Supporting Urban Agriculture

an important part of the experiment. The Gadzias have been holistically managing their pastures for over 15 years and have a very diverse vegetation composition. They were also able to move the birds two to three times per day, which was especially important during extreme heat days. Most of the dressed birds that came off their pasture weighed upwards of eight pounds. In 2020, Sage began holistically managing his pastures so his species mix was not as diverse and dressed birds coming off his pasture were somewhat lighter.

premise because they wanted to support Tierra Sagrada’s growth as an agricultural resource in the area and to help Sage get a leg up. Their work with the chicken tractors was payment for pasture improvement.

In the past, cattle were brought on at the beginning of the dormant season (October-December) to graze the pasture for 2.5 months and were moved through 17 paddocks over two pastures. In 2020, the two batches of chickens were on pasture for 12 weeks, but only utilized half the land. With the summer “chicken treatment”, and recovery, the Gadzia believe their pasture is better than it has ever been. “All the scratching and other benefits the chickens provided, really helped” says Tamara. “They were a new grazing species for the pasture. But, from our homesteading perspective the chickens are more labor intensive than larger herbivores. Now that we can travel again, we are considering other species that might better fit with a travel schedule. We want animals that can be easily managed for pasture improvement and cycling of nutrients. We did learn a lot and it was a great experience!”

Also in 2020, extreme heat in August required more management with each tractor needing a fan to keep the chickens cool, and luckily, there were no predator issues. Despite a known population of skunks, coyotes, and raccoons, the sturdy hardware cloth on the lower portion of the tractor did its job protecting the chickens.

While Kirk and Tamara helped out with moving the tractors and processing the chickens, they purchased the final product from Sage. They started with that

The Gadzias are pleased with the outcome of this pilot project as they recognize the challenge of land access near urban centers, especially for beginning farmers. Sage has now been able to fine tune his broiler enterprise and the Gadzias will have more Tandoori in the future.