Farm Management

Bill MacFarlane sits down with Jessica Mitchell with Mother Earth News, to discuss how his family established their pheasant farm, how he joined the business, and what MacFarlane Pheasants does [...]

You can depend on MacFarlane Pheasants to feed the pheasants and other wild birds they raise, the highest quality feed available on the market. MacFarlane Pheasants is a family owned [...]

Keagan Strange, MacFarlane’s Hatchery Manager, typically starts his day arriving at the hatchery between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. This gives him time to get organized for the day before [...]

We get asked about bedding for the birds in the brooder barn, as well as for the mature birds, before they go outside. For the brooder barn, where chicks stay [...]

Water must be treated (cleaned) to prevent bacteria and algae from growing in the water lines. Both these organisms left untreated in the water lines can lead to clogged lines [...]

The summer weather on a large wild bird farm like MacFarlane Pheasants is an important factor in raising beautiful, healthy birds. MacFarlane raises many breeds of birds and the weather [...]

MacFarlane Pheasants has always composted used bedding and bird droppings. We create windrows that are about 4ft wide by 4ft tall and can be 1500ft long. This is where our [...]

On March 20, 2019, three new high roof cargo vans with gas engines went into service at MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. We bought them because we needed vehicles that were 100% [...]

Our Milton farm has about 40 acres under nets. We have three brooding barns and raised about 72,000 pheasants this year. We predominately raise the Kansas strain. What we call [...]

Major snowstorms or freezing rain events can be disastrous at MacFarlane Pheasants! Before and after these events we have a plan to protect our game birds. We watch the weather [...]

MacFarlane Pheasants raises pheasants in Wisconsin, Missouri, and South Dakota. The South Dakota farm is leased and we call it the Miller Farm. It is located about 10 miles outside [...]

Brian Check, one of our farm managers at MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. thinks about rain as a “four-letter word” for too much or not enough. Both cases change our seasonal chore [...]

It is the season at MacFarlane Pheasants for preparing to deliver our mature birds. In fact, some deliveries are already on their way! Our maintenance manager, Art Schumacher has provided [...]

Troy Cisewski, MacFarlane Pheasants’ Production Manager, takes extra precautions when the weather becomes extremely hot. The 90+ degree weather this past week has resulted in some changes to his crew’s [...]

We are in the process of switching over to plastic crates from Ruff Tough Kennels, to ship our pheasants and partridges. Eventually, wood crates will be outlawed because they are [...]

Delivering our pheasants and other wild birds efficiently and cost- effectively is very important to us at MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. That is why we leased the incredible semi-truck you see [...]

The number one trait buyers look for in a pen raised bird is performance like a bird naturally found in the wild. We have literally used a lifetime of experience [...]

We have begun shipping pheasants, French partridges, Hungarian partridges, and Chukar partridges from MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. for the season lasting from the middle of August until March of 2018. Our [...]

MacFarlane Pheasants Inc. ships pheasants and other game birds in shipping crates built by a dedicated on-staff carpenter. Basically, we use what we call a warm weather small crate and [...]

We have been using the PLS-2400 MR4 PTC Light Dimmers from Precision Lighting out of Arkansas since 2015. Before we got these dimmers in our barns, we used residential dimmers [...]