• By Rachel Herring
• Posted Monday, September 30, 2013

Poultry Processing Workshop

Learn to Process Chickens!

Western Piedmont Community College's Sustainable Agriculture Program is offering an On-Farm Poultry Processing workshop on Saturday October 5 from 9:00-4:00 pm. Students will learn the skill of humanely processing backyard poultry. Your instructors for the course taught the poultry-processing workshop at the Organic Grower's School in Spring 2013.

Using our leading edge small-scale processing equipment, you will learn how to slaughter, scald, pluck and eviscerate chickens. Also, you will learn which parts of the birds are edible and marketable and how to harvest and package the neck, liver, heart, gizzard and feet. We are inspected by the NCDA and will discuss sanitation and illustrate safe, sanitary on-farm processing, packaging and storage procedures for poultry. We are animal welfare certified through the Sustainable Poultry Network and practice procedures that minimize stress and discomfort for the birds.

On-farm poultry processing is legal in North Carolina and the products can be sold to grocery stores and restaurants or at farmer's markets. You can legally process up to 1,000 or 20,000 birds for sale per year depending on your operation. Come learn how to better feed your family with homegrown meat or add a lucrative enterprise to your farm!

As an added bonus, lunch that day will be a covered dish potluck! We ask that participants bring a dish to share; we will provide the drinks and meat!

• Date: Saturday October 5
• Location: WPCC in Morganton, NC
• Time: 9:00 - 4:00 pm
• Cost: $50

Register online or in person until 10/4 (There will be no registration day of):www.wpcc.edu/continuing_ed.

If you have any questions, contact Meagan Roberts at 828-448-3562.