A few miles outside of Toledo, a large rooster sits atop a fence with the sign “Prairie Farms.” Behind that fence is a beautifully well cared for poultry operation.
Four barns stretch back from the road. The yard is immaculate with a mowed lawn, trimmed trees, flowers, art and a comfortable home beyond.
This is a place that is obviously loved and filled with pride.
It is one of the agricultural gems of Lewis County.
Prairie Farms is the home of Marty and Rose Swofford. Marty and Rose bought the farm from his parents after he retired from a career in the military (thank you for your years of service, Marty).
When I was in elementary school and junior high, my family raised a lot of chickens and sheep, along with dairy cattle, before going strictly to dairy. Things in the poultry world have changed a lot since then.
I sat and talked with Marty and Rose in their home and tried to get brought up to speed. Technology and automation have improved and have taken away a lot of the labor (Marty and I compared childhood stories of packing five chickens at a time to waiting trucks) and “guesswork” out of the equation.
Marty and Rose recently upgraded their computer system (which was not cheap) to better allow them to run their operation — family farms are finding it harder and harder to survive — with only one part-time, occasional employee. One of the things Marty likes about the new computer system is that he can be out mowing hay or working with his cattle, and he will get an alarm on his phone if it is something critical. He can stop what he is doing and rush to the barns to take care of the issue. But if it is “only a warning” of something like the automatic feeders are going to run out of feed in a couple hours, he can continue working and still get to the barns in time to resolve it before it becomes a big issue.
It’s a little bit more freedom with a little less stress.
They have also made enhancements aimed at improving the happiness of their chickens. When Marty’s parents ran the farm, the barns housed 25,000 to 30,000 birds per barn. Marty and Rose run 20,000 birds per barn in order to meet the standards of the Global Animal Partnership (GAP). They have safely fenced areas and provide shades for when the chickens go outdoors on warm days. They have built in protection from predators, including birds such as eagles that enjoy a nice chicken dinner. Rose and Marty usually run in the 2-and-a-half to 3-and-a-half percentage range for mortality. That is very good, and is is due to their diligence in caring for their birds.
Lewis County is No. 1 — the top poultry producing county in Washington. Most chickens raised here are raised on a contract basis for either Draper Valley (a division of Perdue) or Foster Farms. Marty and Rose are contracted with Draper Valley. The Swoffords have attended the Animal Care Conference and are a part of the GAP as part of Draper Valley.
What does all that mean? It means that they work with, and meet the requirements of animal husbandry standards, of organizations such as Humane World for Animals, Compassionate World Farming and Mercy for Animals.
Daily, they walk the length of each barn four times to see every bird. They adjust the height of the feeders and waterers as the chickens grow so that everything is at an optimal height. They monitor the ventilation, propane use (for heaters to keep the birds warm) and temperature closely.
Day-old chicks arrive and are put in a barn that is 90 degrees. On day two, the temperature is dropped to 89.5 degrees, and it continues to drop half a degree every day. At 21 days, the chickens are fully feathered, and by day 45, the barns are down to 65 degrees.
A side note: The reason so many chickens raised in the United States are raised in southern states is because of the warmer climate there — chickens are much less expensive to raise when you don’t have to heat barns, especially in the winter, as we have to do here in Southwest Washington. Birds grow larger in warmer climates because they are not spending energy keeping themselves warm. It takes a lot of careful watching and attention to details to produce healthy, thriving chickens.
Marty and Rose get paid a premium rate for their chickens because of all the care they put into them. The floors of their barns are dry. The barns are well-ventilated and temperatures are closely monitored. Their chickens are non-genetically modified organisms (their feeds contain no GMOs), free range, and never receive any antibiotics. That can be a challenge — Rose explained to me that they supplement their water naturally with things such as oregano, copper and Vitamin D, among other things, all done to raise healthy chickens.
Rose handles most of the GAP paperwork (extensive documentation), checks the generators, watches for water leaks, and does the feed inventory to ensure feed (400 tons per grow of 80,000 birds) arrives when it is needed.
They may get a few short breaks during the year after they have shipped out a batch of chickens — maybe up to a week. They do six rotations per year. First, though, they must put in about 40 hours to clean, dry, disinfect and bed the barns for the next shipment of those tiny little chicks. This includes blowing clean all the ceilings and brooders, washing all the walls and disinfecting them with an anti-bacterial solution, washing the fans, performing maintenance on all equipment (such as grain augers and fans — they typically use two fans in the winter and eight in the summer), checking belts, greasing and disinfecting the floors.
The list goes on.
About four days before new chicks are scheduled to arrive, they put the feeders down so they can start feeding. Trucks arrive with boxes of chicks that are unloaded and brought into the barns by forklift, and then Rose and Marty unpack the boxes and start caring for their new arrivals.
Nothing is guaranteed in farming. They need to be home seven days a week all year round. Hopefully, after shipping out a batch and doing all the cleaning and preparations, there is a few days break before the arrival of the next batch. Litter from the barns is composted and used to enrich the soil of their farm and neighboring farms. Having four barns, they need their 100 acres operation plus 70 acres they lease to dispose of their fertilizer in the manner they feel is best. They periodically have extra to sell as well.
I always encourage people to buy food produced as locally as possible. Draper Valley, started in 1935, is one of those sources — chickens grown in Washington and Oregon using feed from their Washington feed mill and the birds are processed and packaged in Mt. Vernon, Washington, and sold in local stores. They use a third-party certification by partnering with GAP and are rated as seen on their packaging.
They are proud of their guiding principle “the way nature intended.” Their chickens are raised in a reduced stress environment and never receive antibiotics.
Marty and Rose hope one of their children will be taking over the farm someday. They realize it will require continuing with an off-the-farm job in order to make ends meet, and to have medical insurance.
Marty’s final comment before heading back to the barn and the project he was working on when I arrived, interrupting his work — “nothing is guaranteed in farming.”
Oh, so true.
•••
Maureen Harkcom grew up on a Lewis County dairy and operated a beef and native hay operation and developed an equine competition facility. She is a past president of Lewis County Farm Bureau and a current member of Washington Farm Bureau Board of Directors. She can be reached by email at maureen.harkcom@gmail.com.
