What is a Pasture Raised Chicken?!

Here on The Lawson Farm, we pride ourselves in the way we raise our laying hens and our meat birds.  Both are raised on pasture, but what the heck does that mean?
You may see us post on Facebook referring to our pasture raised eggs and pasture raised whole chickens.  Today I'm going to explain exactly why pasture raised is the golden standard in the chicken world.

​Pasture Raised Eggs
First let us discuss pasture raised eggs.  Our chickens are in a mobile coop, moved 1-2 times per week.  I have so many people ask, but why not just let them free range the property?
Chickens are creatures of habit.  When chickens free range, they tend to go to the same spots.  Whether this be over a few hours or a few days.  As time goes on these spots can become bare. 
Did I also mention chickens are super destructive if you have any plant life around?  Anything from flowers around your home to your vegetable garden if you do not take measures to protect them.
Ok back to the eggs.  Free range eggs are better than those eggs found in the grocery store, but pasture raised eggs are the golden standard.  

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Our Egg Mobile, making rotating our chickens a breeze!

The egg mobile has slatted floors so the waste falls through while the chickens are roosting.

These chickens live mostly on grass and bugs, making the eggs rich in vitamins.
A study done in Oregon found that pasture raised eggs have 7x more beta carotene (supports immune health), 2/3 more vitamin A (eye & vision health), 2x more omega-3 fatty acids (heart health), 1/4 less saturated fat, 1/3 less cholesterol, and 3x more Vitamin E (skin and immune health), when compared to the conventional egg.
They also contain 6x more vitamin D, meaning that if you eat 2 pasture raised eggs, you will likely get your entire dose of vitamin D for the day.
Now is that not that amazing about 1 little egg.  I like to think so.  Happy chickens make delicious eggs!
Here on the farm, we have pasture raised eggs available daily, contact us to try yours!

​Pasture Raised Meat Birds
First let’s talk about meat birds in general.  Let’s compare them to cows, you have your milk cows and your beef cows.  The same goes for chicken, you have your laying hens and your meat birds. 
These birds are bred to meet America’s need for large breasts. 
A typical laying hen will not have the meat that Americans are used to, they have exceedingly small breasts, legs and thighs.  The meat can be tough if not brined correctly.  Mostly these chickens are considered stew chickens, meaning the best thing to do with them is cook them low and slow in the crockpot, pull the meat off the bone and use in soups and pies.
Meat birds however are considered roasters.  Meaning the meat is tender and you can cook them in your conventional oven or on the grill for a delicious meal. 
Your conventional grocery store chicken is raised in a production chicken house, raising more birds bigger, faster, and cheaper. 
Pasture raised meat birds are raised on grass, legumes, bugs, and supplemented with feed.  While they are still the same meat bird breed the taste is out of this world.  

​These chickens get exercise, they can move freely inside the tractor, making their fat content lower, which is healthier for the bird and the consumer. To put it into numbers it is around 30% less saturated fat in a pasture raised chicken.
The birds have unlimited access to sunshine, fresh air, and grass, in turn the birds are that much healthier, not requiring hormones, medicated feed or antibiotics, unlike their confined cousins.
Now let’s talk about the processing, our chickens are not run through a large processing facility, they are not soaked in chlorinated water, they aren’t one of thousands going through different hands.
Our chickens are processed by us thanks to the poultry exemption law. We make sure to have an extremely clean processing area and each chicken is personally inspected by us as well before we package them. The chickens never have to leave the farm, until they are in your freezer.

The Land
One of the best things about raising all of our chickens on pasture is the benefit to the land.  Nature working together.  The herbivores (in our case horses) mow the grass, chickens are then moved to that area, eat the bugs, weeds, and short grass sprigs for a few days, drop their natural fertilizer and moved to the next spot. 
This type of rotation has already made a significant difference in our land.  The land here is poor in spots, but we can tell a big difference since doing this rotation method.
 
So of course, if this blog post has intrigued you to try pasture raised eggs or chicken, The Lawson Farm would be happy to help you out.  Just head on over to the shop or shoot us a message on Facebook to place your order today!
 
Thanks so much for reading!
The Lawson’s