Free-Range Poultry by Herman Beck

From the 1930's to the 1960's the free-range system was the popular way to raise poultry in the United states. It produced meaty, tender birds at a reasonable cost, using a reasonable amount of labor and providing valuable fertility to the land. Many farmers raised 10,000-20,000 birds per year on short-grass pasture ("range"), both chickens and turkeys. With the rise of industrial agriculture and the development of the confinement broiler barn, this sustainable and profitable system was discontinued by means of withdrawing growers contracts. Left with no market or processing facilities the practice was abandoned within two or three years. However, even though the system was phased out here in the U.S., it has continued continuing popularity in Europe, even to the point of having legislated standards. In France, in 2000, over 20% of all poultry (90 million birds!) was raised using the free-range system. Now, Herman Beck-Chenoweth has updated and modernized the techniques and named his system "The Modern American Free-Range System". This site contains the complete list of resource materials available from Herman.

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