Farm Management

Major snowstorms or freezing rain events can be disastrous at MacFarlane Pheasants! Before and after these events we have a plan to protect our game birds. We watch the weather carefully and check our birds night and day during the winter to be sure all heaters are working, that our [...]

MacFarlane Pheasants raises pheasants in Wisconsin, Missouri, and South Dakota. The South Dakota farm is leased and we call it the Miller Farm. It is located about 10 miles outside of Miller, South Dakota. The farm was a pheasant production facility when we started using it. The owner contacted MacFarlane [...]

Brian Check, one of our farm managers at MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. thinks about rain as a “four-letter word” for too much or not enough. Both cases change our seasonal chore routines and affect our pheasants and other wild birds. We have over 100 acres of pens and thousands of birds [...]

Troy Cisewski, MacFarlane Pheasants’ Production Manager, takes extra precautions when the weather becomes extremely hot. The 90+ degree weather this past week has resulted in some changes to his crew’s daily activities. Breeder hens lose their interest in eating when it gets too hot and if they don’t eat and [...]

Many people are not aware that MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. provides birds for taxidermists! Taxidermists mount birds for hunting enthusiasts. They also enter their work in competitions. Preservation of the birds is as either a table or wall mount, depending on the requests of the buyer. Anyone can visit our website [...]

On any given day at MacFarlane Pheasants, 3-6 people are kept busy winterizing the pens that hold pheasants, partridges, and huns. Typically, this work begins in October, as the temperature starts to get colder. The process we follow is repeated yearly, during the fall. Just like many jobs on a [...]

Water is needed for all of the organic processes necessary for life. It regulates body temperature, digestion, and elimination of waste. Game birds consume at least twice as much water as feed and it is a big responsibility at MacFarlane Pheasants to keep our water clean and flowing. It is [...]

The feed truck pictured here, has been in use for about a year now at MacFarlane Pheasants. In the past we had feed delivered from a third-party vendor. The feed truck purchase has definitely improved our ability to take charge of our feeding schedule and costs. Our truck holds 15-18 [...]

Is an alarm system needed on our pheasant farm? The answer is yes, if we want to sleep at night! Having consistent temperatures is crucial to the success of raising our chicks. The most important use of an alarm system is to detect temperatures that get outside of our desired range. [...]

There are two different strategies for introducing pheasants to a new property. Regardless of the strategy used, it is important that you prepare your property in advance as a good habitat for pheasants. Grasslands with low to medium grasses, wetlands, croplands, brush, shrubs and idle fields would be a good [...]

Feed and water are the life source for our game birds. Our system for making sure our pheasants and other game birds stay healthy, by receiving proper hydration and nutrition, has 6 main procedures: We check feed and water systems daily, and each time we enter a room or pen [...]

MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. didn’t get to be so successful without a plan. We began by developing core values, followed by a mission for our business and careful communication with every employee on the farm. We believe our plan can effectively help any business owner get on the right track toward [...]

Predators The protection of our pheasants and the other game birds we raise is a high priority at MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. Wild birds are a hazard we can’t afford to ignore! Birds of prey, such as red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, and even bald eagles, prey on our pheasants.  Starlings populations [...]

You might wonder how we remember what we did last year that worked so well in the brooder barn or how to best take care of the Winter White Pheasant or the Hungarian Partridge. We keep track of details in our employee manuals. These topics and just about every other [...]

Monitoring of feed consumption is an essential component of making sure our birds stay healthy. One of the first signs of a sick bird is that they stop eating and drinking. This is why we are vigilant about checking our feed and water systems and our birds morning, noon, and [...]

Water is essential for life and is considered an essential nutrient. Death will occur quickly in both plants and animals when insufficient water is available. Good quality water will also give a better quality of life to both plants and animals so it is very important to make sure you [...]

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 in a three-part series detailing the rich history of MacFarlane Pheasants, a business that began 86 years ago and has since grown into the largest pheasant farm in North America. Special thanks to the MacFarlane family for providing archived documents and information. Don and [...]

One of the more exciting moments on our farm is when baby chicks begin to hatch. However, there are many steps to complete in the brooder barns before hatching begins, to prepare for the 500,000 chicks we hatch each year. Planning Ahead Set up a master schedule of when we [...]

Peepers, also known as blinders, are small devices that are put on our pheasants' beaks to block their forward vision and prevent them from having a direct line of sight to other birds. The pheasants can still see well enough to eat and drink. The peepers are very helpful in [...]

MacFarlane Pheasants has over 150 acres of netted covered pens. When you are dealing with this much land, you can expect to have a few furry or feathered visitors! Keeping those visitors off of our property is extremely important in the prevention of the spread of diseases and the predation [...]