Havasu's Fort Rock Farms, the story of a fat guy and his wife.

[wash11]

we got chickens last week and did one beer can style in the pellet grill. I didn't do any extra rubs or seasoning this first time to see just the chicken. Just like the beef...big difference from store bought!

Glad you liked it! That beer can recipe is the way to go!

 

[STV_Keith]

As soon as Best Buy can delivery the damn freezer I ordered in March, we'll get at least another 1/4. Now I know why the meat loaf is so good (made another one last night)...

 

[wash11]

Election, Covid, general uncertainty, new customers or just great beef- whatever it is, November beef sales are up 233%. Several repeat customers are skipping 1/4's and doing 1/2's and even whole steer purchases, "with everything going on, I don't want to have to think about running out of food".

I've got 2 steers (4 quarters each) available for mid December delivery and 2 steers (4 quarters each) available for mid January that I can guarantee delivery on. If you are on the fence or have been thinking about ordering, seriously, now is the time.

One of the meat cutters in our area is burned out, can't find any good help and recently announced that he is shutting his doors for good. This puts a huge demand on the remaining two butchers that I use. It's already tough securing butcher dates less than 3 months out, this will likely push it to 5 months.

Strange times, can't wait for life to go back to normal again.

 

[checkrd past]

Great read and a job well done!!

 

[wash11]

The days are getting shorter and temps dropping pretty quick. Winter is on the way and we're looking forward to the annual slowdown even though we're in the middle of some big projects. Late yesterday we had some time to sit outside and relax after a super long week. I'm not sure what it is but fall makes everything look different. Colors are sharp but not as much pop as summer. Whatever it is, I like it.

 

[stokerwhore]

whatever happened to the pond project?

 

[wash11]

whatever happened to the pond project?

Still on the list. We'll get to it someday but will likely take another 10-12 grand to finish. We've had so much other stuff come up that needed money and attention first.

 

[stokerwhore]

i thought maybe i had missed it or something. i'm looking forward to seeing that part of the deal

 

[wash11]

Pasture-raised chicken. It’s our most labor-intensive enterprise by far. Poultry represents the cash flow that keeps things going, though. 225-260 Chicks arrive at 2-3 days old and get started in the brooder. At 3.5 weeks, they have enough feathers to be comfortable out on the grass. One hundred birds get pulled for butchering (Cornish game hens), and the rest go to the grass. The brooder then gets a break for a couple of days, which gives us a chance to remove some soiled peat moss for the compost piles then put a new top dressing down. Amy has the chicks scheduled to arrive just under every four weeks. She changes the number ordered depending on weather forecasts and grass health. My job is to estimate feed needed when to order, and how much to stock.

At 7.5 weeks, we are setting up our state-inspected poultry process center and getting ready to butcher. Once the season starts, we’re butchering every 3.5-4 weeks. The birds are packaged and frozen by eight weeks, ready for delivery.

I like working with the birds but don’t like that it ties us to the farm. You really can’t be gone for any length of time during the long poultry season. Every business has to have its “nuts and bolts.” For us, it’s poultry, and it runs nine months out of the year.

This is what "chick day" looks like. Seems weird but they are shipped via USPS and we have to pick up from our local post office early morning before they open. Each chick has to be shown where its water comes from. They find feed and heat on their own.

Here they are at 3 weeks, just about ready for Cornish Game Hen butcher or to be moved to grass.

 

[Howardflat]

Hows the green house coming?

 

[wash11]

We raise the birds on pasture grass, so they get a diverse diet, exercise to build healthy muscle, and have the ability to move them to fresh grass every 24 hours. If they aren’t standing in a pile of their own manure, there are no illness issues due to pathogens. And, it’s a pretty great life for a chicken. We have several 10’x12’ portable structures that we call “chicken tractors” that allow us to give the birds sun, shade and protection from predators. They also allow us to control the movements so we can manage the grasses.

We move them in the early morning hours while they are still a bit sleepy. It's also nice and cool for us.

We let the layers run behind and scratch through the heavy manure before watering. It helps speed up the process of getting the nitrogen into the ground which is how we grow these grasses so fast, without synthetic fertilizers.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

@wash11 my wife and I are big on pasture-raised and 100% grass-fed. How is this pasture-raised if they start out on what appears to be grain before they are moved to the grass? Is there a time limit that they can be on feed before moving outside? Is the feed not actually grain?

 

[wash11]

We put up a nice 30'x72' high tunnel for the 2021 veggie season and were thankful to have it when winter weather showed up early. These birds can handle cold, wind, rain- even some snow. But, not all of them together and that's just what that first storm brought. So, Amy and I had a short window to move a couple hundred birds by hand to keep them safe. Add that it was the end of a very long season, we weren't super pumped about the extra days labor followed by another day of moving them once the snow melted and temps went back to normal.

