Last summer I became a full fledged goats milk greek yogurt addict. I was making it several times a week, and would gorge on a heaping bowl everyday topped with whatever wild fruit was in season at that particular moment. Honestly, it’s a wonder that at the volume I was consuming it, my digestive system didn’t go into full fledged revolt.
Well, it didn’t take long for my addiction to further spiral out of of control, and I started to dip my taste buds into the world of frozen goat milk yogurt. Goagurt? It is single handedly (and I’m not exaggerating here) one of my favorite things in the world. I then and went and turned my friend Anne into an a frozen goat milk yogurt manic last summer, who has been eating it ever since. It truly is a refreshing summer treat.
This frozen goat milk yogurt recipe can be adapted for quite literally any fruit. Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, whatever! Fresh or frozen! Or, *sigh* any yogurt if you are into the whole bovine versus caprine thing. The only thing that may need to be adjusted is the amount of sugar and lemon juice depending on the fruit. Some are naturally sweeter or more tart than others. Think sweet peaches versus tart raspberries, you wouldn’t add the same amount of sugar and lemon juice for both?! The good news is once you make the base, you can give it a taste test and add more of what you think is needed.
I am writing the recipe as general “berry” frozen yogurt, but strawberry is the most common one I make. I consumed approximately 234,783 gallons last summer in addition to my Nana’s Strawberry Pie. Again, feel free to substitute any fruit that’s in season, or use frozen if none are in season, and adjust to taste. I personally never measure and always just add and taste as I go along. Add too much fruit? Blend in some more yogurt. Not sweet enough? Add more sugar. In order to write this blog post, I actually had to measure everything out I was eyeballing so just know it’s extremely flexible and forgiving!
There are only two things that I ask of you if you’re going to make this recipe:
- Please for the love of all that is holy DO NOT skip straining the seeds. Yes, it’s one measly little extra step, but it makes all the difference in the texture of the yogurt. I promise.
- And PLEASE, unless you’re consuming it all within a couple of hours of making it, don’t forget the alcohol. It won’t get you drunk, it won’t get your kids drunk, and you certainly won’t taste it. What it will do, however, is keep your yogurt from turning into an icy, unscoopable cinder block in the freezer. For reals.
Remember that the quality of fruit varies (and matters). When in season, some are so deliciously juicy and flavorful, while others are a bit bland. If you have bland berries, you may need to add more than the recipe calls for, and you still probably won’t get a super concentrated flavor. So, the quantities I call for are general guidelines and I erred on the side of caution when it comes to sweetness and acidity. Less sugar, less acid. You can always add more, but you can’t take it away once it’s there. The amount you add will depend on the particular fruit as well as your own personal taste. I don’t particularly care for any of mine to be super sweet, so I always use less sugar.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is use this recipe as a guideline. Add less at first, taste, and adjust to your liking. Don’t be afraid to try new flavor combinations and get creative, this is a solid base for you to expand upon.
Ingredients
- 5 cups fresh or thawed frozen berries
- 1/2 cup raw sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- A good glug of vodka ~1.5 tablespoons
- 2 cups Greek Goats Milk Yogurt (the thicker and fuller fat the better, obvi)
**I have never subbed honey or other natural sweetener here because in the grand scheme of things I use so little. I would imagine though if using honey, due to it being a supercooled liquid that it would also prevent the yogurt from freezing solid much like the vodka.
Create Your Base
- Take berries thru vodka and add it to the bowl of your blender or food processor. Give it a quick toss, then let sit until syrupy and juices have extracted. Then blend until smooth scraping down sides, then add yogurt and blend until incorporated.
- Pour through fine mesh strainer fitted over a canning funnel if you have it, into a storage container of sorts (mason jar works!). Press/stir around with rubber spatula to help push the liquid base through, scrape out seeds and put in your Big Marie slop bucket as needed. The goal here is to remove the seeds and allow the smooth yogurty goodness to strain through and leave the seeds behind.
- Put the base in the refrigerator covered and let it get good and cold.
Churn and Burn
- Pull out your best friend’s ice cream maker that you borrowed two years ago and never returned back to her.
- Add your chilled base to the frozen ice cream maker and let it churn until it reached your desired thickness. I let mine go around 20-25ish minutes usually.
- Eat it soft serve straight from the ice cream maker bowl, or put into another container and stick in the freezer for a few hours to let it firm up even more.
