Poultry in the mountains

We are in the process of finalising all chapters for the next edition of The Agri Handbook, and have been checking details in the poultry chapter this morning. We’d like to share information on a poultry enterprise that impresses us.

Mikon Farms is based in Mpumalanga, an area which lies to the east of the country (thus a name which means “where the sun rises”).

• The broiler houses have open sides, which allows the chickens to “breath the cleanest, freshest mountain air”. 
• They have constant daylight from the sun (no artificial lighting) which ensures that “they rest well and grow the way nature intended”. 
• The drinking water in the broiler houses is pure spring water, “caught at the source”.
• The feeds are 100% hormone free.
• The abattoir is on the same property as the broiler houses, and so “transfers between are short, humane and stress-free”.
• The abattoir is not fully automated and a lot of the processing is done by hand, so “there is attention to detail which machinery [doesn’t] achieve”. 
• As a result of the operations, there are jobs for 150 staff.

Amidst all the arguments about why intensive meat operations are necessary, an enterprise like this is as fresh as the Mpumalanga air. It sounds like the sort of operation from which a “conscious” meat eater would source poultry, doesn’t it?