LIVE Tour: Seven Sons Farms [Regenerative Agriculture]

Alright, hello everybody and good morning! Welcome  to Heifer USA's Great American Farm Tour! Today, we   are coming to you from Roanoke, Indiana at Seven  Sons Farm. I'm so excited to be here I hope you are,  too! I'm joined by my tour guide, Blake Hitsfield today. Welcome to the Farm! Awesome, we're so glad   that you're here. There's going to be so much to  see in this video. You're not going to want to miss   a single minute of it, and stay tuned until the  end because we have literally - just some amazing   enterprises, amazing scales of production, that are  going on here. Really, really excited to be here   with you all today, so if you've got any questions, type them in the live chat. If you're watching the   recorded version of this video, just type them down  in the comments below, and we'll answer as many of   those as we can along the way. But we're going to  jump right into it and get started with the tour   today, because there's just so much to see - I mean, they're doing massive enterprises at scale here: awesome production facilities, raising pastured  poultry, grass-fed finished sheep, cattle, layer   hens, pastured pork - They're doing it through the  winter, even! Just some really amazing stuff that   you're not going to want to miss, so stick around  with us! Ask your questions, and I hope you enjoy   the tour today! Blake, how're you doing man? Doing  good, doing good. Awesome! Well, thank you again   so much for taking us along on the  journey today. Glad you're here, and I want to   thank everybody for tuning in - whether watching  live or later - we just love to share what's going   on in our farm. We're very passionate about what  we do when it comes to raising healthy food, and   taking care of our land, and taking care of the  people that make up the team here at Seven Sons. that's awesome yeah you guys have a big team  here don't you yeah it's grown over the years   and that's what makes it uh even more exciting  to come to work is you can you know it's fun to   be passionate about something but when you can  share that passion with with other people it's   just that compounding effect happens so we've had  a great team here and you're going to see some of   them today as we drive around and see things and  tour the farm and uh yeah cool well I can't answer   any questions I can't wait to get started let  me ask you just at the top here real quick tell   me just a little bit about the history of seven  sons Farm yeah so the history of seven sons Farm   we started the brand in 2000 prior to that this  was a conventional Farm we raised uh 1500 Acres   row crop we had pharaoh to finish confinement we  sold the ibp that got bought out by Tyson later   and we got to the point where uh one the farm  we started losing acreage to just commercial   development residential development so the farm  was not becoming profitable because you know you   need about 1500 Acres of the conventional to  just get enough off the farm for one income   so we're losing acreage there and at the same  time we had a Health crisis in the family and   when you combine those two things together  it got us thinking outside the box what can   we do unconventionally medicine wise to help our  family members had been my mom and then also when   you're back up against the wall and you're not  profitable you either get out or you figure out   something different to do to try to make a change  to be profitable on your farm and so that kind of   started the journey in the 90s and like say in  2000 we formed the seven sons brand and that was   at the point where we thought it was hard farming  conventionally making a profit and when you start   a new a new business you think well you start  in at Ground Zero and then you learn and grow   and actually you start here and then you go down  because you don't know what you don't know so the   next 10 years were really hard for us but thanks  to my parents and just the great team and family   we have here we were able to work through those  challenges we learned a lot of things wrong I feel   like we're still learning them but that learning  pace is slowed a little bit to where we can   actually do profitable and make make a business  out of it yeah so yeah so our farm went from   500 Acres down to about 500 acres and the neat  thing is is we went from 1500 Acres that was   barely enough to be profitable for one family and  now we have a team of about 20 full-time people   the team's up to about 40 all together with some  part-time so we're providing income for and and   careers for all those people as well off of the  550 Acres then we have partnering Farms that are   helping out as well on the production side for  the uh for the cattle and for the Hogs so it's   really that's like a ecosystem here that we've  been able to partner with just local farms and   just the community around us and the people that  work here hey that's super cool well I can't wait   to go check it out and see all of the progress  that you guys have made so where do you want to   go to first uh we will start with uh where we're  washing eggs because we're washing eggs right now   and they're only watching for a little while so  let's go in here and we'll take a look at them   we are very specific when we look at our  production Enterprises we'll talk a little   bit later about that but um hopefully you can  see the line needs more stuff over here yeah so this is an automatic egg washer and grater  we've got the uh the conveyor on this side   where we're loading the eggs we're washing eggs  about three times a week three or four times   a week depends on the schedule and what's going  out so we've got an automatic loader the vacuum   system of course I'm gonna close them off the  trays over there we'll pull them off the trays   load them onto here and then they go through  uh the Candler right here and we've got this   tarp around here that kind of just darkens the  uh darkens the light so that you can actually   see a little better in there oh I see yeah see  the eggs they kind of they kind of illuminate a   little bit oh that's amazing yeah and uh Rebecca  what are you looking for hairline fractures air bubbles anything that's kind of abnormal  maybe a blood spot anything like that that you   can pick out when dark eggs brown eggs is harder  to see some of those but we still can do a pretty   good job of getting gets graded and making sure  that we can pull out any of the uh abnormalities   that's awesome yeah and then they're going through  yeah yeah so then we've got a washing so there's a   tube in here that uh well you can see it here so  this tube here has just warm water going through   it you can see it it's falling out here and just  dribbles on the eggs as they go through there's   no other solution it's just it's just water yeah  and uh the brushes run and the eggs kind of rotate   as they're on that conveyor so the first chamber  is just wash and the next three chambers here are   all the dry so there's no more water hitting  the eggs it's just the brushes and the and   the fans to try to get a lot of that moisture  off before they go to the the greatest station   so then the uh the eggs come through here we've  got uh an eye here that is weighing the egg and   sizes it so then these kickers here will kick them  off according to the however we're shorting the   eggs so and then they come down and then we're  able to uh use the vacuum system as well to be   able to pack the egg so these things here kind  of vibrate you can see I'm moving back and forth   and get some down in place and make sure  they're facing the right direction already   you'll have to do that so this is kind of  a new addition that we've added in the last   year we used to just do this all by uh by hand  and that was a lot of work so yeah we are uh   yeah is a lot easier wow that's incredible you  like the system better yes I bet you do that's   super cool yeah got your labels got your boxes  and uh are you guys shipping this stuff all over   the country so yeah we're shipping as well as  uh we're in um I think uh multiple Whole Food   stores I'm not quite sure how many inside of  the Whole Food stores across the country so   um yeah so they either go out there or they  go through our farm store um and we're gonna   see where these are being laid out on pasture  later right we are we are we're going to get out   there we're going to see and actually be able to  probably depending on the time of day we might be   able to see how we're gather them as well so cool  I see it I see a familiar looking logo over here   so you got boxes for Joe's Farm yeah they believe  you guys are just there visiting we were great   American farm tour number one was at Joe coopson's  farm so if you saw that video guys this is a part   of the eggs came from for his farm yeah so we work  with John we're excited to do that we're a USDA   trading station so that allows us to be able  to custom grade or wash other people's eggs so well that's super cool well let's  head back out I think the Signal's   getting a little weak so we'll  head back out over here absolutely so we'll gather anywhere from 10 to 12  000 eggs a day wow and and I just want to   show folks all these eggs this is like one  day's worth yeah probably not even no not   quite even yeah yeah probably about three  pallets two and a half pallets a day so   wow man that is an incredible operation people are  flipping out online uh all over the world Slovakia   Australia I want to say hey to Rick Merrick um  Leo and aspers from the Philippines organic gal   in Maryland thank you guys so much I hope you  guys are enjoying this tour if you thought the   eggs were cool stick around we got a lot more  to show you uh really great content just like   that that's amazing yeah and you don't have to  start there we were able to you know we we went   from washing eggs and putting them in cartons you  know just in the kitchen sink to as it grows it   makes sense to make those Investments this unit  here is anywhere from 50 to 70 000 with the the   loading system the unloading system the watch and  the grading so it can take time to get to enough   scale to make it work but we're not even running  it at half capacity so we're only washing eggs you   know the total cost for the infrastructure there  you said I think about 70 000 if you bought it   all new gotcha I could be be wrong a little bit  yeah no that's good information though for our   viewers I think we got it from National poultry so  it's a model 20 uh washer from natural poultry is   the company oh National gotcha I believe so and uh  we we we're not able to show you guys inside here   um but this is where they're doing all of your  distribution so this uh this building here would   be our basically our distribution center so  all the product that uh that we raise and get   processed it goes up to Michigan gets processed  and it comes back down Frozen from our processor   and then we utilize we've got on-site uh Cold  Storage here as well as uh we're just 10 miles   from Fort Wayne as well and they've got a nice  cold storage facility there oh no you can utilize   both so it makes it really uh really nice it's  kind of an unfair advantage to be that close to   um Cold Storage so yeah yeah so probably comes  back here and then we ship we ship out via UPS   and we also utilize some other local couriers  which we which is really neat because as Logistics   continue to grow in the United States there's  there's more opportunities for other companies   to get in the logistics business so maybe there's  more options than just FedEx UPS DHL things like   that so if you can find which we've been able  to find local couriers that either service a   big city or you know a certain amount of  zip codes or the whole state they usually   can get you a little better service a little  better deliverability and hopefully some cost   savings so we utilize that as well there's two  other companies that we use outside of UPS