- Put on your elastic waistband sweatpants, sit back and enjoy!
Happy Goagurt Eating,
How to hand milk a goat is one of the most difficult things to try to explain in words, let alone in a video. It’s one of those “you have to do it and feel it for yourself” type of things. Explaining how to move your hands and where…it’s hard. But, I decided to give it a try anyway, and finally recorded a “how to hand milk a goat” video for my Youtube channel. Don’t be discouraged if you go to milk for the first time and you get it all over your hands as opposed to the bucket. It will come to you. Also a little trade secret, it is OKAY TO CRY. I have done my fair share in the past 
But, once you get the hang of it, it’s pure magic.
Every goat is different, as is their behavior on the milk stand and how they milk. Are their teats large or small? How big are your hands? Are their orifices small or normal? How defined is the medial ligament, affecting teat positioning? The more you milk, the more you get a feel for what works for you as well as your particular goat you’re milking.
Ruby for example is a saint on the stand as long as she has food and is still hungry. But, once she has had her fill, I have a very short window of opportunity to finish. As evident in this video, I was talking and showing things rather than going about my usual brisk pace milking. Usually, I beat her. So due to my slower pace, she got a little fed up and wouldn’t stand well for me anymore. This is just how it is with her, and I know that going into it. Thankfully, when she is preoccupied and happily eating, as you can see she is an absolute angel and I love milking her.
Please excuse the last few minutes where my head is partially cut off. Unfortunately, I have to record these videos myself and sometimes I don’t get the camera placement right!
Additional posts that you may find helpful related to this include the design for the goat milk stand, how I process the milk post milking, and why I went with goats for home dairy in the first place.
P.S – I ended this milking with a half gallon on a 12 hour udder for inquiring minds!
Happy Milking,
One of the most common questions that I get from blog readers and Instagram followers is “how much does it cost to raise a pig for meat?” This is 100% a justified question! For someone who has never done it, they don’t know if it’s $100 or $10,000. There isn’t a whole lot of information out there on pigs. If you don’t personally know someone who raises them, you can be left in the dark. Hence this blog post. So, here comes the answer that everyone hates to hear… it depends.
Yes, I said it. It depends! Different factors affect growth rate, feed conversion, and ultimately the price it costs to raise one pound of pork. It depends on the pigs breed, age, price of piglets in your area, quality and quantity of feed. This is in addition to the amount of space they have to run, how big you want your pig at slaughter, etc, etc. The variables are endless. I cannot give you an exact dollar amount that it will cost to raise a pig for meat. But, I can shed some light on different factors that affect growth, and share what it costs to raise my pigs.
Note that this is not an all inclusive list of every variable that affects growth, FCR, etc. I couldn’t possibly explain every little thing down to the affects lysine has on growth. BUT, what I can do is hit on the “biggies” that are going to have the greatest affect on the cost to raise a pig for meat.
Choosing the Breed
While there are many factors as I previously mentioned that affect growth, it all starts with the pig itself and its breed. Not all pig breeds are created equal friends. There are “lard pigs” and “bacon pigs” which I discuss their distinction in my post on how to render lard. These heritage pigs produce well marbled meat, a healthy does of fat cap, and flavorful cuts. Heritage crosses are what we breed and raise for our own consumption. That will never change. While they are slower growers generally speaking, they are ideal pasture pigs for our model. They clear our woods while simultaneously producing the best pork. Heritage breeds are not the only ones out there though – lest we not forget the commercial breeds! “Pink pigs” such as Yorkshires (among many others) are renowned for their quick growth, leaner meat, and efficient feed conversion ratios.
You could raise a purebred heritage or heritage cross as well as a commercial breed in the same exact setting. Same feed, same housing, same everything, and you will get a different result in the meat. Genetically they are pre-programmed to put on weight differently, and this is something that cannot be completely changed through feed. Experimenting with different breeds and crosses to achieve the ideal combination of growth and marbling is a popular option. It’s also one we take advantage of by breeding our own pigs via AI. Choosing the right breed or cross for you is the first step in getting the pork you want in the end.