We set up electric fence to keep them safe and spread out a bale of alfalfa to mimic the grasses they are used to. This is only a short term option as you still don't want them spending too much time in their manure. Square footage per bird would give us a week to 10 days if we really had to push it.

Of course, Gus prefers to spend the days hanging out with "his" birds. 37 degrees outside, 82 inside. We call it Club Med. Actually, both dogs have made a huge difference in our predator losses. We only got hit by one skunk this year that killed 11 birds. It had been 18 months with no incidents before that. The more we grow- they just can't be everywhere at once.

 

[wash11]

@wash11 my wife and I are big on pasture-raised and 100% grass-fed. How is this pasture-raised if they start out on what appears to be grain before they are moved to the grass? Is there a time limit that they can be on feed before moving outside? Is the feed not actually grain?

Chickens are omnivores, they all need a protein mash to grow out. They still have protein mash (high quality of course) when on pasture grass. Pastured poultry describes the method used to raise them- not the diet. It's a great question though and one of the reasons I'm doing these posts. RDP reaches well beyond my little bubble- I want you guys to patronize growers in your areas but I also want you to know what you are looking for.

Edit to add: On pasture they eat a truckload of grass, it's only about 30% of their protein intake but the diversity of the diet is what makes the difference. There's a bunch of people doing this on just fescue or rye. You want a producer that's using at least 7-10 different grasses.
We grow 3 different clovers, 2 rye grasses, alfalfa, trefoil, buckwheat, japanese millet and flax.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Chickens are omnivores, they all need a protein mash to grow out. They still have protein mash (high quality of course) when on pasture grass. Pastured poultry describes the method used to raise them- not the diet. It's a great question though and one of the reasons I'm doing these posts. RDP reaches well beyond my little bubble- I want you guys to patronize growers in your areas but I also want you to know what you are looking for.

Edit to add: On pasture they eat a truckload of grass, it's only about 30% of their protein intake but the diversity of the diet is what makes the difference. There's a bunch of people doing this on just fescue or rye. You want a producer that's using at least 7-10 different grasses.
We grow 3 different clovers, 2 rye grasses, alfalfa, trefoil, buckwheat, japanese millet and flax.

Great info wash. Thanks!

 

[SoCalDave]

Still my second favorite thread here on RDP.
Number one is Joel's "Going off the grid" one.

 

[Flatsix66]

Anytime we let the chickens out then out of nowhere a Coyote will show up out of nowhere and steal one... right in front of us! Bold mother duckers. You guys have a great operation, love this thread.

 

[wash11]

Butcher day is 8-10 hours start to finish. I'll go into more detail on a later post- it's a lot. But here's a quick rundown.
We load the birds the night before into our stock trailer and park them where they need to be for the following day. They are night blind and very easy to handle calmly after dark. Amy cooks up a batch of burritos to keep everyone fed the following day too.
It takes an hour or so to wipe everything down with bleach, fire up the commercial scalder, sharpen knives etc. We turn on some 90's hip hop, not because any of us really like it, but because we all seem to know the words.
I start with 12 birds in the kill cones followed by 4 at a time in the rotary scalder to loosen feathers then into the plucker for about 30 seconds. From there the birds go to the first station which is legs and heads then inside to the evisceration tables to be finished before heading to one of 12 coolers full of ice water to rest overnight. That chill time is an important process and results in tender meat.
On an average day with plenty of chit chat, four of us average 32 birds per hour.
Cleanup is terribly long, a couple hours at least. We only use chlorine before and after the process, never during. In a commercial setting, chlorine water is used from start to finish. With mechanical processing there's little fecal matter control so the chlorine is needed to offset the mess. When you have four experienced people doing the entire process by hand, you have total control of sanitation- chemicals never touch your dinner.

Calm inside the trailer with plenty of room to move around if they want. They typically choose to just rest though.

 

[wash11]

The following day we pull from ice, do final quality control then use a shrink wrap process before putting in the freezers.

After the deep freeze, we prepare for delivery day. We used to charge per pound which meant weighing out every bird, converting to ounces then pricing. A little time consuming but not terrible. Since we pre-sell everything before delivery day we were able to give customers totals so they are ready for us. Where the big time suck came in was organizing those birds and loading them for delivery in an order that made sense. Here's what delivery morning used to look like. It was effing painful.

We went to a flat rate pricing that averages out about the same. On some of the larger birds we might be giving up a few bucks but the hours we picked up more than offset the new ease of delivery day. There's been 100 tweaks like this to get us to this point.

