Butchered CX Today

[Mac in Wisco]

We butchered 31 broilers today at 7 1/2 weeks old. Our results were outstanding. I ordered 30 straight run jumbo broilers from Sunnyside and received 31. I allowed for 15 lbs of feed per bird ordered and bought 150 lbs of 22% organic corn/soy ration to start and 300 lbs of 20% organic corn/soy to finish. The birds dressed out at an average of 5.5 lbs per bird with neck. The largest were 8 lbs, the smaller ones just under 5 lbs, with one runt at 3 lbs.

It was 168 lbs of dressed birds, working backwards I figure 240 lbs of live weight (using .70, since I left the neck attached). That gives me an FCR of 1.88:1. WOW.

I'm not sure why folks complain about the cost. My numbers:

450 lbs of ORGANIC feed: $153.96
Chicks: $34.70
Shavings for brooder: $6.00
Electricity (est.) $15.00
Propane for scalding: $5.00
Shrink bags for 31: $11.00

Total $226 or $1.35 / lb

That's $1.35 / lb feeding certified organic feed...

 

[bigredfeather]

Nicely done Mac. The price of your organic feed certainly is cheaper than I can get. I would consider it if I could get that kind of pricing. Best price I can find is $.44/pound around here. Did you tractor them or raise them indoors? With those weights in that time, I'm guessing indoors.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
That was indoors in the bottom of our old dairy barn. They had quite a bit of area, around 5 square feet per bird, bedded down with old hay.

 

[EmAbTo48]

Hey! We get ours from sunnyside too, never had any issues this is our 4th year!

We don't butcher till week 11-12 and our average was 9.5lbs biggest 10 and smallest 8lbs! And that's free range from 3 weeks of age.

I do spend more keeping them a life the last month since they go through a ton of feed, plus pine shavings since I cleaned there coop 2-3 times a week

 

[bwmichaud]

Wow! That's a really good cost per pound considering you were feeding them organic feed. That's what it costs me to raise them on conventional feed. Feeding them organic costs me about $1.80 per pound of dressed weight.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

This part of Southwest Wisconsin has a lot of organic agriculture. It was several farmers in my area that started the CROPP cooperative that markets the Organic Valley brand and the co-op's headquarters is right here in this county, in a little village with a population of 800 people. I produce eggs as a member of the cooperative and buy my feed from a local organic mill that deals mostly in poultry feeds.

Those feed prices are actually pretty high, around $17 a bag. When I checked the prices on broiler feed early in the spring it was around $13-$14 a bag.