Allen sat down with father and son Troy and Matt Milford, poultry growers in Georgia, to talk ABF, family, and faith. Matt is a fourth-generation poultry grower. The land has been in the family since the late 1800s, when Troy’s grandpa’s uncle bought the farm. Grandpa got it and built three chicken houses.
Troy remembers spreading shavings for his grandpa — dumped out of a trailer at the end of the house, spread with a pitchfork. “It’s changed a lot.” Farming is what he wanted. He got married young, went and got an engineering degree (two-year from Gainesville), and was part-owner of an engineering company, director of sales and marketing, always wanting to be home.
He and his dad built two more houses in the early ’90s, then two more around 2001. Eventually he told his wife it was time: “This chicken farmer’s gonna make it.” He quit the other work and came home.
Matt got out of high school, went to college a year or two, and didn’t want to stay. “Only reason I went to college was because my mother.” He convinced her to let him take a semester off. Troy’s line: if you’re going to farm, we have to build two more chicken houses. Now the farm supports the family — chickens and cattle, diversified. “We’re living the dream. If you wanna call it that.”
ABF, extra eyes, and a moving target
The toughest challenge on the poultry side, Troy says, has been the antibiotic-free push — adjusting, finding other ways to keep birds healthy and converting like they should. You get something figured out, then something hits. Hatchery? Already on the farm? You have to react mid-flock.
That’s why Matt on the place matters. “It’s not just my eyes. It’s another set of eyes. We can talk it over.”
They also have family and friends growing nearby, flocks a couple of weeks older or younger. “We kind of know what’s coming down the line… you can react a little quicker when you start seeing signs of it.”
Before ABF, growers kept their cards close. After, more willingness to help — to an extent. “There’s something you ain’t gonna tell.” It’s still competition. In engineering, Troy said, there were things people looked at, tried, and couldn’t copy because of a little secret you weren’t going to tell. Same here.
On a six-house farm, average or above, top five, he’s tickled. You don’t get the same birds across six houses. Two or three mediocre, two or three real good, maybe one that bites you. They use Southland products, play with how they’re running, change it when a flock says this isn’t working.
An older man told them the best thing you can put on your farm is your shadow. Pay attention. Live in the two weeks in front of you.
Troy learned to figure stuff out from his dad and grandpa — money isn’t always there, so you engineer it. They put in their own controllers. “When you start having to pay a fee when you come fix everything, it gets expensive.”
How a father and son keep working together
They fight. Matt said you can ask his mom and his wife. Half the time it’s about how they’re doing something. Five, ten minutes later, they’re back. “You can’t let little stuff get in the way of something like what we do.”
If it wasn’t something he loved, Matt would not have built two new chicken houses. “It’s a commitment. That ties me down financially for years. But it’s something I love, and it’s something I’m willing to work for.”
Allen asked Troy how he balanced family so a son didn’t despise the work.
God. What makes our family what our family is, is our faith in God, and our trust in Him. Me and Matt try to start every day in our Bible and doing devotion. If it wasn’t for our faith in God, I don’t believe we could work together… There ain’t no way it could work without God.
There was a time it was Troy, his dad, and his grandpa. “What a privilege to be able to spend time together.” Now it’s him, his dad, and his son. Matt has a little boy. They hope one day he wants to do what they do.
Everybody can’t say I get to go to work every day with my family. To lay your head down on your pillow at night and be at peace, and know that we still love each other and can still talk to each other. That means a lot.
If you need anything relating to poultry biosecurity, need help troubleshooting problems on your farm, or simply want to learn more about what we do, connect with Allen Reynolds at 800-608-3755 or allen@southlandorganics.com.