Feed Conversion Ratio
How To Calculate FCR
Before we can dive into the nitty gritty of feed, a general understanding of feed conversion ratio (FCR) is needed. In a nutshell, FCR is the amount of feed it takes to produce 1 pound of finished meat on your plate. This is a measure of efficiency, as a more efficient animal will require less feed to produce a pound of pork. In turn, this will mean you spend less money. If you want to get down to the exact thousandth of a decimal point, FCR calculations can get pretty complicated. You have to account for every scrap of feed wasted, as well as any additional food such as forage or waste/scraps they’re consuming. Luckily, on a homestead we don’t need to be that exact. Which is good, considering most likely aren’t equipped for it. You just need to have a pretty good idea, so you know if you’re doing well or spending too much money. Luckily a very good close estimate that tells you how “good” you’re doing is a simple calculation:
FCR= Total pounds of food fed out / (pig hanging weight – pig starting weight when started on grain)
So for example, let’s say that you brought a feeder pig home and it weighed 30 pounds (this is a live weight which is one reason we are getting a close estimate not exact). You fed it 600 pounds of food over the course of its life and it ended up with a hanging weight of 260 pounds:
FCR= 600 pounds/ (260-30)
FCR= 2.61 AKA it took 2.61 pounds of feed to generate 1 pound of finished pork
Interpreting Your FCR
Is that good? Is that bad? Again, the more efficient an animal is, the less feed it will take to generate one pound of finished pork. So, the lower the number, the more efficient the animal.
Typical FCR’s in the commercial pork industry hover right around the 2.5 mark on average, give or take based on google. I take this number with a grain of salt however, because we aren’t raising commercial pigs. We raise heritage cross breeds and the conditions and environment we raise our pigs in is nothing like the commercial pork industry. That’s kind of the point right? My pigs run in the woods free while burning calories in the process. I will never be on par with the “standard”, and I am okay with that. To me it’s all about the quality of life for the animal and the pork. Still, it is good to know what the standard is, so that you have something to compare to.
While FCR may seem cut and dry, like many things it isn’t. It’s highly subjective to interpretation on a small scale like a homestead. Just because an animal has an efficient FCR doesn’t mean you will be happy with the end result. Commercial breeds are generally speaking highly efficient. But, if you don’t like leaner cuts and are specifically looking for good marbling and fat, you may be sorely disappointed despite your pigs efficient growth.
Factors that Affect FCR
There are many factors that affect an animal’s growth and in turn, FCR. As previously mentioned the breed and an animal’s genetics have a significant affect on growth and efficiency. Access to fresh water, overall health, parasite load, climate, and sanitation/living conditions can have a great deal of an impact on growth as well. Aside from this, there are other factors that make a significant effect:
FEED
First and foremost, feed. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of quality feed. As the saying goes, garbage in garbage out. You are what you eat, and the animal you’re eating is what IT ate. You get the picture.
Finding quality grain however, without breaking the bank is a delicate balance. Beware of the temptation to go and buy the cheapest feed you can. It may seem like you are getting a good deal if you look at it from the standpoint of price per pound of feed. But, if the feed is garbage, you very well could end up feeding out 2-3x the amount as you would with quality. In turn, you could spend more money!
While mycotoxins are a concern with any animal, pigs are particularly susceptible to their effects. These are toxins created by different molds that get into an animals feed by improper harvesting and storage of grains. A quality feed company will regularly check for mycotoxins. They can have devastating effects not only on the animals overall health and reproduction, but growth. I went through a mycotoxin scare when I was buying feed from a local farm. When I questioned their testing protocol and it didn’t meet my standards, they immediately lost my business. Lesson learned.
We feed organic, non-gmo, soy free feed to our animals, and it isn’t exactly the easiest to find. I have tried several different feeds over the years, and purchased it in varying amounts. We finally have a good system in place where we purchase feed in bulk to get the best price and have it shipped to us. Always buy it in bulk if you can properly store it, it saves a TON of money.
While any scraps/kitchen waste and forage the pigs have are icing on the cake, likely grain is the bulk of diet. So, quality is paramount. Last year we ended up with an FCR of 3.70, which given the conditions in which we raise our hogs and their size (which I will discuss further), I was satisfied with.
LEVEL OF ACTIVITY
This may seem like an obvious thing to mention, but I feel like it could be easily overlooked. Level of activity is going to have a significant impact on the cost to raise a pig for meat. This is a big part of why large scale operations have such efficient FCR’s whether it be pigs or even meat chickens. An animal kept in confinement is less active, meaning it burns less calories. If you have an active animal that’s running around, they are not going to gain weight as quickly or efficiently!
