How American Farmers Raise Millions Of Poultry In The Pasture - Chicken Farming
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00:00Hello my friends, today we are going to the poultry farms in the United States to see
00:07how the process of raising millions of poultry takes place in the vast grasslands.
00:15Today chicken is the most commonly raised poultry species in the grasslands of the United
00:21States.
00:22In addition duck, turkey and quail farms also appear quite a lot in the grasslands of some
00:29states with large farmlands such as California, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas or Minnesota.
00:40According to the USDA statistics by the end of 2021 there are about 813 million poultry
00:48in the United States, of which chicken is the largest species with about 64% of the
00:56poultry, followed by turkey with 26% and duck accounting for only 0.04% of the total number
01:06of poultry raised in the country.
01:10Currently the majority of poultry in the United States is raised on factory farms and only
01:177% of poultry is raised free range on pastures.
01:27This is a duck farm in Tipton County, Indiana, home to more than 200 ducks.
01:34All ducks on this farm are raised for the purpose of harvesting eggs.
01:42Every day hundreds of ducks on this farm will be herded into the more than 5 acre pasture
01:48next to the farm to freely pay and eat small insects.
01:56According to the USDA statistics in 2021 there are about 275 active duck farms in Indiana
02:05and the number of ducks in this state is about 27.5 million.
02:11In particular, the Culver Farm in the town of Middlebury is home to the largest number
02:16of ducks with more than 11 million.
02:22Like other states in the United States, most ducks in Indiana are kept in closed enclosures
02:29and only about 17 farms in this state graze the ducks on pastures.
02:37In addition to the food that ducks can earn on their own in the pasture, the workers at
02:41this farm also add pellets and cereals to their diets every day to increase their ability
02:48to lay eggs.
02:50For free range ducks with a nutritious diet, they can lay about 280 to 300 eggs per year.
02:58Meanwhile, commercial ducks raised in the factory farm can lay 350 eggs per year.
03:09Because there are no ponds and small pools of water around the farm, these basins will
03:15be used to bathe hundreds of ducks.
03:18It is very important for ducks to be bathed and cleaned every afternoon to help them feel
03:25relaxed and increase egg production.
03:30Every morning, after the ducks are herded to the pasture outside, the workers at this
03:35farm will harvest the duck eggs and the number of eggs collected per day at this farm is
03:41about 200.
03:52Good by a duck farm in Indiana, we will go to a turkey farm in Minnesota to see how hundreds
03:58of turkeys here are raised.
04:10Once the inspection is complete, the eligible turkeys will be moved from this farm to start
04:15a new life.
04:16Except for the slightly larger sized, the newly hatched turkeys don't look much different
04:21from the chicks and the care for them is very similar.
04:28These are 3 week old turkeys and the hundreds of turkeys here were kept in cages for 2 months
04:35before they are free to forage in the pasture.
04:39Currently in the United States there are about 2,500 active turkey farms and Minnesota is
04:47the state with the largest number of turkey farms in the country with around 667 farms.
04:59After about 2 months of age, hundreds of turkeys at this farm will be released outside to roam
05:05freely and dig for insects.
05:11According to USDA statistics, at the beginning of 2022 there are about 224 million turkeys
05:18in the country and about 44 million of them are raised in Minnesota.
05:26Currently only 7% of turkeys in the United States are raised free range.
05:37This is another turkey farm in Minnesota where there are about 570 black turkeys.
05:45Currently farm raised adult turkeys typically weigh between 30 and 40 pounds, meanwhile
05:52the maximum weight of wild turkeys is about 15 to 20 pounds.
06:03In the late afternoon, hundreds of turkeys will be herded into the barn to rest and avoid
06:09predators like foxes or wildcats.
06:16This is what happens when the turkeys are eligible for the meat harvest, they are caught
06:21by these workers and transported to the turkey processing plant.
06:30According to statistics in 2021, about 46 million turkeys will be slaughtered during
06:37Thanksgiving, 22 million at Christmas and 19 million at Easter in the United States.
06:45In addition, every day about 330,000 turkeys are slaughtered across the country.
