Food for Thought Poultry Edition-January 2026

Winter Preparation: A Primer for Poultry Farming Operations

Winter is here, and it’s likely to get colder! Whether you’re running a poultry farm in mild or frigid environments, the measures you take before the first frost can make all the difference in protecting your investment and allowing your production systems to run smoothly all through the coldest of months.

The difficult part of the problem is that when winter breaks, an entire year’s cash flow is at risk from a single major winter incident.

With proper planning, winter doesn’t have to mean disaster. Equipment protection extends machinery “shelf-life” and improves functionality. More healthy flocks lead to better productivity.

Upstate farmer jumps into pasture-raised eggs with new facility

“I wasn’t really a poultry guy,” Jacob Horst shared – but that’s all behind him now. He and his family, of St. Johnsville, NY, became a family farm partner with New Hampshire-based Pete & Gerry’s Organic Pasture Raised Eggs.

Their impressive new facility, shown to the public during an early November open house, has the capacity to house 30,000 chickens. The birds will have access to 75 acres of outdoor space with shade and water.

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Coffee Cake

By: Andrew Dahl

Farm & Ranch Division credit analyst

This is my grandmother's recipe:

Batter:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 regular box vanilla pudding mix

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

½ pint (small container) sour cream

Streusel:

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cocoa powder

Mix dry streusel ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In a mixing bowl, add dry batter items, then add vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream, mixing for 5 minutes. Grease a Bundt Pan (this is the best pan to use) and add a small layer of streusel, then 1/3 of the batter. Add almost all of the remaining streusel, followed by the remaining batter, then any remaining streusel on top. Take a butter knife and swirl the batter and streusel to incorporate them together. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes.

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