so   cool awesome well if you guys have any questions  let us know guys we're going to hop in the side   by side and take a little drive right we are all  right gonna jump in you open here thank you sir got beautiful weather here yeah it's gorgeous  out here you got some nice Fall Foliage   um beautiful weather I mean it's going to be  like 60s and 70s today um let's see we got a   question coming in from organic gal she says  do you wash the eggs because you're required   to do that or why do you wash them so we're not  required to wash the eggs but we are required   grade them they have to be graded they have  to go through some form of grading so we are   so we're just yeah we're just adding the water  to it customers probably like a cleaner product   yeah it depends on who you're who you're  selling to some you know some people like   a pasture packed egg and um and uh there's some  things you got to work through legality wise   for that but you can still run it through your  grader without so they still have the balloon   bottom which is a lot of customers want that  corrected with the blue lot they don't have to don't have to be refrigerated gotcha only in  the United States we refrigerate eggs yeah I   know I know it's crazy yeah that was probably  I think organic Gala said she was from Maryland   but I wouldn't be surprised with a lot of our  International viewers are like why are they   watching them I don't know if you can convince  me a great reason why we have to watch series   um and refrigerate them so because once  you once you grade or wash it yeah man it   is just beautiful out here I'm just going  to show Pan the camera around just to show   you guys a little bit so you can see just how  gorgeous this place is and get to some more   of your questions while we're driving over to  check out the pasture Hawks where we're going   first right we're going to get to see one of  the groups of the pigs that we have out here for those we're very uh we're very specific  with our with our production models   um in in our industry it's very easy to over  complicate and get a lot of things going on   and it's it's hard to uh it's hard to have the  bandwidth to keep them uh focused and profitable   at the same time so we did something years ago  where we just really tried to simplify them yeah   scale them and then when we need to fill in the  gaps we have partners for that so for instance   we don't do any Fairwind on our farm right we  just focused on the finishing side of it yeah   that's what we do too yeah it's uh it really  streamlines it so then we're able to scale that   same time because we're not spread so thin  trying to do every you know it's easy to   look at at Hogs as one Enterprise but really  it's multiple Enterprises going on same time   between fairly in the gestation and then you know  uh the finishing so this here what we just passed   is our our portable feed wagon okay so we're  able to uh we're able to mix our own feed here   on the farm yep we've got a Mill and then we can  grind into it so whether we're taking [Applause]   demo feed out to the pogs for the chickens this  can it's all set up on a tractor so you can get   out to the where the feeders are where the  animals are maybe when the weather's not as   bright as you would like it to be anyways I know  that's the game changer right there it is it is   it helps so much I mean we do something similar  but not quite to that scale I mean to have your   own you know looks like you've got your own  um Hopper on there and yeah it's a nine ton   um nine-time Hopper and that auger will swing  out and we're able to hit the feeders like I   think Joseph just fed the Hogs this morning oh  good perfect timing Phil defeater there now you   can see him in action hey sorry if you look  at that down for us all right thank you sir hey here they are I told him I closed  the gate but I got to remember to do that I hope I'll help remind you there we go  there's somebody in the audience you guys   if we don't close that gate on our way up  yeah we're gonna have to quit and go well   let us know in the comments you'll  be watching us chase pigs maybe now foreign over there and get that gate for the  door for you I think I got it got it thank you all right awesome so this would be a group of  of hogs we've had out on pasture uh for the past   um I think they came in in May but uh so we like  I mentioned we don't do any of our own fairling   we have uh two three other Farms that meet our  production standards and they do the frailing   they just focus on that part of it and they do a  fantastic job they don't have to worry about once   the pigs are weaned they just get them to that  60 to 80 pound range then we take them from there   so they come already trained to hotwire oh that's  good yes yeah so that's what the first thing we do   is train them train them yeah and you do want  to make sure they are trained before you just   stick them into two wire uh poly wire like this  and really the two wires are are more for when   they're younger and for me the security for me  knowing that they're not gonna get out but as   long as you have really one good hot wire that  they can visually see and they've respected at   a young age we found that one wire can work  just as well with uh Hogs the size right here   awesome and then how many uh y'all finished  in a year roughly so we'll finish about 600 a   year on our farm and uh there'll be a couple  other Farms will finish another 600 so we'll   sell a little over a thousand Hogs a year that's  amazing that's that's really incredible I mean I   think we're doing about four or 500 and I know  how much effort goes into just doing that so   yeah and Hogs are destructive by Nature they're so  disruptive and that's and it's it's I keep telling   our team it's like it's our job that's okay  it's our job now to just utilize that and   manage for what we want get a little closer  and show folks your Hogs they're looking good   yeah and how do you manage that tell me a little  bit about how pastured pork works in your guys's   regenerative Ag Systems so Hogs need shade so  we always try to build their their pens so that   they have access to shade but we're going to  use them in areas where we feel like we need   a little more disturbance so this field that  we're in here is uh pretty high in Fescue not   a lot of diversity so we find where we can take  the hogs in and create a little bit of an element   of disturbance in the soil that latent seed bank  will come back very strong the seeds are there   it's just a matter of giving the opportunity for  them to express themselves and so that's how we're   going to use the Hogs and more of our pasture open  pasture area when we get more into the woods you   know we're looking just to open up a little bit a  lot more sunlight down through and when we drive   through we had the Hogs over there earlier in the  part of the year and you can kind of see how it's   opened up in the woods we'll show when we drive  by but we really don't want any more than than   50 disturbance like that's our goal if we get over  that then um you know it's we've not done our job   properly in my opinion uh here for our land and  what we're trying to achieve here and how often   are you kind of moving them from Paddock to panic  so that's where the whole adaptive management   comes in whatever your eyeball says and whatever  the eyeball says based upon the density City how   big of an area they had and then a lot depends  on the weather when they're when it's nice and   dry you can get by with leave them in one spot  for maybe a week or 10 days because they're not   as aggressive and and they're this age right here  they're not nearly as aggressive as when they're   80 to 120 pounds yeah at that age they are so  aggressive and they're always out trying to root   something up but at this at this size they're more  interested in eating sleeping and and repeat yeah   yeah that they've they've gotten all that out  of out of their system that rambunctious stage   and then I see you got your big uh Grant your  big feeder over here the feeder Hopper there so   we just moved that uh when we move the pig so  when we set up a new wire all we are going to   do is just so they're moving to uh to this side  over here we'll set up a pen and we'll just move   the feeder across we'll lift the wire up and the  Hogs are trained they'll just go right underneath   the wire gotcha so there's no gate or anything in  here let's just lift the wire so if we lifted the   wire here they think that there would be a new  PIN over here and they would just go right under   it so when you move them I'm sorry you said you  just lift the wire up yeah so we'll have another   wire on this side which will represent the new pen  and then we'll just lift four wires up basically   put a post in the middle of it nice in 20 minutes  at this stage they're trained really well they'll   come running right through when we first get them  uh we'll just have to throw a bucket of feed kind   of in a teeth across form so running out over the  wire fire and then this way and then they learn to   come right up to it and they trust going under the  wire when they see that post up like that and they   just they pigs are smart they catch on they are  they are really they actually know when the fence   is off too yeah yeah no that's super cool uh just  real quick want to say to some of our audience   thanks to Sham and Texas for watching uh mad Acre  Farms appreciate you guys Karen Gallegos sham   says seven sons is one of the best farms in the  midwest organic gal says this is a this live is so   interesting so everybody's enjoying the content  thank you guys so much again this is this is   super cool yeah yep and and it doesn't have to be  complicated it only takes us about 20 minutes to   set up a new pen every time we come out here and  do it if you have the right tools and equipment   and the skill set it just doesn't take long it  doesn't have to be this you know drawn-out deal   now when you're working through the woods you may  be you know working through some Briars and some   some so I don't I don't see your solar charger how  you guys make making this fence hot yeah so we are   running it off of our main charger so we have a  100 Joule charger is our main charger and it runs   basically a mile and a half down there down this  whole Road this whole Lane here we'll go through   that whole Lane on the tour and it just speeds off  of that so all of our packs will feed off of it   and so this will get heated from that so if we're  running a netting then we will run a solar charger   okay because they just draw so much yeah so much  uh current from the main charger so but yeah this   is running about 8 000. yeah yeah it's good that's  good Good and Plenty they look like they know they   know one thing uh that can be challenging is  watering Hogs yeah yeah so um we've tried a lot   of different scenarios with with an outside water  this has been the most effective so you can have   the the bigger tubs where they're like a 75 gallon  but they're harder to move yeah and um and then   they when they get mud in they're harder to clean  because pigs will always come to a water with   something in his mouth and then drop it in the  water so this here is just a 10 gallon actually   I think it's seven gallon a little trough here  and what we do is just run a hot wire a steel hot   wire around the front of it onto this pole okay  it Loops it around and that keeps the pigs from   then getting inside of it get inside of it and  flopping it because they would just take it and   dip pip it over so they create a muddle yeah pigs  like mud oh yeah and they can make seems like they   can make mud out of a heavy do but and you kind  of got it like halfway under the hot wire here   too is that intentional yeah halfway under the hot  wire that way we can reach it from this side they   don't get into the float in the hose right here so  then they just reach over and they drink out of it   