06:54Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, once stated
07:00that there is not a citizen of the United States who does not like to eat turkey on
07:05Thanksgiving day and now this has come true.
07:19The next location we will visit in this video is a free range chicken farm in Iowa, which
07:26is also the state with the largest number of chickens in the country, with more than
07:3161 million.
07:34Here's what's going on inside the chicken coop, more than 900 chicks will be raised
07:41here for 3 weeks before they are moved to the pasture.
07:49Currently in the United States there are about 196,000 chicken farms in operation and only
07:57about 11% of them are free range chicken farms.
08:04These are 2 week old chicks and in about 10 days they will be moved to the pastures to
08:09start a new life.
08:13All chickens on this farm are raised for the purpose of harvesting meat, so their diets
08:18will be different from farms raising chickens for eggs.
08:23About 90% of the feed used for these chickens here is corn and pea meal.
08:31After about 3 weeks, these workers will catch and put hundreds of chickens in these cages
08:37before moving them to pasture.
08:48At this pasture mobile chicken coops have been prepared to welcome the new members.
08:58Each chicken coop like this will be used to house 50 chickens and they will live here
09:05until they are able to be harvested for their meat.
09:12Due to the freedom to move around every day, the meat quality of the chickens on this farm
09:17is always preferred over chickens that are kept in cages for life.
09:28And this is what happens when the chickens reach 4 months of age.
09:33Similar to turkeys, hundreds of chickens here will be captured and put in cages before being
09:39transported to the poultry slaughterhouse.
09:45In addition to the broiler farms, in the United States there are also about 3,400 chicken
09:52farms that are free range for the purpose of harvesting eggs.
09:58Of course, the eggs at these farms are always much more expensive than eggs at closed farms.
10:06Each year the United States produces 97 billion eggs and about 11 billion of them are eggs
10:13harvested on free range farms.
10:17It is estimated that each American consumes about 288 eggs per year and this number is
10:24expected to increase to 289 eggs each year by the end of 2023.
10:36Hello my friends, today we are going to the US state of Texas to see how farming and livestock
10:43work here.
10:46Although the total value of agricultural products sold in Texas is less than half of that of
10:52California, the number of farms in Texas is much larger than in California.
11:01According to statistics, in 2021 there are about 248,000 operating farms in Texas, accounting
11:10for 77% of the state's land area and the state's agricultural revenue is about $22.1 billion.
11:22Meanwhile the number of active farms in California is only 69,000 but brings in more than $49
11:31billion in revenue.
11:35Currently the most popular agricultural products in Texas are livestock, cotton, milk, broilers
11:43and corn, of which livestock is the largest revenue earner with about $12.3 billion, accounting
11:53for nearly 50% of the state's agricultural revenue.
12:03Currently we are on a cotton farm in San Patricio County.
12:09Mid-October to December is the time of harvest for most Texas cotton farms.
12:17Billions of cotton balls will be packed into round bales by these harvesters.
12:23According to the USDA statistics, in 2021 in Texas about 5.3 million acres of farmland
12:33is used to grow cotton, accounting for 43% of the cotton area in the country.
12:41In addition to Texas, Georgia, Mississippi and Arkansas are the states with the largest
12:48cotton growing areas in the country.
12:54As reported, by the end of 2021 there are approximately 7,950 active cotton farms in
13:02Texas and the cotton harvest in the state is 7.7 million bales.
13:09Each bale weighs about 480 pounds.
13:17After harvesting billions of bales of cotton will be loaded onto trucks and transported
13:23to a cotton processing factory.
13:27The average annual revenue from the cotton industry in Texas is about $1.7 billion and
13:35cotton is also the largest agricultural crop in the state.
13:42In recent years, China has always been the largest cotton producing country in the world
13:48with about 5.9 million tons.
13:52In second place is India with 5.3 million tons and the United States has 3.8 million tons.
14:07In addition to cotton production, Texas is also famous for livestock with a scale of
14:14up to thousands of animals.
14:17This is a goat farm in Hill County, home to more than 600 goats of Spanish origin.
14:30Every morning hundreds of goats here will be herded to the pasture right next to the
14:35farm to run freely and feed.
