Since starting the Milton Farm, located in Milton, Wisconsin, we have had great success. Brett Hammon, our farm manager, has provided us with an update for January 2024! MacFarlane Pheasants has been blessed with employees who work hard, communicate well, and demonstrate the skills necessary to raise our beautiful pheasants. We appreciate his help in sharing this update.
Brett and his crew raised 120,000 pheasants to maturity this year. They also cared for 40 acres of pens at two locations and four brooder barns. They currently have approximately 30,000 left in the pens, and shipping season will continue until all customers have received the mature pheasants they ordered!
The Milton crew is responsible for keeping our pheasants in excellent condition, but they do not usually have shipping responsibilities. Our crew sometimes helps to lead pheasants from their pens to the lane. The large outdoor pens have a lane to guide pheasants to a catching pen where they are gathered for shipping. The shipping crew uses small crates that hold five cocks or ten hens and large crates that hold ten cocks. They carefully load our large trucks for delivery.
Once our pheasant pens are emptied, we get busy with winter preparations:
- Pens are mowed.
- Rat Bait is placed in pens before feeders are removed.
- Feeders and huts are removed from the pens.
- The pens are put on half poles to keep the net off the ground.
- Feeders are vacuumed and feed is relocated to other pens.
- All equipment is taken to the wash bay to be repaired, cleaned, and disinfected so it is ready for the next season!
Excellent leadership and communication help us maintain high bird quality and excellent shipping procedures. Increasing production each year to meet the needs of our customers involves continuous planning. So, as our pens empty, and winter preparation is completed, MacFarlane Pheasants’ employees use their experiences and talents to plan for the following year.