but they don't disturb it so if we need to um you  know if we need to dump it out you just like this clean it until it back under nice just like that  that's pretty simple yeah so if it rains uh two   inches overnight and this area right here where  they're standing to drink is just really muddy and   you don't want that much disturbance you just  take this slide it on down so it only takes a   couple minutes it doesn't take a lot of work uh to  move it nice nice and then what kind of uh valve   is this right here yeah it's just a regular float  I don't know okay cheap yeah you need your tractor   supply stores or something like that awesome  thank you for that demonstration that's awesome   I've tried a lot of different water scenarios  so so so have we we I think we're using we're   using something really similar to this um our  tote's a little bit bigger maybe double the   size of yours right here we got a video on our  channel for anybody that wants to watch it about   how we make ours but we do basically the same  thing yeah you know using a small toe like this   um easily clean the bowl can dump it out running  a hot water you know either running a hot wire   around it or halfway underneath your your actual  poly wire to keep them from getting in there and   that's just you know running a hose out to it  and that's just what works best for us too yep   and keeping it simple sometimes the sometimes the  hardest thing to do yeah it's easy to complicate   something cool awesome well thank you so much  for showing us this this is really amazing if   you guys have any questions about their pastured  pork operation get them in the chat while we're   heading over to the next place um here in just a  second we'll answer some more of your questions   take a quick close-up look at your grain feeder  over here and I'm curious about the the grain you   guys use yeah so it's awesome it's all uh pretty  much raised locally here so it's non-GMO corn   uh soybeans we're not soy free um so it's an onion  corn soybeans oats and then just a mineral mix   that you would put in gotcha so Kennedy Reynolds  asked um do you set up wallows for your pigs   um if I feel like they need them yeah I will yep  yep so I'll just let the hose run where I want it   to run and let them let them have that and is  there going to be like just weather dependent   weather dependent yeah and I mean that's  how pigs stay clean because they need that   they need that uh that mud on their skin and it  dries up is this the typical size feeder you guys   use or it is yeah a one ton or ton and a half size  feeder is what we'll end up using nice and uh is   it mounted to that pallet or is it I don't think  this one's mounted so usually do you usually or   not um we'll Mount them but if not then we'll just  let them sit on them and then we'll just use the   a skid loader or tractor to scoop underneath  them they need to be on something to get them   up a little bit that's what I was wondering  yep so we try to keep a pal under them but   not necessarily always mounted cool so awesome  we'll wear to next uh we will transition over   to well we'll see if we see any cattle as  we're heading heading towards the Sheep so   one thing I will say loading pigs out on patch  I don't know how you guys do it but we have a   hydraulic trailer that we're able to come out  here and with poly wire we can just cut the PO   put Post in step in post cut the pie wire right  where the trailer back into the trailer is and   just open the gate throw some feed in and then  they just all run in the trailer they just close   the gate behind them and then you've got your  pigs and stored off any ones you don't want   and uh really stress-free where does the with the  hydraulic come into play what is that part I'm not   familiar with that so basically it's a it's a 16  foot trailer that hydraulically goes up and down   gotcha so it hooks onto a tractor we can just back  right up here so it's right at the ground level so   they're not stepping much on to something if my  colleague Christine is watching this or whenever   you're watching this Christine raised pigs  without a hydraulic trailer I wouldn't we do in   the ramp and uh we know I think we do a ramp and  sometimes we'll we'll sort we'll run them through   the Corral just to make it easier you know yeah  and that works okay but uh I can see I can see   a hydraulic trailer being the next yeah because  all we have to do is just take an attractor and   remove the feeder the night before we want to load  and then just have the the hydraulic trailer here   with feed in it yeah and throw a bucket in and  the next morning they're they're there for you   they're in there you just close it they don't  even know what happened that's super cool so all right you guys enjoying these um  the the side by side right here let us   know if you're enjoying the ride as much as we are um okay I'll take some of you guys  questions now while we're driving okay he just Lumen asked a great question   um about how long is the rest for your pastures  on average and your stocking rate shows for pigs   so for the Hogs we only want to hit one one  time a year yeah because they're just that   destructive yeah I wouldn't say destructive hard  on the land if you're leaving too much [Music] we're gonna [Music] [Music]   I'm sorry there was a second part of that  question I think oh um thanks Karen for   reminding us about the gate all right our squad's  got our back they got our back um so rest for   pigs as you know you do you said you just run  them through a place one time a year yeah and   then the second question was kind of your your  stocking ratios okay yeah so usually run about   um 50 to 75 in a group per acre yeah and then  just move them accordingly however often we   need to move them gotcha there's usually what  our group size would look like in our pin size   gotcha gotcha you can see here the pigs were  out in the woods yeah they cleared the year   they cleared the floor quite nicely yeah you  can see exactly where the fence was it wasn't   we generally don't receive anything we  just we'll just come back is there yeah rain overnight over not to rain and they worked the  ground up quite a bit we'll go ahead   and throw some seed on it just to get  some ground cover uh coming quickly this is like mostly oak trees back here  a lot of Walnut a lot of Walnut okay in   our area yeah and uh are they like these  black walnuts that kind of thing got you   do the do the pigs like those they do and  it sounds painful to listen to them you eat   them because it's like rock candy it sounds  like it they don't know to you know suck on   them or something they just are a little kid  chewing on it real hard hey sometimes I see   our pigs just chew on rocks just for the fun  of it so you know they can probably handle a   black walnut no problem yep I'll show you guys  what we're talking about here in a little bit um okay got another question um so sham kadari  asked how do you take care of pigs in the winter   and actually we're going to show that later  on yeah we're gonna go there after we look at   the Sheep so yeah keep keep watching Sean but  we're going to show you how they're raising   pigs in the winter they got a really awesome  unique setup that I'm super excited to see   um thanks Rick for reminding us about the gate  and we got another great question from Lang Yang   he said do you run anything behind the pig for  like rotational grazing or are you intentionally   following the attics in any way with behind the  pigs um not really after the pink we're going to   let it go through a pretty good rest period so  probably you know 60 to 100 day rest period to   let the pastor really come back and then it's  going to be a room in the animal whether it's   sheep cattle okay like that gotcha okay got a  little bit of cattle here speaking of cattle so we will generally have um a couple hundred head  of finishers on the farm at once we usually get   those in Spring and we bring them in as um about  800 900 Pounders so we buy from farms more in   the South where they can have an earlier calving  season so that we can have calves that will finish   by Fall our goal is to not overwinter more than  you know a third of what we buy or a quarter what   we buy in the spring so we want them out before  the cost of that maintaining that animal or cost   of gain goes up with stored forages that we've  had to make gotcha so we like to bring them in   at that eight to nine hundred pound range and the  end of April they'll spend the summer here grazing   and rotating here on the farm eating grass and  whatever else we have in our forages and then   by the um by this time of the Year we're  harvesting out of that group by December   January most of them will be gone gotcha I got  you I ever take a little closer look just real   quick absolutely so this is is actually a a small  cow herd that we that we ended up having too many from a timing standpoint too many fat cattle  last year so I I read some of these about 30   of them and I let them calve out and we  don't intend to keep them we don't raise   any we don't have a cow calf herd basically  so even though we do have them this year it's   not in the long-term plan okay gotcha and then  um I guess uh how many cattle you guys usually   finishing on the farm so we're usually finishing  150 to 200. a year okay yeah that's awesome cool   well they're a little shot this morning so  we'll let them get back to breakfast yeah so we just we just uh scanned our cattle yesterday   our finishing herd to uh kind  of identify the ones that are um that are maybe the ones that are close to finish  yeah so we're looking for some stress I think you   guys have done done that yeah you said you guys  worked with Clay Nash right yeah he was here   yesterday yeah yeah we got a video on our Channel  if you guys are curious to learn more about how   um how you can scan a cow a cow basically to do  exactly what Blake's talking about you know see   see what the marbling is looking like see how  the muscle development is going and yeah you   guys can see all about how that process works so  you can check out that other video on our Channel   I really like it because it allows us to be  able to identify which animals are either really   forming well and which animals maybe are not  performing as well maybe some are stressed and   you'll see that in there and the tenderness in  the top Little League will be shown through that   process so you may be thinking about um you know  cutting that animal up differently maybe going to   a different uh customer you know for us when you  have maybe some meat shops or some butcher shops   that you're working with we always tend to want  to give everybody our best animal and when it   comes to working with a meat shop you want to best  animal but sometimes by doing that if you can't   consistently give them that same quality you're  setting yourself up for this point right because   um you know if you sell that first one to two and  it's amazing that's the expectation they have all   the time yeah so what I can do is go through  the data after we scan them and I can just say   all right I know what our average is going to be  and I can consistently get this type of quality   carcass to this customer then that expectation  I can meet that expectation every time you got   to go for a little ride going for a little  dip here a little dip crossing the river here well it's just a beautiful property out here  really amazing yeah I really enjoy being outside before a living yeah yeah absolutely when we  do our customer tours we do a wagon ride we   actually bring them down here oh yeah  yeah for the highlights that's awesome off to the distance here you can see the  Sheep we have this is a new Enterprise for us we had our first use last February uh-huh and  they started lambing pretty much immediately and they lambd all the way through May  so our goal is to get everything lambing   in the May time frame but we wanted to buy  about 600 