 

[wash11]

Several states nationwide allow for what's called PL 90-492. It's a federal exemption that allows for open air, on farm processing up to 20,000 birds without a USDA inspection (but state inspections apply). Big AG hates this and has lobbied against it for years. Every time you buy a chicken raised and processed the way we do you're telling big AG to eat a dick. There's not a chance we could do this without you guys. If you could spend a day or a week at our place you'd see first hand what a difference you make when you vote with your food dollars. Take a look at the pics of our poultry above then look at these pics of commercial poultry operations. These weren't pulled from vegan websites but from the chicken house manufacturers websites. These are literally the best pics they have to put forward.

And here's my absolute favorite. USDA Certified Organic chicken production. Basically, .gov says if you feed organic chicken feed in the same confinement operation, you can satisfy the trophy wives at Whole Foods.

 

[wash11]

Here's a quick time lapse video of the morning move. Every day. Fresh water, feed and grass.

 

[wings_of_eagles]

What are you spreading on the ground after you move the pen?
Nice operation, when do you go back to the starting location?

Here's a quick time lapse video of the morning move. Every day. Fresh water, feed and grass.
View attachment 956387

 

[RiverDave]

Interesting little foot note.. You see the watering system where Wash11 is holding the chick up to the metal nipple? My old man invented that.

It used to be self filling bowls and all the chickens would drink out of the bowl. Two problems was obviously it was wasteful, but the main problem is one chicken gets sick and it infects the water in the bowl and now you got a bunch of sick chickens..

He designed and developed a stainless steel nipple that hung down from the pipe, when the nipple was nudged a small portion of water would come out and the surface tension of the water would leave a drop hanging from the end..

The company was called “Aqua Drop” and it took the poultry business by storm. My suggestion for the company name when I was about Daniels age was “Poultra Peck.” Anyhow I remember him debating something and actually asking me one time (like I would know the answer) “Do ya think I oughta anodize the pipes?”

It was an amazing operation ran out of Carlsbad California.. he designed the entire assembly line with large turning circular bins that were divided.. Large machines that would feed a pretty good diameter pipe and then drill and tap it to install the units.

He didn’t know that the farmers in big grow houses would occasionally run some pretty harsh chemicals through the pipes (at least that what I remember it being) once every so often..

The aluminum pipes corroded.. He personally bought every single system back and went from making millions a year to being millions in debt overnight.

we took a trip to the Midwest one time, I wish I could say where but I don’t know.. stayed at a nice guys house, he took me fishing. We all sat down at a pretty formal table in his house for dinner and the guy looked at me and said “Dave I have known a lot of people in my life. Your dad could have easily filed bankruptcy and the debts would go away. Your dad personally paid every single dollar off.”

A big player in the game wanted to buy the technology. It was all patented and there was no way around it. My family was in a very hard financial situation.. The kind where mom breaks the actual ceramic piggy bank to take the kids to Carl’s Jr.

Every week the big player in the game would come within a hair of a deal, and then they’d back off.. It was about six months (maybe longer?) into it when my old man figured out the strategy wasn’t to buy him out but rather wait him out.

He pressed eventually a deal was struck with Chore Time. He designed all their regulators and much of their product line you see today. They paid and paid royalties for a long time.. I believe my mom got her last royalty check from them four or five years ago and it was pretty minimal as most the parents had expired. Now everybody makes them..

The chicken business is a ruthless business..

After that the old man went back to Toilet valves and other things.

In my garage to this day I have some of the remnants of that old production line.. The large pipe in the corner that we used as a test fixture fir a scuba tank powered “turbo” for lack of a better word (longer story than here) is one of the tubes from that biz.. old air cylinders I have were extra from the production line.. these old skate board wheels I had were actually what fed the tubing..

when I liquidated his old shop, the sagino (sp?) tapping heads ($$$) were from that production line etc..

Every time I see a modern day chicken watering system I can’t help but think of my old man, and that was one of a thousand (seriously) ways he changed the world.

Sorry for the thread jack. Always tough this time of year.. He died on Jan 6 - 2009 so I think about it a lot around this time.
RD

 

[CarolynandBob]

Wash11 Do you ship product or is it for Havasu delivery only?

 

[wash11]

Interesting little foot note.. You see the watering system where Wash11 is holding the chick up to the metal nipple? My old man invented that.

It used to be self filling bowls and all the chickens would drink out of the bowl. Two problems was obviously it was wasteful, but the main problem is one chicken gets sick and it infects the water in the bowl and now you got a bunch of sick chickens..

He designed and developed a stainless steel nipple that hung down from the pipe, when the nipple was nudged a small portion of water would come out and the surface tension of the water would leave a drop hanging from the end..

The company was called “Aqua Drop” and it took the poultry business by storm. My suggestion for the company name when I was about Daniels age was “Poultra Peck.” Anyhow I remember him debating something and actually asking me one time (like I would know the answer) “Do ya think I oughta anodize the pipes?”

It was an amazing operation ran out of Carlsbad California.. he designed the entire assembly line with large turning circular bins that were divided.. Large machines that would feed a pretty good diameter pipe and then drill and tap it to install the units.