We have a system of rotational grazing pigs through the woods on electric and finishing them in the fall. Exercise is something we not only allow, but encourage. Not only do our pigs have an exceptional quality of life running around a half acre at a time, but using those muscles creates delicious pork. Sure, you may need some more feed to generate a pound than an animal that lives in a barn stall. But to us, it’s worth it not only to allow our pigs help us clear our land, but produces premium cuts of pork in the process. It’s a balancing act of enough space for activity and to maximize clearing, but not too much that we are spending a ridiculous amount of money on feed.
MARKET WEIGHT
The size of the hog at butcher all comes down to a matter of personal preference. The industry standard for “market weight” has slowly changed over the years. For the longest time it was 250 pounds live, but over time as genetics have improved it has slowly crept up to the 290-300 pound range.
Airing on the side of caution you can anticipate a 30% loss from live to hanging weight once the viscera and blood has been removed. That means if you raised a 250 pound hog, it would yield a 175 hanging weight carcass. I don’t know about you, but that is not enough meat for this gal. Nor would those cuts have a hefty enough fat cap and marbling for me. Luckily, one of the many benefits to raising your own animals for meat is that they can be as big or as little as you want when it comes time to butcher. There is no “one way” to do it, suit it to your tastes!
But why is this the “standard”? I will save you my side rant on Americans fear of fat and their obsession with lean, “other white” meats…
Aside from that, there is in fact some scientific basis for this. Once a pig reaches 250-280ish pounds, there is a noted drop in their feed conversion efficiency. They are not converting feed to lean meat as efficiently when they’re 270 pounds as when they were 200 pounds. So if you raise them over the mark, it will have an effect on your overall FCR. In the commercial industry, they are constantly striving to improve the genetics to produce an efficient FCR closer to this 300 pound range. Hence the slowly creeping market weight size. Remember, these are commercial hogs though, not the average homesteaders stock. Manage your expectations appropriately.
You will see below in my numbers that I raise some pretty big pigs. It’s a personal preference! They hang as big as the live “market weight”! So, is their efficiency diminished because of this, affecting my overall FCR? Absolutely. But, I do it because it gives me the ideal fat cap and marbling for my liking, as well as a hefty supply of leaf lard and back fat for rendering. We love our fats in this household, and it is just as important to us as the meat itself. We may lose some efficiency to get there, but for us it is 100% worth it to get the pork that we want on our plate.
Price Per Pound for My 2019 Pigs
Okay, so now that I’ve talked to your ear off about what FCR is and some of the things that may affect it let’s get to what’s really important. How much does it cost to raise a pig for meat? Like I said, having a general idea of FCR is a very good thing, but for me it ALL comes down to the price I’m paying per pound. This is the number that I calculate immediately once I have hanging weights and butchering cost for my pigs, not the FCR. Some people may shudder looking at my FCR of 3.70 last year and think “how horribly inefficient!” But I’m over here like, “have you seen how cheaply I was able to raise my organic/non gmo/soy free pork?!” So, let’s get into it:
Below are the costs associated with all three of of the pigs we raised last year in 2019: Sheldon, Ralphie, and Smidge. Keep in mind Smidge was a runt and totally threw off the curve. Because we raised them together, fed them together, etc I calculated the entire group as an average. There is no way to know exactly who ate how much, but I know what the group as a whole consumed.
We breed ourselves and I didn’t “buy” them, but I still put a dollar amount on them that would be what we would have sold/expected to pay for similar pigs. There are afterall costs associated with breeding! Feed costs include the 1.5 tons of grain they ate throughout the year, factoring in the cost of shipping. The butchering cost includes the processing of all three, with some smoking (our friends who bought Ralphie had their cuts smoked while we smoked our own). There were no additional crazy costs that I have associated with raising them as we had infrastructure in place, no sickness that required a vet appointment, etc
Then comes a matter of how much each pig hung at (weight after they have been dressed). Hanging weight is the weight that is used “in the biz” as the measure to base price off of. It includes fat, bones and meat, all of which are things that we get back from the butcher. Hanging weights for all three were:
Sheldon 289 pounds + Ralphie 262 pounds + Smidge 106 pounds
= 657 POUNDS OF PORK
Can I get a drumroll please...
$3.18 PER POUND of ORGANIC/NON-GMO/SOY FREE Woodlot Pasture Pork
Can I get a hell yeah?
Now, let’s remember this is the average price per pound for an entire pig, and is not factoring in different cuts. So, think about that. That “premium” expensive bacon (that is arguably garbage) found at any regular ole’ grocery store fetches over $6.50 a pound. I pay a little over $3! And the quality is not even in the same league, not to mention the fact it’s 100% organic.
I also can’t help but think how much better my numbers would have been if Smidge wasn’t in the picture. She was a runt, and sometimes you get a pig that just doesn’t want to grow. The potential for genetic capability was there, just look at her brothers. So, there is no question she thew off the numbers, but to what extent I will never know.
There are so many ways to cut costs, and factors that will affect the cost to raise a pig for meat. Grain price is going to be a huge factor, as is butchering costs. This year we are switching to a mobile butcher who will do an on site slaughter as opposed to taking the pigs to a slaughterhouse. While this is a slightly more expensive option, it’s more convenient for us and better for the animal. So it’s a cost we are willing to incur.
There are SO MANY VARIABLES at play that affect the cost to raise a pig for meat. Like anything else with homesteading there is no one right way to do it. It’s all about raising the quality of meat that you want and of course trying to do it without breaking the bank. It’s all about finding reliable and quality feed/piglet sources, and a system that works for you. Hopefully I have been able to give you some food for thought, as well as shed some light on raising your own pork!
Happy Pig Raising,
Move over caesar salad, I have a new love in my life and it comes in a corn tortilla. For the past month plus I have been making (not to mention consuming my body weight in) THE BEST FISH TACOS IN THE WORLD. I am full on addicted. You know you have done it right when you have no desire to go out to eat for the fish tacos you used to always crave, and choose to stay home instead. They’re flavorful, crunchy, light, a bit spicy, and absolutely delicious. I have also made this exact recipe with shrimp, and it’s equally delicious. While I prefer shrimp’s flavor over fish, as far as the mechanics of eating go, I find that the fish tacos are easier to eat. You’re able to achieve that perfect ratio of fish : slaw : sauce in every bite. Trust me on this, I’m a professional eater.
The cabbages in the slaw are merely suggestions, feel free to experiment with different kinds or use whatever is available to you! Also note I don’t give exact measurements. First of all I don’t tend to measure, second, it’s a slaw eyeball it and adjust. Third, I don’t make it the same way every time. If I have a larger head of red cabbage one time it will have more red cabbage than Napa, or vice versa. It truly doesn’t matter, it’s all tasty!
This recipe is a compilation of elements of different recipes I’ve tried, tweaked, and then combined to create the best fish tacos!
The Fish
- Fresh fish (or shrimp!) of choice cut into strips – I prefer haddock or mahi-mahi
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1.5 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- salt and pepper
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- Half and half mixture of plain and panko breadcrumbs
- Corn Tortillas heated
The bang bang sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1 heaping tablespoon sambal oelek chili paste
- 1 teaspoon Tabasco (or more to taste)
The slaw
- Red Cabbage
- Napa Cabbage
- Bunch of Scallions
- Fresh Mango
- Handful of fresh cilantro
- Fresh Lime
directions
- Make the batter and assemble the fish: At least an hour before you plan to eat (or earlier if you have the time!) Mix together flour through salt & pepper in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk egg and milk and then slowly incorporate into dry ingredients whisking until smooth. On a separate plate mix plain and panko breadcrumbs. Add strips of fish into wet batter and toss around until fully coated. Let excess drip off, then roll in breadcrumbs pushing to adhere. Place fish on a drying rack over baking sheet. Once all fish is done, let sit uncovered in the fridge until ready. **While it certainly is possible to do this and immediately fry, when breading anything whether it be fish, chicken, pork, etc letting it sit in the fridge helps the breadcrumbs cling to the meat and will prevent it from falling off when frying
- Make the Bang Bang: Mix the ingredients for the bang bang sauce until well combined, adding more or less tabasco to taste to adjust heat preference
- Prepare the slaw: Shred the Napa and Red Cabbages and add to a bowl. Chop scallions green and white parts, cilantro, and mango and add to cabbage. Toss to mix, adding fresh lime juice. Add a few tablespoons of bang bang sauce and continue to toss until lightly and evenly coated.
- After the fish has rested in the fridge for at least an hour, add avocado oil to a heavy bottomed skilled on medium-high. You are pan frying, not deep frying so just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Fry until golden brown, and fish is flaky and cooked through.
Assemble your taco, and may I recommend bang bang sauce on the bottom and a light drizzle on top? PS – the taco holders at home are an absolute game changer. Enjoy the best fish tacos ever, and I dare you to not become a full fledged addict such as myself.
Let me preface this recipe by acknowledging the fact that this pie goes against most of what I believe in when it comes to food. It contains artificially flavored boxed Jello, and Cool Whip. Sooooooo not organic, highly preserved, and full of chemicals. I mean seriously, what IS Cool Whip really? Despite these downfalls, to this day is one of my favorite desserts ever! Maybe it’s because it reminds me of childhood, or summer, or the fact that my Nana used to make this pie just for me and I’d have to hide it in the fridge from my dad.
Whatever the reason or reasons may be, I can’t bring myself to change a single thing about it or even attempt to make it healthier or less artificial. Sure I could make my own strawberry jello out of strawberry juice and gelatin. And I could substitute the cool whip for real whipped cream. But it just wouldn’t be the same! So I accept it for what it is, know that it is a very rare treat, enjoy every crumb, and move on with my life.
Take advantage of strawberry season and whip up this very delicious dessert, it’s as easy as pie!
Ingredients
- One blind baked and cooled single crust pie dough
- Heaping quart of fresh strawberries (if they’re big halve them)
- 3 oz. box of strawberry Jello
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 8 oz container softened Original Cool Whip
Directions
- Make single crust pie dough and blind bake until cooked through and allowed to completely cool
- Rinse fresh strawberries well, halve or quarter any large ones until all relatively the same size and set aside in a large bowl.
- In medium saucepan bring water, sugar, and cornstarch to a boil. Once boiling, continue for two minutes until thickened.
- Remove from heat, and whisk in box of strawberry jello.
- Let mixture cool about fifteen minutes, then add to large bowl of strawberries tossing gently to coat.
- Add strawberry and gelatin mixture to pie crust, leveling off.
- Put in refrigerator for 2-3 hours to allow to cool and jello set.
- When set, add Cool Whip to the top and decorate as you please!
A few years ago my husband and I began our path down the road to self sufficiency. Being meat eaters, we couldn’t really call ourselves self sufficient without raising our own! So, we decided to get our feet wet and started with meat chickens like most do. Our initial round of birds we raised were the Cornish Cross because well, that’s what everyone raises! So they must be good right? Wrong. Well, wrong for us at least. We couldn’t stand these birds, and after that first round we swore we would never raise them again…and we haven’t. We immediately switched to the Rangers. A robust, slower growing breed that is more adapt for being raised on pasture. We have raised a couple hundred since then, and have been beyond thrilled with the breed overall.
So why the Rangers and not Cornish Cross? Read on!
Cornish Cross
My experience with the Cornish Cross was not a pleasant one. Ultimately, the breed itself just wasn’t right for the environment we raise them in (pasture versus confined) and their obvious genetic selection for certain attributes just didn’t sit well with me. Again, this is my experience. I know plenty of people that happily raise them and plenty of others that have sworn them off just like me. Some key points are:
- They aren’t hardy. The Cornish Cross are a hybrid breed just like the Rangers. However, the breeding stock are chosen for very specific traits such as exaggerated large breasts to meet the high demand of white meat eaters, sparse feathering, wide set legs, extremely fast growth, and foraging suppression. All of these traits are desirable for the large scale poultry farms, which is the industry the breed was tailored for. These traits aren’t natural, and as a result, the bird’s health suffers. Their body is designed to put on an incredible amount of weight in a short amount of time, causing other systems to be compromised. They are notorious for leg issues and organ failure among other health problems. This is why most people don’t raise them past the 8-10 week mark because they physically will not be able to make it. After this point, the mortality rate spikes and you are really taking a gamble on if the birds survive no matter how well you care for them. In addition to health issues, they are very sensitive to extreme temperatures and are not equipped to withstand the elements of inclement weather. All it takes is one short heat wave to completely devastate your flock, I have seen it personally.
- Yes, they grow fast. But I mean man do they grow fast. They have a high feed conversion ratio meaning they very efficiently and quickly convert their feed weight. They do it better than any other breed and is one of the many reasons why they are a favorite of large poultry farms as well as homesteaders.
- They just don’t seem natural. If you’ve ever seen an animal in its live form and thought “man that thing is gross I wouldn’t even want to eat it” that’s how I feel about the Cornish Cross. Their splotchy feathering and exaggerated wide set legs to support their front heavy stature make them look like a science project gone awry. It just isn’t natural. Even worse, we had to prop their food trough up on bricks to raise it so they actually had to stand to eat. Otherwise, they would lay down in front of the food dish, in their own poop, and eat. No matter how much space they had to move and forage, once they reached a couple weeks old these birds would plop themselves in front of the food trough all day long. Overall, they are minimal foragers in comparison to other breeds which for us is a big no no.
Let’s sum them up:
- Pros: do well in confinement setting, reach slaughter weight quickly (as little as 6 weeks), easier to pluck due to sparse feathering, large breasts for white meat lovers, widely available.
- Cons: don’t make good foragers, generally unhealthier and lack of hardiness, don’t display normal chicken behaviors, unhygienic.
Rangers
Since switching to the Rangers we have been extremely happy with their performance. They are a slower growing breed which allows more flavor to impregnate the meat that you just can’t get in a quick growing bird. They are also known for their dark meat, which makes them more desirable if you are a chicken leg lover such as myself. Some key points are:
- The Rangers are very similar to dual purpose laying hens in their appearance and personality. They are fully feathered with their breast meat being proportional to their body unlike a Cornish. They also display normal behaviors such as active foraging, roosting, taking dust baths, etc. Even with a feeder full of grain, they will still opt to forage making them an ideal pastured bird.
- I have raised Rangers in varying temperatures and seasons without issue. They are very hardy and are able to hold up to inclement weather regardless of a heat wave or cold snap without any special accommodations. Because we raise our birds on pasture, this is an absolute necessity without a controlled environment.
- They grow considerably slower than the Cornish Cross. While the average age to process is around the 12-14 week mark, we have never processed our birds that early. We always end up pushing them out further and process between 16-20 weeks, and have dressed weights between 7-8 pounds. There are two schools of thought on this: Some see this as a negative because they want the birds to grow out as fast as possible. Others see this as a good thing because longer growth equates to more flavorful meat. I take the latter point of view, and like the slower growth rate. It allows more time for flavor to develop, but because we process our own birds it also gives us the luxury of processing them on our own time. Unlike the Cornish, the Rangers will not succumb to multiple system failures so they can be processed whenever we get to them whether they’re 10 weeks or 10 months old.
Let’s sum them up:
- Pros: natural foragers reducing feed costs, very hardy, display normal chicken behaviors, more flavorful meat, great for dark meat lovers
- Cons: take longer to reach slaughter weight (if you consider that a con, which I don’t), fully feathered so harder to pluck, smaller breasts than Cornish Cross (again not a con for me, they’re far from “small”!)
Let's Talk About Slow Meat
Everyone is familiar with the notion that you can’t rush quality, and meat chickens are no exception to this rule. Flavor takes time, and it’s a process that can’t be rushed. This is a concept that people are starting to realize with the “slow meat movement” taking its hold.
Is there really a noticeable difference though? Absolutely!!!! Night and day. A big part of the difference in flavor is of course the feed given to the birds as well as supplemental pasture. But, time is a huge part of it as well and is a variable that can’t be rushed. If you raised a Cornish Cross and a Ranger side by side under the same exact conditions and processed them at their respective average slaughter ages, there would be a noticeable difference in the appearance and flavor.
As I previously emphasized, choosing the breed of meat chicken to raise is very much a personal preference based on what is important to you. Maybe you don’t care that the Cornish aren’t foragers because you’re going to raise them in a small pen. Or you live in a hot climate and want to raise them in the summer so you need a hardier animal and decide to go with the Rangers. I know people who raise the Cornish Cross knowing that they will always lose at least 10% of their flock, and they are okay with that, so they order extra anticipating loss. It is a personal choice just like anything else.
We love raising the Rangers because to us, they are how a chicken should be. Natural. They run, scratch through the dirt, chase each other fighting over worms, thrive raised on pasture, and just all around are a robust healthy bird. Sure it takes longer for them to grow, but it’s a non issue because the result is incredibly nutrient dense delicious chicken for us! But, as they say the proof is in the pudding! See for yourself as I teach you how to break down a whole chicken. You just can’t get that dark red meat and healthy yellow fat from a fast growing sedentary bird.