Primal Pastures Farm!! They use Joel’s model and we are so thankful to be able to visit and purchase from them!!
Can’t tell you how many times hubby and I have driven I-81 and I didn’t know they were right there. I thought they were in NC. Anyway, we are over-the-road truck drivers so we can’t just stop by with our 18-wheeler, especially if we are under a load.
One of these days though, when not in the truck…