Worried about what you are "really" eating? Have peace of mind with pasture grazed meats.
Local Nebraska Pasture Chicken
Nebraska is known for beef! So why Nebraska chicken? When it comes to our meat buying choices, we like to know where our food comes from. Have you noticed grocery store veggies and fruits are labeled with their origins? You know where your onions come from but not so with your chicken or beef.
Chances are your grocery store chicken is from the USA and many companies independently label their chickens as such. But what went in to raising that chicken? How were those little chicks treated? Most likely that chicken lived its entire life in a building without ever seeing daylight or a blade of grass. We won’t even go into the details of the feed medications that are added for such poor living conditions.
With some not so nice videos on the internet showing poor treatment of chicks, we decided to visit our chick source right here in Nebraska. During our visit to Central Hatchery near Norfolk we met Phil Raasch the owner. It is a clean facility and every thing looked great. Lot’s of eggs in some well monitored incubators with one neat old 1940 incubator still in operation.
When the chicks hatch that become our future pasture chickens:
- Chicks are packaged and shipped via USPS standards
- Arrive at our farm within 18 hours of hatching
- Live the rest of their life here at DS Family Farm
- First 3 weeks they are kept in a coop with our resident egg layers
- Proper temperature and no draft protection is key to a young chick
- Last 5 weeks they are kept in portable shelters moved to fresh grass daily
- Fed locally sourced non-gmo grains along with grass and plenty of sunshine
- First 3 weeks they are kept in a coop with our resident egg layers
We urge you to visit your local farmers market, visit the Nebraska Food Coop website or find a local farmer raising chickens that will give you an eating experience not found in typical grocery store chicken. Most chickens in a grocery store are injected with water and spices. Companies say that consumers demand these flavor additions. We rather not pay for water when buying chicken and for taste, real flavor comes from grass!
