Dana Gentile is working with us this summer and has been an amazing help enabling us to get so much more done on and off the farm!

Guest Blog Entry: Livestock farming

I am living upstate this summer, interning with KayCee and Owen on Awesome Farm to learn about livestock farming. They are hard at work producing really great quality grass fed meat, and they inspire me every day with their dedication and enthusiasm. When working on a livestock farm, every day is a workday. For now I look forward to my weekends off, but I can't help to think that every day workdays are in the near future for me as a livestock farmer. I think this hard work and commitment is sometimes forgotten when we buy meat in a store. We forget the farmers behind the product and also forget that the product was alive and had a healthy life. Working with Awesome Farm, I am grateful for the hard work and dedication that goes into livestock farming, and it certainly makes me want to know the farmers behind the local protein product. It's not just anyone who can care for these animals and deal with the life and death that occurs daily on a farm.

I have seen Awesome Farm's meat birds, also called broilers, go from chick to carcass. About 120 chicks are shipped via USPS to Awesome Farm. Their new home, a brooder barn, is ready for them with brooder lamps, wood chips and hay for bedding, water, and feed. The first thing we do when we unload the chicks from the box is to introduce each chick to the water by putting their beak in the water so they know what it is and where to find it. These little chicks get the idea and are drinking water and eating feed shortly after coming out of the box. They are so cute and very fast. We have to walk very slowly in their area as to not step on these little guys. The chicks live in the brooder until they are old enough to live in the meat bird pens out on pasture. These pens are moved daily so that the birds have the best fresh pasture. They are also given feed and water daily. I have to say, for me, moving the chicken pens each day is quite challenging and physically hard work. But the chickens deserve the best grass--as do the future chicken eaters--and that makes it worth the effort.

I have also had the pleasure of working during Awesome Farm's chicken slaughters. Being part of the slaughter process, makes me feel more connected to the food that I am eating. It is really important for me to understand how a chicken becomes dinner on my plate. After seeing the chicks from day one, it is pretty amazing to be part of the slaughter and see the bird turn into the meat you and I will consume. At first I wasn't sure how I would feel going through the slaughter process but my thought going into this was: "If I can not participate in the slaughter, I should not be eating meat." Thank goodness I am completely comfortable with the slaughter process because this Awesome Farm chicken is so good!