views and I put a bigger emphasis   on them coming from one one location one Farm  versus the timing because I didn't want to mix   a bunch of flocks together to get the amount of  use that I wanted so we kind of compromised with   the with the the lambing season because I can  correct that in one in one year hope you guys   can see them but they are back there they're  probably little white spots on your screen   um but what breeds are you guys running so these  are uh it's a Dorper gotcha cool door for flock   and uh so why should why sheep what made you guys  want to start sheep so I've always liked sheep I   feel like they've had a place on our on our farm  and the fact that we can kind of run them uh with   the cattle as well they complement each other  and then we also have a solar project that's   developing just a couple miles from here it's  about a thousand acres and we've been in uh talks   with them about you know the likelihood of being  able to keep agriculture a part of that yeah and   it's it's something that is happening all across  the country in the world really yeah we've been   discussing it too at our place because there's  a good symbiosis there with using the Sheep   to manage the forage around the solar panels  right yeah there is so so that's kind of our   kind of our long-term goal with them and you know  learning to Grace under solar panels is going to   be challenging enough and then we've never raised  sheep before I don't want to try to learn cheap   and grazing solar panels all the same year so  solar panels could be you know three to five years   out but I want to get our flock here and get them  established and just learn make those mistakes   here on our farm that initially you will make with  a new yeah the new species yeah we've been running   them for a long time out at our place and you've  got some good people on staff and we're actually   in the process right now of making an online  course all about how we run our sheep operations   start to finish and nice really like going super  in depth it's going to take us probably a year   to make the course of course we're putting that  much effort into it wow that's fantastic we need   material out there like that because like I'm  excited I'm ready to sign up yeah that's what   we notice is that there's just a gap of stuff like  that there's a lot of videos people can find but   you know to have everything all in one place  and to go as in-depth as we're going into this   thing I mean it's going to be a master class all  about production and so yep but yeah it's a great   Enterprise we really enjoy raising them yeah and  they're and they're safe so you can bring in new   team members and they can start working with the  Sheep a lot quicker than they could working with   the cattle you've got a you know the flight zones  are different with with cattle and and uh and   just the the physical size of them can make them  kind of more dangerous than to work with sheep so   awesome um so we're excited we're excited about  the Sheep I think they have a future we don't   sell a lot of sheep so a lot of lamb that we sell  online um we'll have to either up that site those   sales somehow or sell on the commercial market  so let me ask you about that one you want to keep   keep driving I think the sheep have abandoned us  but yeah they have I actually we had a question   earlier um let me see if I can find it somebody  asked about um it said from a fall it was mad Acre   Farms they said from a small farm perspective how  did you grow your customer base wow so it's kind   of related to what you're talking about about  acquiring customers for a new Enterprise so   from your perspective you know what are one or  two things that that could really help yeah well   I think one is identifying like who is your ideal  customer and once you've got that figured out then   position your farm to be found so whether that's  you know you can have a website but you still   have to Market your website you still have to let  people know that your website exists so whether   that's through social media whether it's through  farmers markets it can be an Avenue of multiple   different things but at the end you need to keep  pointing them to the direction you want them so if   it's a farmer's market that's your first point of  contact maybe the second point would be hey join   our newsletter email sign up follow us somehow get  them part of your ecosystem and then if there's   anything you can do to just make that experience  of buying from you unbelievably enjoyable buying   from a farm is can be very inconvenient it  because Farms are just located not where   the customers are that's just the nature of it  so how can you make buying from you convenient   and fun so whether that's through home delivery  whether you're doing it personally the deliveries   um you know the conventional way of selling  quarters and halves can be cumbersome so can   you think about ways of like just making  bundles taking away the the hanging weight   because most people know what hanging weight  is so things like that to make that process   um you know as less friction as possible yeah  no that's great advice I think that's awesome   you know and just uh being comfortable with uh  showing people your farm putting it on social   media talking about it going live you know  going live unedited yeah that's how you know   this is the real deal you guys I mean this  this video is as as live as it gets and they   literally are not filtering anything they're  showing me everything that they possibly can   there's complete transparency here at their  Farm no shame whatsoever and I think you can   see why pretty clearly they're really proud  of what they're doing and with good reason so where are we headed to next no  we are headed to see the the winter   uh setup for the Hawks okay cool  perfect we're just getting ready   to we actually have a group of pigs  uh in one of the buildings already   and we'll be slowly migrating all the other birds  to the building same way with the chickens we're   in that time period where once the weather starts  getting cold enough where your water lines start   freezing outside yeah yeah because you guys  get freezing temperatures quite a bit through   the winter I imagine oh yeah oh yeah so we're  supposed to get uh we're supposed to be down   to 32 in the I think three or four nights from  now so gotcha that makes it challenging [Music] and with chickens laying hens uh the access to   water all the time is super  important to the lay rate so   we're very particular about when we start moving  them in we don't want to move them in too late flowers it's like that's like a Dairy Farmer   they can making salt at their management the  next day or that same day in the milk tank   raising grass-fed beef or craftsman lamb or  something like that or even Hogs you don't see   that result the next day the animal still made  have the effect from it but you don't see it so   Darien and laying hands it's a lot easier  to uh to know where you need to need to   focus because you see that the positive  or negative to your management really fast we're just getting here to the winter hog setup  I've got three paddocks that are basically 10 to   12 acres in each Paddock and this first one  here just kind of has the kind of Steel Huts   you see I've got that one flipped over there  yeah they work they work generally pretty well   yeah they keep the Hogs warm but it still can be a  challenge to get out to bed them all the time and plus the Hogs will come into feeders the  alternators out in the elements so it makes it   a little challenging so we built these basically  they're greenhouses station greenhouses and the   Hogs will spend four months out of the year in  these buildings access these buildings and we just   rotate the Hogs through the 12 acres that each  building has assigned to it each building has the   what so they so we got the 12 acres is encompasses  one building so we'll just do a wagon wheel with   poly wire around each one of the buildings  okay so wait you're moving these or continue   to move them yeah you move these buildings not  the buildings I'm sorry the wire so the Hogs into the buildings let's go take a look so you got some Guardian dogs Yep  this one enjoys being with the pigs   is that akbash akbash sure it is  a uh hey great nice nice Pyrenees   but you can see so they're just deep bedded  with we use hay like a good hay not a great   hay but like a first cutting hay or straw and we  have the uh it's a dark tarp it's not doesn't let   any light in it's not white because that can be a  little bit too much sunlight in and the buildings   will actually get pretty warm so even like in  December and January if it gets to uh maybe a 40   degree day 50 degree day and the sun's out it'll  get 70 80 in there so we'll use the blackout tarp   um just so that we can monitor the temperature  better gotcha and these have we have roll up   doors on each end so we got airflow going through  we have a um a energy free water in the center   where the Hogs can get uh access to water and it  usually it never freezes because we've got the   the building over it and then we have a an auger  system as well so we can run in the winter time   about 150 these buildings are 30 by 200 so we can  run about 150 to 200 uh Hogs per building at one   time and then we have this auger system it's a two  inch flex auger that anything um a uh a commercial   building would have something very similar to this  so anyway we can take some efficiencies and add   them to our model we're going to do that as much  as possible so this allows us to get feeders all   the way down the 200 foot building and still be  able to utilize it or else we would have to have   either way to drive through it or access holes  in the top which is how we do our um some of our   our movable buildings for the chickens we'll see  later today we fill them from the top okay and   this just runs off of a generator so we just fill  this Bend full feed and then we have a generator   here that we run probably two times a week for  three four hours a day so the generators yeah   snow yeah something something simple because we  don't have power out here yeah if I had more time   which I still want to do is get a solar setup yeah  for this yeah and uh so for folks who might not   know that's a little pig hut it's a little bit hot  compared to this massive pickup and this works as oh that's super cool but yeah so then we can  just the pigs will have access all winter out   here and we can just put pie wire just like  we did in the summer time we just rotate them   around they'll usually make about two trips  uh through the winter hey Max hey buddy you hi   you want some of this huh yeah so they'll make  two trips through it and then in the springtime   we'll go in with like oats of peas something like  that get something growing really quickly and then   come through with the sheep and cattle during  the summer months and graze that off and try to   cycle those nutrients as quick as possible nice  awesome yeah so they got the got their big Hood   got access to the nice pasture pretty good deal  so it's woven wire all the way around with a hot   wire about eight inches to a foot off the ground  that way it's just good and secure for the for   the winter months if we get heavy snow we have  to worry about the wire the hot wire Smash down   we've got the wolf and wire behind it that's  going to keep the pigs in no matter what cool   yeah good good solid Back Fence there we can we  can walk inside this one real quick if you want   to see yeah we'd love to this one's you guys  want to go inside this one's empty it's got uh let's get inside up for uh  for the next batch of hogs so we lined the building with a three-quarter  plywood just to keep the the Hogs off of it   because they would tear the plastic  yeah and then we just run a hot wire   um alongside of the the plywood yeah because the  pigs are just any any crack they get they'll just   start