Despite the creative name, Platypus Flats Ranch does not have a single platypus, which is native to eastern Australia.
However, Amy and Tony Jagla, owners of the 10 1/2-acre farm in Pella, have plenty of other animals with bills — not to mention beaks and udders.
The farm has been in operation for eight years and became a full-fledged business in 2011. The Jaglas raise a variety of birds, from Muscovy ducks and Toulouse geese to Wischer Bronze turkeys and standard Dark Cornish chickens.
“I had chickens all my life,” Amy Jagla said. “The ducks we added last year, and the geese this year. The turkeys we’ve been raising three years.”
Platypus Flats was recently recognized as one of only 10 Animal Welfare Approved farms in Wisconsin for the way the Jaglas raise their chickens. The birds are free to roam the property, even into the beef cattle pasture, instead of being cooped up.
The birds are free to nest and rest wherever they choose, as long as its on the property. One hen has a nest of seven chicks she is caring for inside a horse trailer.
To keep the birds from roaming to other homes and farms, the Jaglas have electrified fencing around parts of the property. Besides keeping the birds in, the fencing helps deter predators such as foxes and coyotes.
The farm also has two dogs to help keep hawks and other aerial predators away.
The Jaglas plan to have their turkeys, ducks and geese certified through AWA in 2014 and their beef cattle in the future.
The Jaglas got the idea to become an AWA-certified farm two years ago after having a surplus of turkeys. They bought the turkeys from Amy’s father and were told that they would be very hard to raise, and to not expect many to survive to maturity.
That did not turn out to be the case, Amy Jagla said, and they had to scramble to find people who would want turkey meat.
“We’ve always sold chickens to the family and decided that maybe we could sell to other people, as well,” she said. “Then we tried to figure out how we could differentiate ourselves from other operations doing something similar, and that’s how we found the AWA.”
The AWA philosophy fits how the Jaglas were raising their animals anyway, Amy Jagla said. There was little she and her husband had to do to alter their operation in order to fit the organization’s standards.
“We like that the animals are out free ranging,” Jagla said. “The free-range birds are healthier, and we don’t use any antibiotics. We don’t have to, because they stay cleaner, and they stay drier.”
The family, which includes children Katlin and Tyler, raises 300 to 350 Dark Cornish chickens and 50 Cornish Game Hens for meat each year, as well as more than 100 of the ducks, geese and turkeys. The last of the turkeys for this year went to the butcher for slaughter earlier this week.
Amy Jagla said people who have tried their meat have noticed a significant difference in taste from what is available in grocery stores. She noticed the difference herself when she tried the meat from a chicken raised in a smaller pen versus one of the birds roaming free.
“They have better taste; it’s more natural,” she said. “They have flavor — a lot of it. We cooked that one, and we just put some herbs on top of it, didn’t do anything else with it.”
There is no cost for a farm to participate in AWA. Representatives conduct annual visits to the farm to examine the health of the animals and check the farmers’ methods for slaughter.
Platypus Flats uses an outside slaughterhouse, but the Jaglas hope to eventually have the ability to slaughter their birds on-site. The birds are rendered unconscious with a stunner before the butchering is done so they don’t feel pain, Amy Jagla said.
The guidelines also include what the birds are fed. The Jaglas’ birds are fed locally ground grain as a supplement, and they use flax seed instead of soy.
Amy Jagla also hopes to, by next year, feed them corn that is free of genetically modified organisms. She noted it defeats the purpose to not giving the birds antibiotics but then give them other animal products that are harmful.
The birds also consume insects, as well, keeping the pest population down, Amy Jagla said.
“They keep the ticks down. We hardly have any mice. They pretty much keep it all out of here,” she said.
There are other guidelines, including how much space is available per bird, the amount of space for pasture and nesting, as well as plans in place for emergencies. Also, the AWA farms have to raise traditional breeds of birds instead of crossbreeds.
“They grow so fast and so big that they have leg issues, health issues, heart issues and all that,” Amy Jagla said. “You have to grow animals that are suited for your environment and are natural.”
Many birds in larger operations reach killing age in eight weeks, according to Tony Jagla, while his birds take anywhere from 12-16 weeks before they are ready for slaughter. Some of the birds are raised for about six months, but the Jaglas avoid waiting much beyond that because the meat ends up tougher.
In the future, the Jaglas hope to build a mobile chicken house where the birds can be moved to avoid having the same spot of land depleted of nutrients. AWA is very strict on keeping land sustainable, Tony Jagla said.
“We can move them from spot to spot so they don’t destroy the environment,” he said.
There are also plans to build incubators in the barn to allow younger birds to survive longer, and the Jaglas plan to raise their own forage for the birds to consume until they can be turned loose outside.
The Jaglas hope that Platypus Flats eventually gets the reputation of being a local source for food that focuses on the quality, and not the quantity, of what is produced.
“The high standards you’re held to assures you’re treating the birds well,” Amy Jagla said.
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