ANNA, IL — On Friday, August 22, and Saturday, August 23, individuals from across southern Illinois participated in a chicken butchering workshop. This event was organized by Maggie Ray, Local Foods and Small Farms Program Coordinator for Illinois Extension, in collaboration with Food Works of Southern Illinois, and hosted at The Flock Farm.
Brent and April Glays established their family farm in 2018, specializing in pasture-raised lamb, goat, pork, and poultry. The Flock Farm, located near Anna in Union County, raises purebred Katahdin sheep, heritage pigs, and various heritage breeds of chickens and turkeys. They proudly raise their animals as certified grass-fed and Animal Welfare Approved through A Greener World (AGW). Additionally, all of their products are certified Homegrown by Heroes. The farm markets its products year-round through local farmers' markets and online via the Little Egypt Alliance of Farmers (LEAF) food hub.
The workshop began with Brent Glays, owner and operator of The Flock Farm, giving participants a tour of the facility, highlighting the equipment used and explaining how it operates. After the tour, the processing portion of the workshop began. Glays demonstrated and explained the ethical methods used at their facility to process animals. Together, Glays and the participants successfully processed over one hundred chickens.
The following day began in a classroom-style setting, where participants learned about food safety laws and the practices The Flock Farm follows to sell their homegrown products. After the educational session, participants packaged and labeled the chickens they had processed the day before.
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 700 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through six program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, family and consumer science, integrated health disparities, and natural resources, environment, and energy.