14:39Unlike large herds, goats here are not allowed to move to pastures too far from the farm
14:46and can only feed within a radius of 1.2 miles around the farm.
14:54According to the USDA statistics in 2021, in Texas there are about 943,000 goats distributed
15:04on more than 1,300 different farms.
15:08There are farms that raise both goats and sheep.
15:13Currently, the majority of goats in Texas are raised for the purpose of harvesting meat.
15:20Goat meat production in the state accounts for 53% of the national production.
15:27And goat milk in the United States is mainly produced in California.
15:36Goats are considered fully mature when they reach 18 months of age.
15:42At this point, the average weight of goats is between 110 and 120 pounds.
15:49Each day an adult goat will need to eat the equivalent of 4% of their body weight and
15:5580% of their food is grass.
16:04In the late afternoon, hundreds of goats at these farms will be herded into stables or
16:11protected areas to avoid predators.
16:15An estimated 1,100 goats in Texas are killed each year by predators such as coyotes and
16:22wild cats.
16:24In addition, goat meat factories in the state also slaughter about 630,000 goats each year.
16:39When it comes to farms in Texas, we certainly cannot ignore large-scale cattle farms which
16:45number thousands of animals.
16:49This is the branding process for calves on a cattle ranch in the south of Texas.
16:57Cattle farms that are close together need to brand their calves to avoid confusion during
17:02grazing.
17:04In addition, this is also considered a traditional activity of the cattle industry in Texas.
17:23Unlike herds of goats and sheep, cattle herds in Texas can travel up to 15 miles a day for
17:31steady control of the herd is maintained by the cowboys by the use of cattle dogs.
17:39According to the USDA statistics, in 2021 there are about 174,000 cattle ranches in
17:48Texas with a total grazing area of up to 97 million acres.
17:56This is also the state with the largest number of cattle in the country with about 10.9 million
18:02heads accounting for 13% of the number of cattle in the United States.
18:11Every day these cowboys will move with their herds across the grasslands within the allowed
18:17range.
18:19Today, the average Texas cowboy salary is about $33,000 per year.
18:37In addition to herds of cattle grazing on pastures, in Texas there are also millions
18:42of cattle raised on such farms.
18:48Every day these cattle will be provided with food instead of having to roam the grasslands.
19:01Each year about 4.3 million cattle in Texas are slaughtered.
19:06Meanwhile, the number of cattle slaughtered across the country is about 30.1 million heads.
19:16Goodbye cattle ranch, we will now go to the vegetable fields in Texas to see how the process
19:22of harvesting millions of tons of vegetables goes on.
19:29This is the process of harvesting asparagus in a field in southern Texas.
19:35The end of May and the beginning of June is the time when thousands of migrant workers
19:41flock to asparagus farms in Texas to harvest.
19:48Every year the United States has about 25,000 acres of land used to grow asparagus worth
19:55about $98 million.
20:04Asparagus after being harvested will be placed in plastic trays and transported to the packing
20:10factory.
20:16In addition to asparagus, cilantro is also a vegetable that is grown quite commonly in
20:22the fields of eastern Texas.
20:26Every April to September is the time when hundreds of workers from Mexico flock to the
20:32fields of cilantro in Texas to harvest.
20:39Every year about 150 to 180 acres of farmland is used to grow cilantro, much less than the
20:474,000 acres grown in California.
20:53Coriander in this field will be cut and bundled into small bundles by dozens of workers before
21:00being packed and shipped to vegetable stores.
21:08Here's what's going on at a lettuce farm in the Texas city of Houston.
21:14According to statistics, in 2021 there are about 119,000 acres of land in the United
21:22States used to grow lettuce, of which California accounts for 71% of the country's lettuce
21:30growing area, and the area planted to this vegetable in Texas is about 3,700 acres.
21:41Millions of lettuce plants will be cut and packed right here in the field before being
21:46shipped to shops and supermarkets.
21:50It is estimated that each American typically consumes about 12.7 pounds of lettuce per
21:57year.
21:59How often do you use lettuce in your meals?