He didn’t know that the farmers in big grow houses would occasionally run some pretty harsh chemicals through the pipes (at least that what I remember it being) once every so often..

The aluminum pipes corroded.. He personally bought every single system back and went from making millions a year to being millions in debt overnight.

we took a trip to the Midwest one time, I wish I could say where but I don’t know.. stayed at a nice guys house, he took me fishing. We all sat down at a pretty formal table in his house for dinner and the guy looked at me and said “Dave I have known a lot of people in my life. Your dad could have easily filed bankruptcy and the debts would go away. Your dad personally paid every single dollar off.”

A big player in the game wanted to buy the technology. It was all patented and there was no way around it. My family was in a very hard financial situation.. The kind where mom breaks the actual ceramic piggy bank to take the kids to Carl’s Jr.

Every week the big player in the game would come within a hair of a deal, and then they’d back off.. It was about six months (maybe longer?) into it when my old man figured out the strategy wasn’t to buy him out but rather wait him out.

He pressed eventually a deal was struck with Chore Time. He designed all their regulators and much of their product line you see today. They paid and paid royalties for a long time.. I believe my mom got her last royalty check from them four or five years ago and it was pretty minimal as most the parents had expired. Now everybody makes them..

The chicken business is a ruthless business..

After that the old man went back to Toilet valves and other things.

In my garage to this day I have some of the remnants of that old production line.. The large pipe in the corner that we used as a test fixture fir a scuba tank powered “turbo” for lack of a better word (longer story than here) is one of the tubes from that biz.. old air cylinders I have were extra from the production line.. these old skate board wheels I had were actually what fed the tubing..

when I liquidated his old shop, the sagino (sp?) tapping heads ($$$) were from that production line etc..

Every time I see a modern day chicken watering system I can’t help but think of my old man, and that was one of a thousand (seriously) ways he changed the world.

Sorry for the thread jack. Always tough this time of year.. He died on Jan 6 - 2009 so I think about it a lot around this time.
RD

Jesus RD, I got goosebumps reading that.

Truth is, without that nipple system- we couldn't do this. It would be too much labor to constantly clean and refill waters that are chick friendly. They can drown in a surprisingly small amount of water and shit in everything within 1/2 a city block. What your dad did moved bird health in all settings forward by about 100 years.

Absolutely amazing.

 

[wash11]

What are you spreading on the ground after you move the pen?
Nice operation, when do you go back to the starting location?

That's dry compost we spread behind. It soaks up ammonia from the move and holds the nitrogen in suspension instead of letting it just evaporate. The layers come in and scratch it into the existing soil then we water behind them. Add sunshine and heat and the grasses explode. We are ready to run another batch through in just 11 days. No machines, no synthetic fertilizers- just chicken power. Pretty cool actually.

 

[wash11]

Here's a good visual. One tractor, up and down- 12 moves (days). To the right of the birds is where we started. You can see how thick the grass has come back. The Japanese millet (tall yellow grass) is there to build soil and set deep roots so we trim that with a battery powered hedge trimmer before each move so the birds can easily move and find the young tender grasses.

Later in the season you can see how much the birds eat with just one move. It's pretty crazy.

There's no scientific value to this picture, I just like looking at Amy's butt in those work shorts.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Interesting little foot note.. You see the watering system where Wash11 is holding the chick up to the metal nipple? My old man invented that.

It used to be self filling bowls and all the chickens would drink out of the bowl. Two problems was obviously it was wasteful, but the main problem is one chicken gets sick and it infects the water in the bowl and now you got a bunch of sick chickens..

He designed and developed a stainless steel nipple that hung down from the pipe, when the nipple was nudged a small portion of water would come out and the surface tension of the water would leave a drop hanging from the end..

The company was called “Aqua Drop” and it took the poultry business by storm. My suggestion for the company name when I was about Daniels age was “Poultra Peck.” Anyhow I remember him debating something and actually asking me one time (like I would know the answer) “Do ya think I oughta anodize the pipes?”

It was an amazing operation ran out of Carlsbad California.. he designed the entire assembly line with large turning circular bins that were divided.. Large machines that would feed a pretty good diameter pipe and then drill and tap it to install the units.

He didn’t know that the farmers in big grow houses would occasionally run some pretty harsh chemicals through the pipes (at least that what I remember it being) once every so often..

The aluminum pipes corroded.. He personally bought every single system back and went from making millions a year to being millions in debt overnight.

we took a trip to the Midwest one time, I wish I could say where but I don’t know.. stayed at a nice guys house, he took me fishing. We all sat down at a pretty formal table in his house for dinner and the guy looked at me and said “Dave I have known a lot of people in my life. Your dad could have easily filed bankruptcy and the debts would go away. Your dad personally paid every single dollar off.”

