2022POULTRYSCHOOL

SUSTAINABLE POULTRY SCHOOL

This comprehensive, week-long educational experience is for anyone interested in raising, breeding, hatching, marketing, cooking, exhibiting and preserving standard bred poultry. The breeder, farmer, consumer, chef and fancier would all benefit greatly from this forty plus hours of education. The week will include the nation’s top poultry specialists, live bird demonstrations and visits to local, sustainable model farms.

Our strategy involves these five foundational pillars. The week will begin with clarifying instruction of what defines standard bred poultry. Learn the basics of how to identify domestic breeds of chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. You’ll learn the rich historical meaning of why certain breeds of poultry were established and what their original intent was when it was developed.

Parchment Valley Conference Center

1715 Lower Parchment valley Road | Ripley, WV 25271

5-DAY SUSTAINABLE POULTRY SCHOOL

Registration SPS

Parchment Valley Conference Center

Ripley, WV

Monday-Friday, September 19-23, 2022

Starting Time: Monday, 1:00PM. Ending Time: Friday, 11:00AM.

FIVE FOUNDATIONAL PILLARS
FOR A SUSTAINABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION MODEL

BREEDERS: Breeding poultry is the foundation of a model of sustainable poultry! The most critical foundational pillar starts here. Teaching the principles and practices of breeding that will work anywhere. Everywhere we go, we must carefully assess the poultry, the climate and the resources. Breeders are those who maintain breeding stock with a commitment to improving the productivity and quality of a specific breed. A very important part of this process includes incubation, collecting and properly storing eggs for hatching and the basics of breeding principles and practices; and the necessity of selection.

GROWERS: Even with good genetics and excellent breeding, if proper care and husbandry are not taken seriously, the birds will not grow at their maximum potential! This includes every aspect of the environment – pasture, housing, feeding and proper use of equipment. Growers are those who receive the day old chicks/poults from the breeders and grow out the birds until the proper age of processing. Growers are a vital part of a sustainable poultry production model.

FEEDS & FEEDING: The cost of feeding poultry is approximately 70% of your expense. Because of this, it is critical to assess the local opportunities to grow grain and develop a complete feed recipe that includes proper nutrition for maximum growth and production of the bird. It is critical that you learn the basics or poultry nutrition and proper feeding strategies for all ages of poultry.

PROCESSING/SLAUGHTERING: Once the bird is grown out to the proper slaughtering age, the learning of how to properly kill the bird is critical for the sale of a high quality poultry product. Teaching proper killing technique, packaging and labeling are necessary for a successful poultry enterprise.

MARKETING & EDUCATION: Marketing is the hard work of selling; seeking out food citizens and getting the "ready to eat" poultry products into the hands of food citizens. This includes cooking preparation and techniques. During the school, you will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to develop your sustainable business plan and successfully develop a small profitable business.

SUSTAINABLE POULTRY SCHOOL INSTRUCTORS

Additional instructors are being added providing a comprehensive experience!

JIM ADKINS

Founder of SPN-USA/Sustainable Poultry Specialist

Jim loves people and he is passionate about poultry! For the past 35 years, he has raised over 50 breeds and varieties of standard-bred poultry (that includes chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys). Jim has been teaching poultry field days and workshops for the equal amount of time throughout the United States and in other countries as well. In 1994, he received his poultry judging license from the American Poultry Association; which has taken him to 35 plus states, Canada as well as Australia to judge standard-bred poultry. He is a passionate, effective

communicator who loves poultry and loves to teach people about the available opportunities with standard poultry, and he has become one of the most requested workshop and keynote presenters in North America. Because of the popular demand for the old heirloom breeds of Standard-Bred poultry, he founded the Sustainable Poultry Network–USA in 2010.

Curt Burroughs

Poultry Breeding Specialist

My interest in Sustainable Agriculture really took root when I began to connect sustainability with genetic understanding. This lead me to study the effects genetics have on sustainable production across multiple species (both livestock and plants). Regarding poultry, their genetics have compounded complexities when compared to larger livestock and my interest in understanding these complexities turned into a passion to teach others how to navigate the waters of poultry genetics. Over the past few years I've been working closely with Glenn Drowns of Sandhill Preservation Center to help understand what is at stake genetically in our rare breeds and

have served as President of the Iowa Blue Chicken Club during its formative years. My latest work has been leading the restoration work of the Erminette breed of chicken, writing breed history articles for the Society for Preservation of Poultry Antiquities (SPPA), and raising grow out crops of some of the rarest varieties of garden plants for Sandhill Preservation Center.

I am highly honored to have been asked to be part of the Sustainable Poultry Network USA and I look forward to playing my small part of this amazing work to restore our breeds to their former glory of style with productivity!

Brent Wills

Restorative Agricultural Specialist

Brent Wills has been involved in restorative agricultural systems and conservation for over 20 years and is the owner of Wills Soil & Stream in Montvale, Virginia, providing ecological land management services for farmers and land managers in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Since 2004, Brent and his family have operated Bramble Hollow Farm in the mountains of Bedford County, Virginia, and use managed livestock rotations, composts and soil-building techniques to diversify their pasture-based operation where they specialize in the production of heritage breeds of cattle, pigs, and chickens.

Brent also serves as President on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Association for Biological Farming, promoting soil health, resilient farming practices and the production of nutrient-dense and ecologically-friendly food production.