peeling away that plywood yeah and  you're replacing that so we just keep hot   wire all the way through it and just raise it as  the bedding raises throughout the winter in here   and then about every 15 feet we have a downspout  for feed to drop so we can kind of decide if we   want to split it up into two three sections  we can do that and then turn on and off   um the downspouts to fill the feeders okay so  you can you can turn each one on or off yeah   just pull these strings um supposed to be a red  or green ball attached to these yeah you can just   pull them and then turns them on and off cool  uh yeah we've got our water our water down here but uh you know do you have a water and you have  a water line running like a permanent Line running   in here we do we have a permanent Line running  in here going to the other building and uh we've   got about 10 miles of buried water line yeah on  the farm and yeah you never want access to uh to   water to determine how you're going to graze yeah  because it's either water or fencing determines   how you manage your livestock and if you're  struggling with either one of those you're not   going to be able to manage the land how you want  to manage the land so the access to water that's   generally never excuse for how we you know didn't  get to manage to land the way we wanted to if we   ran out of stepping post or poly wire there's  just no excuse for that you should always have   enough to be able to manage um manage land the  way you want to and then tell me a little bit   about this water here yeah so this is energy free  so basically it gets us heat from the ground so   there's a big sets on a big hole that goes down  about four feet and it's nice and wide we put a   concrete pad on top of it this this water then  sits on top we've got an on off valve in there   so we can turn on or off if we need to if we got  to work on it and you don't have any problems with   it freezing no problems at all especially in the  building staying in here it's never froze this   is all be our fourth winner using these and  it hasn't hasn't froze yet I've had a couple   freeze outside if you don't have enough hogs  on them to keep the water flowing but these I   haven't had any problems inside awesome that's  pretty cool this pretty awesome setup here I   like this a lot it's simple it's simple and the  thing is I think we had about 30 000 between the   two buildings so they're this was four years ago  so I know material has gone up since then total   cost for the two buildings here including the  um feed orders the feed auger yeah we had the   we had the uh the the feeder bends outside there  already on the farm so we just relocated them   here so overall cost for the amount of hogs  you can run through them it pays for itself lets you keep going all winter long and if  you're not in an extreme winter environment   you don't need you don't need something like  this like we're in Arkansas and folks can see   on our Channel how we raise pigs in the winter we  did a live streaming go check out that video It's   called raising pigs in the winter and uh you  know we don't quite have to go to this extent   because we don't have the same level of freezing  temperatures you guys have and we can get away   with using the big huts and hay bedding and you  know just de-betting those those big Huts out yeah   but that's where location the context matters yeah  yeah absolutely so you want to be able to have uh   we want to be able to have uh product year round  to our customers and that's another reason how you   can keep customers as long as you have product you  know don't give them a reason to go somewhere else   to to have to purchase it but if you run out  there's a great reason why that customer now   has to buy from somebody else yeah yeah no this is  unique I've never seen anything like this it lets   you still still do your operation with Integrity  access to pasture you know doing all those things   that make the product uh as the quality that that  you guys are delivering so that's really cool and   then what's the what's the trough here just oh  we had some sheep when the Sheep were in here oh   yeah there's some Benadryl in here yeah it's nice  which would you put them in here for again when   they were grazing the uh the uh the pasture are  on the outside this summer oh okay so I gotcha yep   um so we've seen some dogs on the property  um an organic gal asked you know or she said   she loves the livestock Guardian dogs  and some folks were curious about your   um dogs just how many you guys have what you use  them for what your experience has been with your   livestock dog so we have uh I'm not sure how  many dogs we have somewhere probably around 10   um guard dogs so we've got some with  uh some with the Hogs a bunch with the   um with with the the laying hens we try  and incorporate them into the Sheep but   uh didn't have a great great year this  year with with the sheep and the dogs   um but they're they're solely here to protect  the the animals that they're with so and the   main ones are the latest so we have uh we have  them with them year round we'll see them in a   little bit the German Shepherd Max running around  here he's just the uh he's the the farm favorite   and he gets to run around wherever he wants  nice awesome all right where to next we will   uh drive down the road here a little ways to see  the pastured laying hens okay and uh we're gonna   our brother Bruce is gonna join us okay let me  switch one thing real quick okay guys change my all right yep all right pastored laying hands and um said uh  you got a unique winter set up for them too right   we do something something similar to this only  it's obviously set up for for the laying hands but   it realizes it's trying to utilize the same uh  same material for the buildings that way yeah   we can repurpose it the neat thing about  these buildings is you can if you wanted   to take them down you can take them down yeah  no and then you guys are keeping the hay bales   out here for just the betting mode keep warm  you find that they're consuming much of it   um I think they consume 10 to 15 of the hay yeah  and I use I like to use hay because they do get   a little roughage that way with it let's  go awesome hey Wilson Gomez from West Palm   Beach thanks for watching uh ajk appreciate you  watching we set up here in these mountain dogs   were brought to the USA by Lafayette awesome  thank you so thanks for sharing that info Rick Delian asked if you have any type  of composting system for any of the waste   you guys have out here so we do compost  any of the manure that we'll gather up with a lot of effort we usually just turn  it a couple times a year and then and then   we'll spread it in the bottle in here yeah  awesome thanks for the great question Rick yeah we're gonna go so glad you're enjoying  the tour keep watching we're going to go   ahead and check out those chickens right now  I believe and Joe Ashley so glad that you are   able to join us live all the way from Horse  Cave Kentucky appreciate you guys watching   you're just joining us this is the  Great American farm tour number five   are live in Roanoke Indiana at seven sons  Farm hanging out with Blake today and I'm   pretty fortunate have you guys here today oh man  we're so glad to be here like this this is just a   thing this is where I live I'm fortunate enough  to live on the farm awesome we're on the far west   end of our property we started this morning  on the far East Side so very cool does most   the family live on or around the farm uh we live  fairly close within uh I think everybody's pretty   much within four or five miles okay so for those  who don't know the farm is called seven sons farm   and yes there are seven suns correct and  our son there are seven so I've got six   six younger brothers yeah [Applause] awesome  focus in on different areas yeah very cool hey Hail Mary in Starkville  Mississippi so glad you're   watching hope you're enjoying the tour today hang tight guys we're just headed over  to check out their Lane in operations   if you guys think you won't want  to miss this there it's going to   be a pretty incredible I've  seen some pictures and videos pretty pretty amazing operation I  mean if you saw the beginning of   the live stream you saw where  they were washing and packing   there how many x 15 000 a day what'd you say yeah  we gather anywhere from uh I think 10 to 10 to 12   000 eggs that we gather a day in the 12 000x so  if you missed this if you're just joining us or   came in halfway through go back and watch the  beginning of this live stream and you can see   where they were washing all the eggs  and now we're gonna go check out were all laying so I got a question um let's see let's see if I  can answer this one holy cadiro asked how big is   the farm and I think you said it's 500 Acres right  500 Acres yeah managing 500 Acres on the farm   uh Ling Yang asks as far as water are  you using a pressurized well to feed   the limes or is it public utility wall  pressurized Wells I think there's uh   four different Wells that we need utilize  on the property it has worked out pretty   well there's a couple a couple ponds  that we're able to strategically pull most part it's all all pressure as well awesome and what are we looking at how that dispatchers  neighbors property or you guys mentioning this   I'm sorry what'd you say now what are we looking  at uh over here soybeans soybeans yeah so that   would be the conventional Farm yeah so this  is the neighbor's property property rotation   so that that's the alternative  that's the difference I mean   manage one thing like this or you can manage five  or six different things like you guys are on your   property and um you guys said you're you're using  some soil in your product is that do you know   where that's where the different feed sources come  from yeah so the soy comes from a couple farms in   Michigan we're close enough to Michigan yeah um as  across the border right across the line there so extruder up there that corn comes from actually our area one London one actually works for us  part-time in carbs some real crops for delivery on   his farm so we buy the non-gumo horn and awesome  works out great we can support him as well yeah   that's fantastic I don't know if you've seen one  of these with drive over gates no oh you need one   let me let me uh make sure I get this  demonstration here so this is the chicken farm   uh-huh it's like 90 acres and we're in and out of  here constantly I'm gonna show people why you do   it if you don't mind it's probably going to catch  and grip something off today we'll have the memory   to last forever yeah we will if you hit it on an  angle with a smaller vehicle it works pretty good it should just roll back up like that's handy  that's handy that's nice you got to be careful   certain Vehicles if there's something on there  we'll snag on here I think that we can make this   a little better so it doesn't catch we've already  flipped that angle iron over that's pretty cool sometimes when you're not here four  five six times a day it's hard to be   motivated to close the gates every  single time you still need to yeah this is amazing that's where we're going guys there are  a ton of birds out there my goodness we'll meet up with my brother Bruce  he uh he runs our late hand operation   so we'll see where we're gonna hey Bruce where  we want to go which building sharp here good so as these buildings rotate we will hit  the most of the uh the land twice yeah so   um two times in a year yeah is is okay  three times seems a bit much yeah and we   we're running about 100 pins per acre 100 in per  acre yeah you can feel this feels a little rough   as we drive through it and it's just because the  chickens they create those dust Pockets everywhere   for the adjust bait yeah and uh it makes the  land a little roughly consistently have chickens   but I mean the the bass yourself looks great  you know yeah and we figure that we're getting   