A big player in the game wanted to buy the technology. It was all patented and there was no way around it. My family was in a very hard financial situation.. The kind where mom breaks the actual ceramic piggy bank to take the kids to Carl’s Jr.

Every week the big player in the game would come within a hair of a deal, and then they’d back off.. It was about six months (maybe longer?) into it when my old man figured out the strategy wasn’t to buy him out but rather wait him out.

He pressed eventually a deal was struck with Chore Time. He designed all their regulators and much of their product line you see today. They paid and paid royalties for a long time.. I believe my mom got her last royalty check from them four or five years ago and it was pretty minimal as most the parents had expired. Now everybody makes them..

The chicken business is a ruthless business..

After that the old man went back to Toilet valves and other things.

In my garage to this day I have some of the remnants of that old production line.. The large pipe in the corner that we used as a test fixture fir a scuba tank powered “turbo” for lack of a better word (longer story than here) is one of the tubes from that biz.. old air cylinders I have were extra from the production line.. these old skate board wheels I had were actually what fed the tubing..

when I liquidated his old shop, the sagino (sp?) tapping heads ($$$) were from that production line etc..

Every time I see a modern day chicken watering system I can’t help but think of my old man, and that was one of a thousand (seriously) ways he changed the world.

Sorry for the thread jack. Always tough this time of year.. He died on Jan 6 - 2009 so I think about it a lot around this time.
RD

Hell of a legacy RD.

 

[snowhammer]

Your story is amazing. I am from the midwest and surrounded by agriculture with only a passing understanding of the science behind it all. What I do know is that your story is a true testament to the rewards of dedication and hard work and that is compounded by the fact that you are doing this all in the desert!

 

[Ladsm]

Our friends invited us over a couple weeks ago to have some "Organic Chicken". I said its not organic unless its Fort Rock Farms Chicken. They said how did you know?? @wash11 you guys are getting noticed out there.

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Pasture-raised chicken. It’s our most labor-intensive enterprise by far. Poultry represents the cash flow that keeps things going, though. 225-260 Chicks arrive at 2-3 days old and get started in the brooder. At 3.5 weeks, they have enough feathers to be comfortable out on the grass. One hundred birds get pulled for butchering (Cornish game hens), and the rest go to the grass. The brooder then gets a break for a couple of days, which gives us a chance to remove some soiled peat moss for the compost piles then put a new top dressing down. Amy has the chicks scheduled to arrive just under every four weeks. She changes the number ordered depending on weather forecasts and grass health. My job is to estimate feed needed when to order, and how much to stock.

At 7.5 weeks, we are setting up our state-inspected poultry process center and getting ready to butcher. Once the season starts, we’re butchering every 3.5-4 weeks. The birds are packaged and frozen by eight weeks, ready for delivery.

I like working with the birds but don’t like that it ties us to the farm. You really can’t be gone for any length of time during the long poultry season. Every business has to have its “nuts and bolts.” For us, it’s poultry, and it runs nine months out of the year.

This is what "chick day" looks like. Seems weird but they are shipped via USPS and we have to pick up from our local post office early morning before they open. Each chick has to be shown where its water comes from. They find feed and heat on their own.
View attachment 956269

View attachment 956270

View attachment 956271

View attachment 956273

View attachment 956274

View attachment 956308

Here they are at 3 weeks, just about ready for Cornish Game Hen butcher or to be moved to grass.
View attachment 956276

I'll be damn... thats so cool. Love the way those lil fluff balls lined up to drink. They're getting the vip treatment at your farm for sure. Great post.

 

[RiverDave]

Hell of a legacy RD.

He was a hell of a guy.. that was one of thousands of things he did.. I thought about doing a testament to him on the death of his anniversary and putting up a patent a day starting on Jan 6..

I found 115-120’ish after he died.. there’s a lot more, but I didn’t want to pay a patent attorney to find them all.

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Interesting little foot note.. You see the watering system where Wash11 is holding the chick up to the metal nipple? My old man invented that.

It used to be self filling bowls and all the chickens would drink out of the bowl. Two problems was obviously it was wasteful, but the main problem is one chicken gets sick and it infects the water in the bowl and now you got a bunch of sick chickens..

He designed and developed a stainless steel nipple that hung down from the pipe, when the nipple was nudged a small portion of water would come out and the surface tension of the water would leave a drop hanging from the end..

The company was called “Aqua Drop” and it took the poultry business by storm. My suggestion for the company name when I was about Daniels age was “Poultra Peck.” Anyhow I remember him debating something and actually asking me one time (like I would know the answer) “Do ya think I oughta anodize the pipes?”

It was an amazing operation ran out of Carlsbad California.. he designed the entire assembly line with large turning circular bins that were divided.. Large machines that would feed a pretty good diameter pipe and then drill and tap it to install the units.

