When it comes to shooting trap, brother and sister duo, Cord and Brooke Riley are right on target. The siblings are members of the Huntsville FFA Chapter’s shooting sports team. Huntsville’s FFA team has won the state trap shooting tournament for two consecutive years, and they are hoping for their third win in April.
While Cord and Brooke keep their eye on the clay target, their parents, Randy and Carmella, are shooting for goals on the family’s 14 house broiler farm near Hindsville, Ark. In addition to the 14 houses, the family is in the process of building eight more. They grow seven pound birds for George’s Springdale complex, and they’re pursuing innovative techniques like windrowing and LED light use.
Randy and Carmella are building the eight new chicken houses for Cord, who is a senior at Huntsville High School this year. Cord is planning to graduate in May and continue the family’s farming tradition.
From the Beginning
Randy and Carmella started their farming career milking cows. Their dairy grew from 40 to 200 head. After several years of milking, they ended up selling the cows and buying the convenience store at the junction of Hwy 412 and 45 in Hindsville.
While owning the convenience store, they became acquainted with one of George’s field men. One day they asked him about the possibility of getting into the chicken business, and within two days the Rileys were on their way to building their first chicken houses.
They started out with four houses seven years ago and have continuously grown. Soon the family will have 22 houses. After nine years of owning the convenience store, they sold it when they added four more houses to their already busy 10-house farm.
Cleaning House
Recently, the Rileys have started windrowing their poultry houses rather than doing the traditional clean out. According to Randy, it will save time and money, and is better for the environment. The Rileys have the equipment to windrow their houses themselves. It takes only seven days without birds to have the houses turned around and ready for chicks again.
“Owning our own equipment allows us to turn around faster. We are able to windrow ourselves and get it done instead of waiting around on a list,” said Carmella.
Windrowing allows farmers to leave the litter in the house between batches of chickens. They use equipment to pile the litter in the middle of the house where it goes through the heating process to kill harmful bacteria. Theoretically, with windrowing, farmers will not have to remove litter from their houses, which will reduce the spreading of litter on farm land.
Let There Be Light
Like all farmers, Randy wants his operation to run as efficiently as possible. He is currently working with Dr. Susan Watkins at the University of Arkansas on poultry house lighting research.
Their current trial is testing LED light bulbs in four of his broiler houses opposed to traditional incandescent light bulbs. The new bulbs are costly at $45 dollars apiece, opposed to just a few dollars for a traditional 100-watt bulb, but they are predicted to last seven years and are claimed to be indestructible.
In addition to their longevity, the bulbs use a lot less power. The wattage is reduced from 100 Watts to 10 Watts per bulb. Their current 43 ft. by 500 ft. barns used 70 light bulbs each. The possibility of bulbs lasting seven years is appealing when considering a 22 house farm burns 1,540 bulbs all day every day.
All factors considered, the bottom dollar is still dependent on the broilers’ pounds of gain.
“I’m really interested to compare the weights of the birds when it’s all over. It ought to be real interesting,” said Randy.
Home Sweet Farm
With 14 broiler houses, the Rileys always have birds. So, they never get too far from the farm. However, this close-knit farm family loves their country lifestyle and prefers to stay at home.
After having to get up so early during their dairying years and during the time they owned the convenience store, Carmella admits to enjoying the flexibility the chickens offer.
“I can’t imagine retiring. We all love what we do, and I can’t imagine doing anything else,” she said.
Because the family needs to stay close by the chicken houses, they brought some of their hobbies to the farm. They built a trap shooting range on the farm and the school team comes over to practice three days a week. They also built a pool for the kids to enjoy.
“Farming is what we do, but we all like it,” said Randy.
The Rileys work hard to give each batch of chickens their best shot.