about four ton to the acre of chicken litter  just by having them out here rotating yeah uh   rotating through the through the field oh my  gosh hope you guys are still with us because   this is pretty cool we'll make sure Bruce got the  fence off this is a Next Level layer operation fences off all right okay cool  thanks sir hey Pokey all right   um do you want to switch mics or how do you  want to do that um yeah let's just go and switch   because I think Bruce you're going to be able  to answer some of these questions you can also   um here let me do this we'll try this Kennedy  let me know if this works out um you guys can   just pass this back and forth if you want to just  kind of hold it yep should be okay we'll see how   the wind does but uh you guys let us know if the  audio sounds all right um I'm gonna get on this   side here real quick so introduce yourself to our  audience here and tell me what's going on today my   name is Bruce hitsfield I'm the sixth son here  uh since it's been about seven years now I got   into the lane Enterprise been doing it ever since  my brother and I Bryce we're doing it earlier on   since then we've had a few things come up he  he grew a sister company called hang gear and   I kind of took over with the production side  so yeah we've been growing every year really   when I started in I think we had 6 000 hens I  believe four or maybe it was five yeah we're   now running between 13 to 16 000 depending upon  the transitional clocks wow that's awesome and   what the what breeds are you guys gotta have up  here mostly just two it's a high line or Lowman   Brown Ellen brown or Roman Brown we choose those  they're obviously a hybrid we choose The High Line   specifically because they're known for uh their  versatility and pasture-based systems some of   the other breeds just won't hold up as well um  some of the just harsher environments with the   winter and they're just just fight Fringe  it's not as smart of a bird when it comes   to versatility so cool let's check it out what  do you want to show us well we can we can walk   right into these buildings show that show the  housing environment for these hands absolutely so basically we cut the tractor and we're moving  these buildings basically every day throughout   the summer time just we're hooking up to this  cable here on the ground yep we're just gonna   pull these buildings like the next move would  be 50 feet this way not a whole lot of room here   but then we're gonna come around and go back  towards the winter building yeah [Applause]   everything in here they got they got everything  they need we got the the nesters along the wall s along the wall they got feet in here yeah down  the center water lines underneath these nesters so where's the water line right underneath  okay here yep underneath down there yep gotcha   inside and outside yep those both walls going  all the way down let me show folks that just   so they can see it real quick um so you got your  water on your nipple waterers is that what that   is yeah that's a horizontal nipple okay and it's  right there on the edge so when you raise up your   your sides there they can easily still get to the  water that's really clever I like that yeah right   now the Wall's down a little we have some cold  nights just trying to keep me on that one lined   with nesting boxes yep yeah these are these are  nesting boxes that so I talked about Bryce who   fired up that sister company called hang gear we  started designing these nest boxes uh what was   that four or so years ago yeah all the messy boxes  here is boxes that we designed rollout design so   basically we'll come in here uh one o'clock each  day is our start time for Gathering clear the hems   out and basically just open up this tray we got  the eggs in here we're just coming through with   a basket and flats Gathering through this let's  build them so you're hand Gathering them all   can gather okay nice these are these are timers  programmed to uh basically release this mechanism   the next morning at 5am that way we don't have to  come out every day and it wasn't what's the point   of doing that exactly to keep those hands out of  there keep those Nest pads clean okay that makes   sense sleep in there at night gotcha awesome how's  the audio guys let us know I'm just gonna ask let   us know if it's loud in here if you guys can hear  us okay the chickens want to be heard they do they   do this is their moment in the sun yeah here's why  don't you talk about the solar lighting in here   and how important that is yep yeah so right here  is our battery Bank in there we got lights going   down here we're just trying to keep 16 hours of  light for the hens need the light stimulation the   same within their uh get their egg production  hands in the wintertime oftentimes they'll go   into a molt it's just because there's shorter  days in the winter so yeah we're just trying to   sustain that 16 hours I'm using solar out here  we're obviously not on the grid so basically   just a few hours in the morning a few hours  in the evening gotcha gotcha yeah because in   the winter time especially you guys have a lot  less daylight yeah and then and then these are   your those that's the food system it's basically  just a gravity fed system we'll come we'll come   in here with our brain part yeah we saw it earlier  yeah okay yeah we'll just auger it on down there's   there's openings at the top which is all going  on down these six feeters are 300 pounds each   um that'll last a week so we feed once a week  in here wow I think it was to step out here just   real quick yep folks said the chickens are loud  they can hear us all right the chickens are loud look at this that's incredible   yeah we're in their peak hour of late so they're  noisier at this time oh okay so they're they're   hard to work yeah yeah and do you find that  they stick mostly to those nesting boxes are   they doing their jobs where they're supposed to or  do you have any issues speaking um that's that is   a management if you have if you have a lot of  ground Edge that's a management issue for the   most part we're obviously just trying to mitigate  things that would make them wildly on the ground   you know hinge one feels safe and comfortable when  they're laying their Edge so we're trying to keep   everything lifted no no cozy Corners dark spots  on the ground sometimes the passion can really   grow and that that can cause issues but that's  why we got cattle here and we'll try to keep it   raise down that's specifically a problem right  when the hands go into lay around 20 weeks   so let's have a satchel around that timeline  to train them into those missing boxes   gotcha that's a that's something that keeps us on  our toes every year with every new thought yeah   you think you get it figured out and then there's  another new variable yeah yeah that's okay and uh   let me show I'm gonna show kind of the uh the  the top of your Schooners here just real quick   um because that's kind of unique and  tell me how you're loading those up   yeah so we're just gonna basically  just drive right into here with the   grain cart auger comes out we're gonna  hit those hit those openings up there down on in it's just a gravity fed system so  a lot of people use the auger line setup I've   looked into that multiple times I tried to reprice  and recoil it over and over and every single time   it really just doesn't it doesn't work not  very well for us with what we have here yeah   um to be honest the issue is that these buildings  aren't long enough to justify the electronics   motor for each building yeah it'll pay off of  what we're able to do with this system awesome   let me just check in here and  see am I miss anything Blake   not much uh so we got a question here from  Jeff Dixon he's watching in Cambodia today   and he wanted to know how much feed you guys  use for this operation here well let's let's   see Blake people pull out your calculator really  quick there you go uh we're about 20 .6 a day a thousand hands [Applause] how much per  bird a day you said point point two six   pounds yeah 0.26 okay right now I guess  no the average is probably probably about   0.28 because the winter time is going  to go up cooler months they're going   to consume more feed oh yes let's figure for  a pasture-based system 0.28 pounds per bird   uh times 14 000 times 365. that's one million four  hundred thirty thousand pounds a year good yes sir yeah we're glad we're not uh bucketing that by  hand so we were yeah like one of the same trucks   that we saw earlier with the pigs coming through  here yeah the same truck will will come here and   fill these okay gotcha another question  from Rick thielen here said uh how long   do your hands usually lay before you kind of  rotate them out yeah we're on a one year and   one year out cycle okay so give or take um  it can be like 11 to 13 months on the farm   um that'll mostly depend upon this winter our  sales cycle is like you know for heavier on eggs   I might get rid of that flock a little bit sooner  it just kind of depends on timing with transition   of flocks when I'm able to get a new flocking  yeah but it's generally a year okay and uh can you   kind of just point out and show me where all your  different Schooners are just so people can see the   total size of just because it's not just these  two that we're standing in between right here   there's 11 11 Schooners or we call them mobile  coops okay for four here we've got 40 4 600 hens   in this flock so basically about a thousand  hens per building and then we got another   flock over there okay yeah over there you got  to set with seven more well yeah it was two   different flocks there's three buildings this is  another flock and then those four buildings is keep all of our flock separate we don't combine  any any different ages oh yeah that makes sense   gotcha and then uh what what do you do when when  they're done laying so when they're done laying   um basically they just get sold to backyarders  and um anyone that wants to have them as like   a stew meat in the past we've sold them on our  website um that's Stu stewing head yes Stu bird   yep nice awesome and how do you how do you get  the do I guess do people just know that they can   contact seven sons if they want some layer hands  yep got you yep yeah I have I have a contact list   gotcha yeah it must be a mile longer  at least we got some good people on it   that's pretty cool so if you guys are in the area  if you're watching and uh you're looking for some   good laying hands uh some second year seven  sons Birds probably do the trick for you talk   a little bit about the importance of keeping the  clock separate and how you track the light rate   things like that yeah so I guess starting with  that records are important you got to know a lot   about your birds um the age delay rates even body  weight all these things are very important you're   not going to be able to know what to do with your  feed um what what their performance should look   like if you don't know these factors so you got  to be gotta be tracking all these things we found   that to be one of the most helpful things for us  to really make this a viable operations no know   what we're doing out here with the records  we got Daily records each flock record the   egg count if there's any mortality they're  keeping track of between a flock number just so yeah if you have if you have mixed ages you  can have a host of different issues for one you   can't have your one year and when you're out cycle  because you're going to get rid of some birds too   soon so I'm not you know soon enough so yeah big  big issue there yeah the different ages of birds   you don't you don't want to have a you know a year  and a half old bird mixing with just a year old   right you're gonna behave quite a bit differently  you can say issues there just every flock has a   pecking order so you don't you don't want to you  don't want to make that worse by mixing ages yeah   so so