Editing Polyface Farm (section)

==Practices and background==
[[File:Pigs at Polyface Farm.jpg|thumb|Free range pigs at Polyface Farm]]
Salatin encourages people to [[Local food|buy locally]] to save small businesses. Salatin believes it is advantageous for consumers to know their farmers and where their food comes from.<ref>Laura Bly "Down on the Farm"</ref>

Salatin says that his Christian faith informs how he raises and slaughters the animals on his {{convert|500|acre|km2|adj=on}} farm. He sees it as his responsibility to honour the animals as creatures that reflect God's love and believes his method is to honour that of God. Salatin is quoted in the book ''[[The Omnivore's Dilemma]]'' as justifying the killing of animals for [[meat]] because "people have a soul, animals don't...When they die, they die."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pollan |first1=Michael |title=the Omnivores Dilemma |date=2006 |publisher=The Penguin Press |isbn=978-1-59420-082-3 |page=331}}</ref>

Salatin bases his farm's ecosystem on the principle of observing animals' activities in nature and emulating those conditions as closely as possible. Salatin grazes his cattle outdoors within small pastures enclosed by electrified fencing that is easily moved each evening in an established [[rotational grazing]] system. Animal manure fertilizes the pastures and enables Polyface Farm to graze about four times as many cattle as on a conventional farm, thus also saving feed costs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Farms. |first1=Polyface |title=Polyface Guiding Principles |url=http://www.polyfacefarms.com/principles/ |website=Polyface The Farm of Many Faces |publisher=Wordpress |accessdate=27 April 2020 |archive-date=8 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508122223/http://www.polyfacefarms.com/principles/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The small size of the pastures forces the cattle to "mob stock", or to eat all the grass.<ref>{{cite web |title= Grazing Patterns|url=https://extension.purdue.edu/uav/animal-agriculture/grazing-patterns-example.html |website=purdue.edu |accessdate=27 July 2023 }}</ref>

Polyface raises cattle, pastured meat chickens, egg layers, pigs, turkeys, and rabbits. The diversity in production better utilizes the grass, breaks [[pathogen]] cycles, and creates multiple income streams.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Salatin |first1=Joel |title=Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms discusses grass-fed cattle |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nIcfh2UqV8  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/5nIcfh2UqV8| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|website=Youtube |publisher=tedsword |accessdate=27 April 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The meat chickens are housed in portable field shelters that are moved daily to a fresh "salad bar" of new grass and away from yesterday's droppings. All manure is distributed by the chickens directly onto the field. His egg-laying chickens are housed in mobile trailer-style coops (called "eggmobiles") that follow four days after the cattle when flies in the manure are [[pupation|pupating]]; the chickens get 15% of their feed from this. While scratching for pupae, the chickens also distribute the cow manure across the field. {{Cn|date=January 2021}}

Salatin feels that "if you smell manure [on a livestock farm], you are smelling mismanagement." So everything possible is done to allow grass to absorb all the fertilizer left behind by the animals. If animals must be kept inside (to brood young chicks for example), Salatin recommends providing deep bedding of wood chips or sawdust to lock in all the nutrients and smell until they can be spread on the field where the compost can be used by the grass.<ref>{{cite web |last1=mccune |first1=kathy |title=Your Family Cow: Amount Of Manure And What To Do With It! |url=https://familyfarmlivestock.com/your-family-cow-amount-of-manure-and-what-to-do-with-it/ |website=Family Farm Livestock |access-date=2020-04-27 |archive-date=2022-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123212117/https://familyfarmlivestock.com/your-family-cow-amount-of-manure-and-what-to-do-with-it/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Salatin's pastures, barn, and farmhouse are located on land below a nearby pond that "feeds the farm" by using {{convert|15|mi|km}} of piping. Salatin also harvests {{convert|450|acre|km2}} of woodlands and uses the lumber to construct farm buildings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/aug2007/sb2007088_984272.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_success+stories|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523100257/http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/aug2007/sb2007088_984272.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_success+stories|url-status=dead|title='' Business Week'', August 10, 2007, |archivedate=May 23, 2011|accessdate=Jul 6, 2021}}</ref> One of Salatin's principles is that "plants and animals should be provided a habitat that allows them to express their physiological distinctiveness. Respecting and honouring the bigness of the pig is a foundation for societal health."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://polyfacefarms.com/principles.aspx|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324023227/http://www.polyfacefarms.com/principles.aspx|url-status=dead|title=Polyface Farm principles|archivedate=Mar 24, 2009|accessdate=Jul 6, 2021}}</ref>

While Salatin does not sell to supermarkets or ship long distances,<ref>{{cite web|last=Pollan|first=Michael|title=No Bar Code|url=http://motherjones.com/environment/2006/05/no-bar-code|publisher=Mother Jones|accessdate=21 November 2011|archive-date=17 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517122011/http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2006/05/no-bar-code|url-status=live}}</ref> Polyface products are available at restaurants (including [[Chipotle Mexican Grill|Chipotle]]<ref>{{cite news|last=Black|first=Jane|title=In Trial Run, Chipotle Heads to the Farm|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032500813.html|accessdate=21 November 2011|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=26 March 2008|archive-date=3 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603103322/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032500813.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and Staunton's Zynodoa) and local food sellers within a half-days drive of the farm.{{Cn|date=January 2021}}