3 Reasons we love SPRING

Spring is always a sweet time of year. The trees start budding, the grass starts growing, the peepers start peeping and the days get warmer and longer. The world starts to wake up after the cold, still days of winter.  There are many reasons to love this special time of year, but I would like to share with you three reasons we love spring at Polyface.

1.) Compost!

Here at Polyface, we are grass farmers, which means that during the spring, when the fields start to turn a vibrant green, we all start to get excited. New energy returns to the farm as we start the process of transitioning our animals from their cozy deep bedding of winter to the sunny pastures. As the animals start their spring grazing, the hoop houses and barns where our chickens, pigs, and cattle were during the winter get emptied and we spread the beautiful compost that they left behind on our fields. Spring is the perfect time to do this with the spring rain soaking all of the nutrients down into the soil.

Our cows are on deep bedding all winter and when they come out of the barn, the pigs then move in to aerate (we call it pigaerating) and stir it all around for us. We incentivize them by spreading a layer of whole corn on every third layer of bedding. As the pigs dig for the corn, they simultaneously get our compost ready for us!

The bedding from the chickens can get spread on the fields immediately. We like to spread compost on fields where we will be making hay or areas that need the extra boost of nutrients. As our hoop houses empty out and the compost gets spread, the space can then be used on the farm for fertile gardens, summer storage or as space to host our many guests! 

2.) Baby Animals!

Spring also begins our growing season. With the warmer weather, we are able to start raising our broiler chickens. In preparation for beginning our on-farm processing in May, we receive our first chicks in March. If you visit Polyface right now, you will find full brooders with both baby broiler chickens and young pullets who will grow to be our laying hens. Soon we will have young turkey poults too. We love watching our baby chicks grow!

Additionally, spring is when our cows are calving! Every year, the cycle continues as we finish off some of our fat cows and add new calves to the herd. During calving season (which is a period where all our cows are “due” to give birth), we check the cows closely, tagging any new calves and keeping track of the cow/calf pairs. These pairs will be together until the fall when the calves are weaned. Every year it excites us to see our herd grow with all these new additions and, bonus, they are pretty cute!! 

3.) Inspiration!

Polyface is open all year long for visitors but summer is when we host the majority of our large gatherings and our lunatic farm tours. The springtime is when we start to prepare ourselves for the great task of inspiring others around us. Every spring, we gather as a team for a “season kick-off” meeting where we discuss changes, big events, and enjoy fellowship as a farm family. But most important is our vision to inspire people. We hope that if you interact with us in any way, whether you receive our food for your family, or visit the farm, you too will catch a little bit of that Polyface magic.

Spring is an invigorating time of year for these reasons and more. As new life blooms and grows all around us, may you feel the blessing of this lovely time of year!