Sustainable Meat Production

We recently made a trip to an organic farm in the south-west of Western Australia to make a documentary film on how to slaughter pigs and chickens on the farm (we are presently producing the videos and they will soon be available to buy). It was an opportunity to learn from experienced farmers how to kill, de-hair and prepare a pig for butchering, as well as to try out the latest version of the “Mutha Plucka” chicken plucking machine we are developing.

We arrived at the farm in the afternoon and started heating up water for the pig kill as the sun went down. This is so we could complete the work at night and not have to worry about flies which can be a real problem here in Australia.

Early the next morning, before they were fed their breakfast, we headed off to the grower chicken pen to select a few victims for the table. The chickens looked small but when you picked one up it was surprisingly solid and heavy. Given that it usually takes me at least 16 weeks to grow enough meat on a regular rooster to make it worth butchering, it was astounding to learn that these chickens were only 5 weeks old. Wow! It turns out that they were commercial meat birds purchased as day olds from a specialist breeder. Now I believe that it makes no sense to try and grow meat birds unless you can tap into these super meat bird genes!

In case you were thinking of doing just that, the farmer did give us a few warnings about these super-broilers. Firstly, they eat an absolute heap – way more than other chicken breeds of similar age. Then again, I’m willing to bet they do it efficiently, and still use a lot less feed to get to table size than your usual backyard rooster.

Another issue with these chooks is general weakness. They are bred for packing on the flesh not for a long and healthy life. The farmer got rather attached to one very friendly bird which she didn’t have the heart to kill. However, despite considerable coddling and care, it still only lasted to 3 years of age. When they mature these “Steggles” type breeds are so heavy they can hardly get around and don’t handle hot conditions at all.

To overcome these issues, breeders of commercial meat chickens use different male and female lines to maximize productivity and vigor of the adult breeding flock.

Here's another example of sustainable meat production using local, non-industrialized agriculture, in action at Polyface Farm: