Farm Infrastructure

 

One of the most important investments a farm can make would be investing in good infrastructure. While I'll be referring more so to buildings in this post, "good infrastructure" also spills over into other categories such as fencing, equipment, irrigation supplies, ect...

A few examples that come to mind about good infrastructure would be the overall usefulness of a building. Would it be just as useful as a storage unit as it would a chicken house? How accessible is it (size matters)? Could minor modifications be made in the future to custom-tailor the building to a different animal without completely changing the building? 

These are just a few questions that I like to consider when thinking about adding farm buildings (of which there are only a few). 

Space is also an important consideration. Will the structure be portable? How tall should it be? Buildings should never be crammed into a space, because even though the inside of the building may be perfectly suited for you and your animal's needs, a dysfunctional outside can create an unsightly, disorganized mess, which ultimately creates a sense of dissatisfaction because everything always looks like a mess! 

In other words, make sure that there is a place for everything and everything in its place. 

Some spaces are more suited to portable buildings, whether that be because of terrain, cost, or layout. An example of this would be the "chicken tractor." Chicken tractors are portable chicken houses (can be made any size or design) that are moved regularly. These can be great for moving meat chickens (or even layers) across a large yard or pasture, and may be more ideal for the small backyard because of their portability. There are large portable, walk-in chicken tractors that are much bigger, which are used on some large pastured egg and broiler farms. That would be an example of taking the humble chicken tractor to the "professional" level. 

The other option would be to have a stationary building with attached runs or pasture paddocks that the animals can be rotated through. This is the system that I use, and works best given the layout of the pasture area. Spaces with obstacles (trees, rocks, hills, divots) and size differences make land efficiency harder with chicken tractors versus a "free-range" system with stationary buildings. This is the case with our pasture area, which has lots of bushes, trees, and curves. However, by using rotational grazing, the chickens can access every inch of their pasture. The only labor necessary is moving fence lines every week to allow the grass to recover, otherwise, the chickens take care of the mowing, weeding, fertilizing, and pest control for me! 

Since there have been an exponentially larger amount of people buying chickens since last year, housing for those feathered friends is more important than ever! Often what will happen with impulse-buying animals is that the animal will become neglected or grossly miss-cared for within a short period of time. This can be seen with "easter bunny" buying in March. "The bunnies look super cute and its Easter, so let's buy one!" Unfortunately, the bunny doesn't usually have a proper place to live when it goes home with its new owners....

The same can happen with chickens. However, unlike bunnies, chicks aren't very forgiving when it comes to mismanagement. For example, if their environment isn't warm enough, they can become diseased or die. Anyways, I digress...

All this goes to say that if you have purchased some animals recently, or possibly in the future, ask yourself (a) why/what the animal will be for, and (b) how many? Just these two questions alone should be able to help determine your basic infrastructure needs. However, a good rule of thumb is to always have more room than what is needed. I am personally grateful that we built our chicken house(s) to accommodate 15x's the amount of chickens we originally intended to have! While we are currently at max capacity, the existing hoop house can be easily turned into an aviary (basically large shelving units that the chickens can climb through; not to be confused with cages, as aviary systems are open access, allowing birds to move where they please; aviary systems can greatly improve the square footage within a building). Some benefits to an aviary system (besides expanding the operation) include: more space for birds to perch, climb, fly, eat, and drink. It also keeps the birds from coming in contact with their own manure regularly, since the manure falls through the wire slats on the "shelves." 

photo: Big Dutchman

I never would have thought of converting from single level housing system to an aviary system several years ago. But, as Adam Smith cleverly said (paraphrased), the incentive (flock expansion) drives innovation (aviary system conversion). 

Space is precious, but how that space is managed is what can constitute a good or bad experience with animals. Think ahead, be creative, and be organized! Those are some of the steps to success with animals!