He didn’t know that the farmers in big grow houses would occasionally run some pretty harsh chemicals through the pipes (at least that what I remember it being) once every so often..

The aluminum pipes corroded.. He personally bought every single system back and went from making millions a year to being millions in debt overnight.

we took a trip to the Midwest one time, I wish I could say where but I don’t know.. stayed at a nice guys house, he took me fishing. We all sat down at a pretty formal table in his house for dinner and the guy looked at me and said “Dave I have known a lot of people in my life. Your dad could have easily filed bankruptcy and the debts would go away. Your dad personally paid every single dollar off.”

A big player in the game wanted to buy the technology. It was all patented and there was no way around it. My family was in a very hard financial situation.. The kind where mom breaks the actual ceramic piggy bank to take the kids to Carl’s Jr.

Every week the big player in the game would come within a hair of a deal, and then they’d back off.. It was about six months (maybe longer?) into it when my old man figured out the strategy wasn’t to buy him out but rather wait him out.

He pressed eventually a deal was struck with Chore Time. He designed all their regulators and much of their product line you see today. They paid and paid royalties for a long time.. I believe my mom got her last royalty check from them four or five years ago and it was pretty minimal as most the parents had expired. Now everybody makes them..

The chicken business is a ruthless business..

After that the old man went back to Toilet valves and other things.

In my garage to this day I have some of the remnants of that old production line.. The large pipe in the corner that we used as a test fixture fir a scuba tank powered “turbo” for lack of a better word (longer story than here) is one of the tubes from that biz.. old air cylinders I have were extra from the production line.. these old skate board wheels I had were actually what fed the tubing..

when I liquidated his old shop, the sagino (sp?) tapping heads ($$$) were from that production line etc..

Every time I see a modern day chicken watering system I can’t help but think of my old man, and that was one of a thousand (seriously) ways he changed the world.

Sorry for the thread jack. Always tough this time of year.. He died on Jan 6 - 2009 so I think about it a lot around this time.
RD

Fascinating story Dave.... thanks for sharing that....sounds like your old man was one significant dude.

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Here's a good visual. One tractor, up and down- 12 moves (days). To the right of the birds is where we started. You can see how thick the grass has come back. The Japanese millet (tall yellow grass) is there to build soil and set deep roots so we trim that with a battery powered hedge trimmer before each move so the birds can easily move and find the young tender grasses.
View attachment 956415

Later in the season you can see how much the birds eat with just one move. It's pretty crazy.
View attachment 956417

View attachment 956418

There's no scientific value to this picture, I just like looking at Amy's butt in those work shorts.
View attachment 956419

We all do Joel..... its rare that I get my face so close to my laptop... looks like working the farm continues to show rear benefits!

 

[wash11]

Wash11 Do you ship product or is it for Havasu delivery only?

Man, we get that question a lot. We haven't been able to make it pencil out due to our remote location. Packaging to keep frozen is expensive and so is the 80 mile round trip to town to the nearest shipping center. Not including the time it takes, the shipping expense alone would outpace the price of the chickens themselves unless it was a substantial order. Luckily, 30 minutes into trying to work it all out, Amy will text me to say she sold out of birds with one email to our local customers.
PM me your location and it's likely I can find a good producer in your area through the poultry association we belong to.

 

[FishSniper]

Man, we get that question a lot. We haven't been able to make it pencil out due to our remote location. Packaging to keep frozen is expensive and so is the 80 mile round trip to town to the nearest shipping center. Not including the time it takes, the shipping expense alone would outpace the price of the chickens themselves unless it was a substantial order. Luckily, 30 minutes into trying to work it all out, Amy will text me to say she sold out of birds with one email to our local customers.
PM me your location and it's likely I can find a good producer in your area through the poultry association we belong to.

It look like your going to be getting any pigs this year ?

 

[wash11]

It look like your going to be getting any pigs this year ?

Yes, they are a couple months out from being butchered. Now that we've had a chance to process covid weirdness and supply issues, we are back in the piggy game

 

[Sleek-Jet]

Wash11 Do you ship product or is it for Havasu delivery only?

Do a little looking around and you'll find someone local that offers the same product. I've found a small operation that is nearly identical to Wash's, save for the desert cattle. Their beef is still grass fed though and healthy. Beef was custom packed and penciled out to right around $7/pound. Pork was a little less and the farmer sells whole friers as well, but the number is limited so I can only get a couple more at a time.

I purchased the beef and pork in June of last year, we are about halfway through it all and I'll be placing another order close to the same time of year. My wife, who is a suburban city girl, thought I was being a paranoid prepper when I bought the meat last year. Just the other day she told me how much better the meat is than what we can buy at the local super market.