there's one bird out here that is the queen  of them all that's what you're saying yeah that's   awesome Yep there is so and uh yeah so I mean  how are you guys keeping those records are you   just writing it down manually you're running a  spreadsheet or phone yeah yeah no that's awesome   yep sure share with the whole team everybody has  access to it where did they make the record right   on the spot yeah so yeah if you guys are watching  um and you're looking for some access to Pastor   poultry record keeping templates we got some of  those on our YouTube channel and our website where   you can download them for free and uh and start  keeping records because if you're not just like   Bruce said um it's it's incredibly important yeah  be a nightmare trying to figure out what's going   on with 14 000 hands out here absolutely yeah  for a lot of farms the it seems like for a lot   of farms the uh the pasture laying in operation  is sometimes the least profitable but for us it's   the most profitable production and price per liter  that we can do did that happen at a certain scale   or has it always been that way for you guys so I  think it's it's scale and its lay rate lay rate   yeah that's why you're doing the birds one year  at a time these are the biggest factors and uh   she might be able to add more to this but um you  know going from 65 or 70 average lay rate for the   year up to an 80 or 75 to 80. that's huge on the  profitability yeah of that that model that's a   make or break it's a make or break yeah no that  that that's what lay rate is break even for us   that's a great question I think it's all the  way down to like 40 40 50 somewhere down in   there what is that uh 40 to 50 late cycle now  lay rate is our break even number explain that   for me what do you mean exactly what you say  that's an interesting question you just so   you're staying on just the direct inputs yeah  I guess I can't answer that off the top of my   head but it's somewhere down in there um yeah our  average lay rate for all the flocks historically a lot of these flocks when they come in they  can peek at high 80s and sustain that for free   maybe six months and so that that 73 to 80 of  the whole flock is laying once a day or how   how does that calculate would you word that if  you have uh 73 of the lane each day okay yeah   I just kind of trying to clarify that it's  close enough okay awesome uh got a couple of   questions let me ask you real quick um Dean  L asked about uh Predator issues aerial land   um what kind of Predator issues do you guys  deal with out here yep so you're always gonna   have predators in the area um things we do to  mitigate that is obviously it's electrified   netting you see here yeah we're not letting the  birds roam through we don't want to let them roam   free um for the Predators and also we don't want  the flocks to mix yeah we also have our guard dogs   I don't know if we saw any pulling in here we've  seen a couple on the property hanging out I think   there's like eight here now I said 10 earlier well  there's as of yesterday there's 13 new puppies so   there's there's gonna be a lot here um the guard  dogs are a great tool to mitigate that the worst   thing you can have is you know coyotes or wild  dogs get it and they just you know Massacre yeah   yeah what about Ariel you guys have any of those  issues I think we get those every now and then   you can mitigate that by just the size of pasture  space you give them so like if these hens had you   know 10 acres of access at once just flocked it  you're gonna have some hands roaming way out there   and that dog's not gonna be able to protect that  corner and that corner at the same time okay so   yeah you can have a chicken hawk get that every  now and then but to be honest I I have not seen   in the last year since we got like 10 dogs here  I don't see a whole lot of evidence of predation   and generally the chicken hawk is looking for  the that one that too far away right yeah as   long as you can keep it it's like a density it's  kind of just here together yeah we'll have them   we'll have chicken hawks just kind of rest on  the power lines or something close and just want to jump down into massive amount  of birds here gotcha it's intimidating   um we took a poll to see what people call call  these structures uh I'm interested to know this so   38 would call it a mobile Coop um 33 says chicken  tractor and I'm in the minority at 27 with chicken   Schooner thank you guys for participating  in that poll I hope good good feedback there   um mobile coupon's the winner mobile Coupe and  so this is they're keeping it simple I like that um so let's see Lang Yang asked about the water  lines how are you feeding the water line so I   guess from your your well lines out to here how  are you feeding them just with hoses well Blake   and I have had a lot of fun putting a lot of  water line system throughout all of our acreage   yeah how many miles did you say you have oh it's  well over ten yeah gotcha so this this 90 acre   field alone has what we got like a thousand feet  times six six thousand feet here under underground   trenched every 600 feet so basically you can  see these posts going out here that's a line   some White Post Yeah you got a whole water  line out there and then along that corner   line there there's another one there  over here there's gonna be another one   going down the field so can we walk over  and just kind of show that one right here [Music]   yeah we were we were talking earlier just about  how important having access to water is and how   you don't want to you don't want it to dictate  what you do what you're doing so so we try to   keep these Stakes up so we know know where our  water lines are but we have cattle and such out   here a lot of times they can get knocked  over anyways down here blaming my cattle   take a peek in there yeah we can we can pull  this out oh that's good we can see all right yep   so yeah basically it's just uh just plug  into that um garden hoses from there and   then there's a splitter hooking up to all  four buildings so when we go to move the   buildings we'll just undo the garden hoses at  the splitter and then just pull the buildings   so right now you got another one of these down  over there yeah and you got a splitter hooked   up to it and garden hoses run into each line here  right yep nice nice hey that's a great question   Lang thanks so much for asking that yeah I  don't know they saw in the building on the   other end is a water tank it's like a 30 gallon  tank it's just gravity fed from there okay yeah   um another quick question East Coast 24 asks  where do you buy those Hangar nest boxes he   loves them hangar.com hangar.com  simple as that simple as that cool as well okay the deal fabricate those on site  like they come in pieces or yeah they're going   to come on a skids 12 foot skid delivered to their  property and they'll have to manufacture about   to build it up from there okay cool yep awesome  guys this has been incredible man I've never seen   anything quite like it and I just can't thank  you enough for showing us around uh your farm   today this is just so cool yeah I know thanks  for coming out so it's fun to share absolutely   um there's one of the Guardian dogs hey guy yep  doing his job that one I believe is Pete Pete yep   super cool um let me see if there's any  last-minute questions from the audience   um if you guys got them get them in now  um we could probably just hang out with   these chickens all day you see the winter  set up at all yeah absolutely absolutely oh yeah that's right because this this isn't  your this isn't your winter setup yeah somersets   actually this flock and the one over there going  over to these winter structures and we're going   to transition them here in about two weeks Okay so  a little bunker down there for the winter season   um and what what kind of temperatures is  it when you start hitting those freezing   nights when you start to move them it's  really about it and is it mainly just   because you don't your water line issue  or what is it waterline is the biggest   issue obviously just overall health of the  clock out here when it's getting down to   that temperature tonight okay so we're  gonna take a ride take a ride all right and is that is that them over there is  that what they are those are easier [Music]   yeah check that out how big are the  buildings Bruce they're they're 30 by   400 feet okay and how many birds about  do they fit say again how many birds uh   I'd recommend about four thousand  okay three square foot for bird so yeah somebody just actually asked that  about the size of the mobile coops back   there did you mention the size of  those how big are those those are   20 by 48 okay 20 feet wide and 48 feet long gotcha that's yeah basically it's our Energizer uh  on Wheels so we've got solar panels charging   those batteries in that uh got a container  there yeah that's pretty massive but you   guys are running a lot of electric netting  yeah and those bigger Nets take quite a bit   right yeah that's an 18 Joule Energizer  in there anything less won't won't keep   up for the size of areas that we're  setting up that's a nice setup three yeah earlier this spring we had 100 mile an  hour winds come through and took this   building down oh yeah sometimes  rebuilding it that's been on the   yeah that's been on the to-do list uh we're just  just now finishing it up the uh the skeleton of   the uh previous building's still laying out there  but we got a rebuilt knocked down about 130 feet   turn 30 feet got that replaced to recharge yeah  is it typical you guys normally get that strong   of wind up here is that wind very typical no  honestly don't get that from the land yeah yeah all right hands in the winter time foreign wow so yeah this is uh one of the  three winter buildings that we have   it sounds like music in here yeah  there for a minute it sounded like   they were singing I don't know  if I'm just losing my mind but they're much quieter and calmer in here yeah these  birds uh I think there's two reasons for that   um the age and the light so these  these girls are just 23 weeks old   they're just now coming into production um  generally speaking the birds are going to be   more laid back when it comes to the noise Factor  that's it because at this time of day if they're   all laying they're all going to be squawking proud  of their egg be just late because that's what was   going on over there right okay so yeah they're  a little quieter um this is the first year that   we've used black tarp underneath it's basically  it's a bunker cover or a silage cover tart so   um concept is just to um you know birds are  kind of a jungle fowl they don't want to be in   the intense sunlight at all times so we're trying  out this darker tarp and the mobile coops mobile   buildings uh we use shade cloth which works fine  we can't do that here because as soon as it snows   it'll bring down the building because snow does  not Escape because the shade cloth is like mesh   almost right this is a lot smoother so it can melt  off and slide off so can't use shade cloths we're   gonna try trying this out yeah and this structure  will hold the snow on top of it no problem with it   like that yeah can we walk down just a little  bit I want to show it because this is massive   yeah it's pretty awesome man what kind of bedding  are you using this is just wood chips they chip   them and bring them in so pull the chips in  it's they got four or five inches of bedding   to burrow through you call this the dry side of  the building yeah yeah so this is specifically set   up to help mitigate you know some of the winter  moisture problems that you have trying to get   birds to the winter communities one of the bigger  problems that you'll have I have on this side   it's basically just their dust bathing area and  their nest boxes over here we got the roost going   on down yeah and then the feeders and then the  water lines on that wall okay so