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At MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. we go all-out in
producing the best possible pheasant chick in
the industry. Our breeding strategies continue
to evolve working to improve the quality of
our pheasants.
One of the biggest
challenges for our
company is to be
able to get our
chicks to our
customers in the
shortest time
possible. In many
cases we deliver
our chicks directly
to our customers in
our fleet of climate
control vehicles. For
most people, this is
not a viable option. We continue to see our
sales grow with customers using the US Postal
System for shipping. At MacFarlane
Pheasants, Inc. we understand how vital our
relationship is with the Post Office to our
business and our customers.
Last season I was able to visit the Minneapolis
US Postal Air Mail Facility. During our tour I
asked if there was anything that we could do
to reduce our transit times. The most important
factor for shipping chicks successfully is
getting them to the customer as quickly as
possible. The answer from our Postal
Coordinator was quite simple, "Drop off your
chicks by 3am on the day of shipment, that
way all flights will be available to you". On
the flight home I began to work out the details
of this in my mind, and the following days
began the process of changing the time our
chicks hatch in order to arrive at Minneapolis
US Postal air mail facility at 3am.
We had to change a lot at our hatchery to
accommodate the change in drop off time.
Traditionally we would hatch our chicks in the
wee hours of the morning. Now we would
need to hatch late in the day in order to get our
chicks out the door by 10pm due to the 5 hour
transit time from Janesville to Minneapolis.
From the outside looking in, it seemed quite
simple. But the new schedule would certainly
Changing Times at the Hatchery
•
Bradley Lillie -
8
800.345.8348 ¥
www.pheasant.com
Contact Char at 800-345-8348 TODAY for a quote on Started or Full Grown Birds.
Brad Lillie
Financial Officer
How do you use a vacuum to create a new
product? It’s a very interesting concept that
I’d like to share.
We have a great demand for boneless
pheasant thigh; a demand so great that we
often have a waiting list for it. This
boneless thigh is used for making sausage,
meat pies, jerky, snack sticks, etc. Each
pheasant we process has only two thighs at
approximately 4 oz. each, yielding about
1/2 lb./bird of bonless thigh. This makes it
a smalll product with large demand.
One solution we found to create more trim
was to purchase a Wizard Vacuum
Trimmer. This equipment has a rotating
blade in the shape of a cone with a vacuum
line attached to the larger end. The
Wizzard vacuum trimmer cuts the meat off
the bone, vacuums it down a (food grade)
hose and collects it in a bag at the end of
the line. We are able to use this machine to
remove any meat missed on the pheasant
carcasses after they’ve been processed and
remove meat from a previously unused
part of the bird. The meat produced by this
process is a very usable product much like
the boneless thigh.
This machine afforded us an opportunity to
create a new product with a vacuum, while
filling the needs of our customers.
Increasing Efficiency in Food
Products
•
Bryan Carter -
Bryan Carter
Food Products Manager
need some adjusting too, especially for the
hatchery staff whose work schedule would be
changed around. Set time and hatch times
needed to be adjusted accordingly. All of this
had to be also fit into our regular schedule of
chicks hatching for our farm, as well as chick
deliveries and pickups.
The plan was developed, and put into motion
as a test late in the 2010 hatching season.
Immediately we saw our time to destination
decrease, and our chicks were getting to our
customers in better condition.
Fast forward to the 2011 hatching season
As I write this article we are approaching the
midway point of the 2011 hatching season.
This year we have been hatching the entire
season under our new system, and we continue
to see excellent results with our shipments. We
also were able to reduce our postage rates in
2011 due to our relationship with the Bird
Shippers of America who were able to contract
better rates. This all means better service for
our customers, at even a lower shipping rate.
You don't hear that all too often these days!
At MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. our staff is
dedicated to producing high quality pheasants,
and to the goal of getting out birds to our
customers as quicly as possible, at a
reasonable cost. We wish you the best of luck
in 2011 raising your birds!