 

[WildWilly]

Yes, they are a couple months out from being butchered. Now that we've had a chance to process covid weirdness and supply issues, we are back in the piggy game

I'm definitely in for some pork, do you have a list started yet?

 

[FishSniper]

I'm definitely in for some pork, do you have a list started yet?

I was just about to ask the same.

 

[WildWilly]

I was just about to ask the same.

well I get my next beef delivery in the next couple weeks so I can at least go on a free for all with whats left in the freezer now lol

 

[wash11]

Taking beef orders/deposits for 2021.

I've got one grass-fed/finished 1/4 available for February 6th delivery then we are into the March 6th delivery with all grain finished, juicy fellas.

Pretty important change for us in 2021- it's taken years of work to finally be in a position to have our entire year scheduled out with our butcher. This means I can give guaranteed delivery dates for repeat customers that know they want to refill freezers several months out. 2020 showed us how weak the food systems can be and highlighted some deficiencies in our own program so we re-invested much of last years income to up our game again.

2021 seems to be off to a rocky start and it's anyone's guess as to how this plays out. All you guys that have supported us through the years don't have to worry about beef shortages or price fluctuations. We've been fortunate enough to lock in our expenses for the year for the most part and barring some crazy, unforeseen covid related shit, our prices remain the same for 2021 as they have been for 2018, 19 and 20.

Phoenix/Valley delivery Saturday, April 10th.
We've been trying to do an annual trip to the valley for our Phoenix area customers that usually drive up to the butcher in Chino Valley. In order to make it pencil out I've got to have 3 steers total for the delivery. Call or text me sooner than later to help me make that happen for you.

As always, contact me anytime for fast answers to your questions. Joel 928-486-4043

 

[Looking Glass]

Veggies.



Veggie production is a world of its own. Marketing is similar, but it ends there. Veggies are delicate and fickle on a 12-hour summer delivery day compared to frozen meat. The planning, planting, and daily work to maintain is all-consuming.

We have been gardening for almost a decade, and a few of those years, we grew for profit. As the farm business grew, it was more lucrative to raise chicken, beef, and pork, so veggies kept sliding back on the list even though our customers were begging for our fresh produce.

Amy and I formulated a plan about a year ago. We just needed the right person to make it work. We know that we have stretched ourselves as far as we can go, and even though we swore to never having employees again, we needed help to utilize this incredible veggie infrastructure that we’d built.

Meet Kaylee, Fort Rock Farms first full time “plus one.” Partnering and collaboration are nothing new to us but it's time to grow the core farm family.

She’s the daughter of a customer that we met four or five years ago. We’ve watched her grow up with a passion for nature, the environment, and kick-ass food. While attending the ASU, Havasu campus, she developed a business around sustainable, re-usable products named ZippNada Zero-Waste Shop | Saving the Planet From Plastic . Seriously, check out her website for some cool, inexpensive gift ideas. With farmers market and other greenie festival experience and her green thumb and young, energetic enthusiasm, she is our ideal candidate.
View attachment 966976


The plan was to sponsor the right person (Kaylee in this case) or couple to run the veggie operation for a season. We provide the infrastructure and existing customer base, and they take it from there. Kaylee keeps the profits, and we get 15 hours of labor per week on the animal side and one weekend per month off to play. Our customers get what they want, especially our VIP bulk beef customers, and we don’t kill ourselves making it happen.

This life is way too cool not to share with a younger generation, but we need to learn how this works. Being 40 miles outside the nearest town means any young enterprising people would need to set up camp here at least part of the week, if not full time. We have a nice, off-grid camper set up for guests about a ¼ mile from the house that should give everyone privacy while sharing a workspace.

You guys will be front and center to watch something unique grow or be witness to a shit show while it crashes and burns. I’ll be posting the good and bad, so enjoy.

With 2200sq ft of indoor growing and a 3000sq ft outdoor growing area plus fruit trees, harvests should be plentiful and varied. We’re still working out the details, but it should look like a weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) box of assorted veggies without having to invest in a CSA program and the ability to skip weeks without losing your money. Demand for veggies is ridiculously high but know if you are an existing bulk beef customer, you’ll always get to the top of the list.
View attachment 966977
View attachment 966978

View attachment 966979
View attachment 966980

I sure hop she realizes that she is is "Living The Life"

And it depends on her future, but I believe will look back some day and think, How Lucky I was for the opportunity of a Lifetime.

Good for you "Three"

 

[franky]

Just wanted to let you know we are really enjoying our chunk of cow. Finding new ways to cook some of the cuts in the slow cooker, short rib birria or just ground beef tacos, hamburgers to just enjoying a kick ass steak. Everything just tastes better.... flank stake thawing now. It is nice to just go to the freezer, pull out a package and figure out what dinner that will make. Thanks for your delivery

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Veggies.