basically that's   the heavy impact side the north side of this  building is heavy impact gotcha Sun's on the   southern hemisphere we get more drying on this  side although we got a black tarp on now so let's   see yeah yeah but uh yeah so it's designed  that way so that they still have you know   half this building space to burrow through  Dustbin every day so and then this side is   kind of more the cake area where it's kind of a  winter chore we'll come in here we'll spread chips   over onto this side of the building and just  kind of keep that covered keep the smell down   um the old deal keep the sides down in the winter  that's something that we're we're watching depends   on weather patterns every day every day that  changes so I'm generally speaking though the   walls have to stay up at certain areas we sell  Whole Foods and these things need outdoor access   and you learn them yeah that makes sense um but  we also have to mitigate from a cold negative 20   windshield coming from the west or Northwest and  yeah um that so speaking of that that can lead   to some problems with freezing water lines so  basically we mitigate that with the walls we've   got water line going down this building 400 feet  and it's trenched on the way back it's basically   geothermal watering system so in this in this  water room over here we got a reservoir over there   in there yeah we can go in there in a bit if you  want okay but uh we're basically just circulating   the water and you know half of it's down on the  ground at 48 yeah it's like 48 degrees I got you   I can't I can't take credit for that idea that  came from uh Dan Dan McLean at copia farms so I   have to give him a shot so using that thermal  energy to keep it nice we did have a question   um from Kennedy Reynolds she wanted to know about  the lights in the side here and um if they're if   they're automatic and and how you're using those  yep so basically all her power's in that water   room um they're on a timer so they're just going  to run the 16 hours a day I think they turn on uh   well right now um so when you get a new flock  um you want to bring them into their 16 hours   depending upon their age their body weight or  they're just some finer details to help out with   their performance but when they're full maturity  you want about 16 hours of light so we're gonna be   running 16 hours in here keep that going it's all  a lot of time gotcha okay nice because when you   bring these in you want to know what light pattern  they were on yes and then you match that right   yeah so so like we get all the birds at 16 weeks  and at 16 weeks I believe they're at um 12 hours   of light I'd have to look at this sheet again yeah  but uh and different Growers do slightly different   patterns but uh yeah when they come in we want to  do our best to match that although because we're   a passion based system you know they're out in  the sun those mobile coops if we get them in June   we're gonna have 16 hours of light so we can't we  can't regulate that down yeah you know 12 hours   yeah it's not it's not a make or break scenario  in a sense but uh you want to show show me that   box real quick and then I want to ask you guys a  question actually about your your labor here but   um so you access this from the outside or how do  you get into this oh right in here oh okay yeah so this is kind of your control room here super fancy got a nice and insulated yeah yeah  dug into the ground down there yeah so the pipe   comes out of the ground right behind this tank  here um it's going into the tank and there's a   pump in here okay and it's sending it out the  top line here and I don't know if you can see   it but here's here's the water line going down  into that and it's pumping it through all the   way down to the end it goes down into the ground  comes back it's just it's just constantly cool   so really the trick is just to make sure the  pump's always running make sure no breaker   yeah flips or something like that awesome  good stay fixed up there yep Energizer all   right box it's all here so it's cool awesome  thanks for showing me in there step back out   I wish you want to show them the scale how you  want bird weights yeah oh wow yeah so this guy   I would definitely recommend but at the same  time I'm kind of behind I'm getting on board   just got it this year um it's two thousand  dollars I believe I got it off Farm farmboy.com   um basically it's it's pre-programmed to be  able to track your your entire flock to the   body weights keep it recorded into that computer  it's gonna It's Gonna Know Your flock I haven't to   be honest I haven't fully worked into this brain  of this computer to utilize so is the idea that   you know it measures them without you having to do  it basically just as it as it detects one bird on   the platform or however many it just wasn't here  we'd have to come out way on by hand walk it down   and be a huge labor yeah that's I mean that's what  we're doing with our turkeys and our chickens just   doing you know we're doing sample sizes weighing  them manually but we're not at this scale but if   you are then having this scale uh makes a lot of  sense yep and to be honest you really only need   one even if you have multiple flocks because in  my opinion my opinion you want to know their bird   weight from age like 16 to like 30 weeks after  that they should be fully matured and they should   stay with that that body weight yeah you want  to watch them during that time period make sure   they're making those daily gains if they're not  you may have issues versus overall healthy flaw   lay rate you're just you're going to have a lot  of Knowledge from that so that's really cool yeah   and show people this box it's got daily gains on  it um you just get the readout every day yeah the   target is 3.8 pounds right now um the last Wade  bird was 3.846 right on target yep uh looks like   3.87 is the average for the flock and it tells you  how many it weighed 267. today was 267. we have 91   uniformity that's pretty important basically that  means that just all the birds are within a certain   weight range yeah and you do want that because  if you have a lower uniformity that means you   have a basically it's a it's a higher pecking oil  there's a lot more variance in your flock which   means you'll have different performance issues out  of hands so yeah uniformity is pretty important   that's really cool thank you  for showing me that yep love it um and then what we've got a question from  Luis the Sailor uh you want to step out   and get to this one here he just asked  you know what you're feeding your birds   yeah that's a that's a non-GMO uh corn soybean  ration but you can probably speak better than   that yeah very similar to the Hogs okay just  non-jumoth corn soy and then a vitamin pack that   would meet their requirements awesome yeah super  cool um well that's that that's been incredible   I do want to ask a question um you know about  just kind of Labor of the size of operation   um what does it take to come in here every morning  and and do this at this scale desire you gotta   want to do it yeah yeah it's absolutely right  yeah it does take desire yep takes desire to do it   um it's yeah it's it's complicated to have 14  000 hands out here and there's a lot a lot to   take care of but um like how many people does  it take to harvest every morning how long to   get together yeah um when We Gather it from  one one to five basically it's a three-man   crew it's like it's in between like eight to  nine man hours to be honest that's what usually   gotcha wait how many uh eight to nine man hours  okay gotcha so one sometimes I get done at four   there's just different variables but and what are  they um they're putting in those crates that we   saw earlier at the beginning of the stream right  they're just literally just they're going around   those nesters I call I call them the human  conveyor belt they're just moving with the   nesting gotcha gotcha just loading them up in  there and then put them on the bit on a bed of   a truck something driving them to the shop yeah  and we actually have some down time between going   from one building instead of buildings to the  next so if you know everything was one place we   could gather quicker yeah yeah there's drive  time between and you don't want to drive too   fast you have scrambled eggs before you get back  gotcha but hey man like you said it's your most   profitable Enterprise so if you do you do do  whatever it takes site is the most profitable   Enterprise that we have so everything else kind of  dictates around it and this is another example of   how and we're not buying in uh we're not buying  in baby chicks to start now we're starting with   ready lay pullets schedule someone else's that  first you know that first uh part of the life   of that chicken is super important and that's  going to dictate how it's going to be able to   lay and unless you're totally set up to do  that well you need to find somebody that can yeah yeah and uh John uh which which court which  core is that I pronounce that wrong but he asked   them how old are the birds when you get them and  who's doing the brooding six 16 weeks okay you're   coming at 16 weeks gotcha um I got a couple  different contacts Moyers Moyers Hatchery on   Pennsylvania with most of our blocks that came  from here gotcha Dutch Country Organics here   in Indiana is another one a Stage Court Stage  Coach organic State Stagecoach Trail Organics   based out of Illinois super cool awesome well  man guys I think that covers most of what we   wanted to cover on the tour right yeah it is uh  you got to see bits and pieces of of every bit of   our production Enterprises we didn't go too deep  into any of them but uh no it's been good though   I mean it's a real eye-opener I know our hundreds  of people watching have enjoyed it as well um you   know I can't say thank you enough everybody's give  these guys a round of applause let them know your   gratitude and what you think I want to say thanks  to everybody so much for watching live here or   if you're watching the recorded version of this  video here at seven sons Farm in Roanoke Indiana   where they're doing an amazing job you guys are  an awesome family really really grateful for you   guys for inviting us out and showing everybody  you guys this Farm as transparently as humanly   possible absolutely thanks for coming along  with the tour awesome all right so thank you   guys so much for watching the Great American farm  tour here at heifer USA if you've enjoyed this   make sure you subscribe to our Channel hit that  notification Bell because we're going to be doing   more of these Great American farm tours I won't  tell you exactly where we're going next but I'll   give you a hint he's a huge YouTube channel and  he lives in North Carolina so you you let me know   who you think that might be where we're going to  be out there sometime early November so subscribe   like follow for notifications check these guys out  on social media okay if you haven't already they   have an awesome YouTube channel great Facebook  friends presence you'll find all those links in   the description of this video and if you want to  get access to or purchase some of their products   those links will be there for you as well because  just seeing your production Enterprises I imagine   it is very tasty so you would don't want to  miss that and be sure to check some of that   out if you want to get some of that delivered  to your door right absolutely deliver to your   door keep it convenient awesome all right thank  you guys so much we'll see you all next time thank you foreign

Channel: Heifer USA

Views: 531,299

Keywords: Soil health, homestead, no till farming, market gardening, organic farming, permaculture, rotational grazing, horticulture, livestock management, sustainable agriculture, regenerative agriculture, heifer usa

Id: FAVk44qpGQU

Length: 101min 26sec (6086 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 11 2022