Community Food System

Hau Makoce Ag Community and Supporters,

This week was a great experience for local community members and our movement to create a local integrated food system on the Pine Ridge Reservation. This summer we found 2 families who were interested in learning and adopted a small pasture management chicken production system and produce their own chickens. With their participation they were granted everything needed to understand, raise, feed, and shelter 75 Cornish cross birds for 6 weeks. The experience was filled with many aspects of raising and managing animals in a humane way while also understanding our connection to the land and our food. After the 6 weeks of raising and managing the birds they were ready to be harvested. Makoce Ag has acquired a 54 ft affixed mobile poultry processor that will create a value added access to raising meat birds locally. We had the great opportunity to utilize this system this week with both families and have a grand opening harvest. The system is designed to take a bird from the culling stage all the way to a packed bird product. This was a great week for both families as they got to connect with that which they raised and managed and create a local food product for this freezers and family. One families harvest added up to 360 lbs of chicken meat. That’s incrediable for a first time producer. Makoce Ag is now working with 2 more families on the same process and will look to harvest the next round of birds in October. We will expand the opportunity to more local community members interested in adopting to the system and raising their own foods for next year. Special Thanks our funders and supporters in helping to support access and opportunity and our movement to create a local food system on the Pine Ridge Resercation.