Veggie production is a world of its own. Marketing is similar, but it ends there. Veggies are delicate and fickle on a 12-hour summer delivery day compared to frozen meat. The planning, planting, and daily work to maintain is all-consuming.

We have been gardening for almost a decade, and a few of those years, we grew for profit. As the farm business grew, it was more lucrative to raise chicken, beef, and pork, so veggies kept sliding back on the list even though our customers were begging for our fresh produce.

Amy and I formulated a plan about a year ago. We just needed the right person to make it work. We know that we have stretched ourselves as far as we can go, and even though we swore to never having employees again, we needed help to utilize this incredible veggie infrastructure that we’d built.

Meet Kaylee, Fort Rock Farms first full time “plus one.” Partnering and collaboration are nothing new to us but it's time to grow the core farm family.

She’s the daughter of a customer that we met four or five years ago. We’ve watched her grow up with a passion for nature, the environment, and kick-ass food. While attending the ASU, Havasu campus, she developed a business around sustainable, re-usable products named ZippNada Zero-Waste Shop | Saving the Planet From Plastic . Seriously, check out her website for some cool, inexpensive gift ideas. With farmers market and other greenie festival experience and her green thumb and young, energetic enthusiasm, she is our ideal candidate.
View attachment 966976


The plan was to sponsor the right person (Kaylee in this case) or couple to run the veggie operation for a season. We provide the infrastructure and existing customer base, and they take it from there. Kaylee keeps the profits, and we get 15 hours of labor per week on the animal side and one weekend per month off to play. Our customers get what they want, especially our VIP bulk beef customers, and we don’t kill ourselves making it happen.

This life is way too cool not to share with a younger generation, but we need to learn how this works. Being 40 miles outside the nearest town means any young enterprising people would need to set up camp here at least part of the week, if not full time. We have a nice, off-grid camper set up for guests about a ¼ mile from the house that should give everyone privacy while sharing a workspace.

You guys will be front and center to watch something unique grow or be witness to a shit show while it crashes and burns. I’ll be posting the good and bad, so enjoy.

With 2200sq ft of indoor growing and a 3000sq ft outdoor growing area plus fruit trees, harvests should be plentiful and varied. We’re still working out the details, but it should look like a weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) box of assorted veggies without having to invest in a CSA program and the ability to skip weeks without losing your money. Demand for veggies is ridiculously high but know if you are an existing bulk beef customer, you’ll always get to the top of the list.
View attachment 966977
View attachment 966978

View attachment 966979
View attachment 966980

Great addition, even has Amy's features. Boy she must be super jazzed about taking over that operation at her age. Here's to hoping ole Kaylee will [in time] keep the overhead occasional air traffic happy as well.

 

[wash11]

Just wanted to let you know we are really enjoying our chunk of cow. Finding new ways to cook some of the cuts in the slow cooker, short rib birria or just ground beef tacos, hamburgers to just enjoying a kick ass steak. Everything just tastes better.... flank stake thawing now. It is nice to just go to the freezer, pull out a package and figure out what dinner that will make. Thanks for your delivery

Thank you Frank, we love hearing this stuff!

 

[franky]

Thank you Frank, we love hearing this stuff!

So the flank steak...... one of my wife's favorite cuts, me not so much. But last night changed my mind. We bbq'd it with just salt and pepper and the flavor and texture were awesome!! Thicker slab than we are used to but turned out perfect. Really enjoyed it.

 

[wash11]

Six months ago, I joined everyone in their New Years resolutions.
Mine: eat only what we sell and put an actual effort in to my workouts. (btw, I still just have the adjustable dumbbells and weight bench- lots of workouts online that don't require anything but your own body weight resistance)
Did I have cheat days? Yup, some epic hangovers along with comfort food too. Did I get back on the horse every time? Yup.

Garmin fitness watch to track movement and sleep. My Fitness Pal subscription to track food intake. Five 1 hour per day for workouts weekly. Cut out gluten completely.

I found the secret sauce for me. I've been alive for 578 months(48 years plus 2 months), 6 months is 1.038% of my life. Not sure why we wait so fucking long to take care of ourselves. 1% is a blip on the radar that can completely change your life fellas.

Yeah, I'm going to fight that sagging skin forever. Whatever, I'm almost 50. Anyone who says progress is 75% diet was spot on. The gains (and losses) in 6 months are still surprising to me.

Edit to add: The pic on the left is 8 years old, I was a year into my weight loss journey already. This didn't happen overnight but knowing what I know now I could go from my original 261 to my current 198 in a years time.

 

[wash11]

I've got one steer available for mid June delivery to Havasu. That's 4 separate 1/4's or any combination that it makes. My best guess is the $1100.00 range per 1/4 including delivery to Havasu. These are juicy grain finished red angus, backyard griller hero makers just in time for your 4th of July parties.

Call or text for immediate reply. Joel 928-486-4043