Full video transcript
(upbeat music) - Hey, everyone. I am an awful South Carolina organics, doing another grower spotlight today with Troy and Matt Milford. And it's a father-son combo, which I'm sure many of you do when you are growing birds, you do it as a family. So anyway, we just want to talk about a few things. Troy, I know you have an engineering degree. They're like mini growers out there. They were actually having a degree or intended to do something else, but winning the growing chicken. So, how did that happen? - Well, Matt's actually a fourth generation of our family to be in the farm, on this farm that we currently have. The land that our farms own have been in since late 1800s, when my grandpa's uncle actually bought the farm and my grandpa got it, built three chicken houses. So, I've been doing it all in my life. And, you know, I remember spreading the shape into my grandpa, dumped them out of a trailer at the end of the house with a seat fork, spreading them out. So, it's changed a lot. And that's, as I got older, that's really what I wanted to do. Got married pretty early, what we had with the sport, the family. So, ended up, I went and got an engineering degree. Got a two year degree from Gainesville and was actually part owner of an engineering company, director of sales and marketing, always wanting to be home and wanting to farm. That's what I wanted to do. So, me and my dad built two more houses in early '90s, and then we built two more in about 2001. And so, at that time, my dad was, me and my dad were still doing it. So, it's been a family operation forever. And, as it went on, I told him a wife, I said, this chicken farmer's gonna make it, it's time to make it 'cause it got to work. It was all the time. - Yeah. - So, I quit work, come home, and then Matt got out of high school. He went to college for what, a year, two years. And he said, I don't wanna do this on a farm. I said, well, if you're gonna farm, we gotta build two more chicken houses, so. And now the farm supports, my family and kids, when we do chickens, we got cattle, we got cattle, it's diversified. But, it's what I always wanted to do. And that's how it all rolled back into this. And now, I guess about, we're living the dream. - Yeah? - If you wanna call it them. - So, a lot of kids growing up, they're like, they wanna do something different and their dad does or something. I mean, some of 'em, I got four kids, and it's like, they don't wanna do their own thing and they don't really wanna listen to dad a lot of time. So, I mean, it must be a good thing to work with your dad or in the family that don't wanna do this. So, what made you do that? - As I can, growing up on a farm, that's what I always wanted to do. Only reason I went to college was because my mother, my mother wanted me to go get a new issue. And, I finally convinced her one day to let me take a semester off 'cause I was just burning out on school. - Yeah. - Now, they're what about? - Yeah. - And, talk to men to build the chicken houses and not gettin' to do what I always wanted to. - That's awesome. - Very cool. - ABF has been a big hit lightly, I'd say lately, the last few years. So, what has been, you're all as tough as challenge growing birds or as a farmer? - I guess growing birds when you get stuck or something figured out, then other farmers are gonna know what I'm talking about. Roller farmers as far as how to grow the birds, what's working for you. And, the big antibiotic pre-push you. - Yeah. - And, that's been a challenge. And, it's been tough to adjust to that in finding other ways to keep your chickens healthy and keep 'em producing and converting like they should. So, I'd say that's one of the biggest challenges on the poultry side. - Right. - Finding that, you know, there's, 'cause there's all kinds of things that's gonna hit these chickens. - Sure. - You can't do nothin' about, does it come from the hatchery, does it, is it already on your farm? And, then you've gotta react to that. And, even if you've got a good program that's been working, you gotta react in the middle of the walk a lot of times to, okay, well we're doing a working, we gotta figure somethin' out. And, that's what it's nice, too, with having Matt there. It's not just my eyes, it's another set of eyes. We can talk it over and put your eye out in it. You talk to other growers. And, you got a network, you talk to, what do you see, what's workin', so. - You know, I deal with growers all over the country. I mean, there's double integrators out on the West Coast, all the way up to Del Marba, down to even North Florida. And, it seems like, just when you think, even in this situation, you've got somethin' figured out. Something different, maybe it hits. - Oh, yeah. - You know, what, is there been one consistent thing that you think in your practice, or, you know, getting in there, or multiple eyes, or what has probably been maybe somethin' in the geo-op? 'Cause like that stuff, you can't control it. You just get what you get. - Yeah. - So, is there been one particular thing that you think has been, we've been able to do this, or we change this, and that's, no matter what they say, just tends to be more helpful, or what do you say? Not necessarily, then. - You said it's a movement target. - Yeah. - I think one thing that helps us, where we grow at anyhow, the, we've got a lot of family and friends that grow chickens, so normally we're spread out. They have chickens that are a couple of weeks older than ours, or a couple of weeks younger. And we kinda know what's coming down the line, because within a couple of weeks, I mean, you pretty much gonna stay about the site. - Yeah. - Bird was. And so, you can kinda know what's headed for you. - Yeah. - And that way you can react a little bit weaker when you start seeing signs of it, instead of tryin' to do something, okay? What's this gonna be in the third or four days, when you got a bucket and talkin' something like that. - You know, something that I've noticed, tell me if I'm on it or not. But before ABF, it seemed like growers kept their cars close. - Oh, definitely. - After ABF, it was like everybody's willing to help everybody else. - To an extent, there's somethin' you ain't gonna tell. - Yeah. (laughs) - It seems to be a willingness to help me. - That is, and chicken farming and farming in general, and I try to look at it like I did with the engineering or anything else, it's about communication. You gotta communicate with each other, with who you're growin' forward, and you don't be open and talk to people. And you can tell, like you said, they some things you don't tell. - Right. - 'Cause it's still competition. - It's still competition. It's just, for example, in engineering, there were things that we done that people looked at. Well, I can do that. They tried and didn't work, because there's that little secret that's out, that you ain't gonna tell how you're doin'. And it's the same thing. We on the top every time, no we're not. Six houses, if we can be average or above, top five, I'm tickled to death, sure. Because you do get such a different range of birds. With a six house farm, with a bigger farm, it's hard to get that consistent, you know, what we call the good birds, to cross some six houses you're usually gonna get. One or two or three mediocre houses, and then maybe two or three real good houses, you may get one by us, you know. - Yeah, so you do the best you can. And, you know, is there one real thing? It's hard to say, you know, we're using y'all's products. I think they're doing a good job. I think they're helping us. It's like, can you think else? We played with how we're running, what we're doing, and finally found what we feel works for us. And I know me and you've talked a lot that how other people are doing it, and we're doing it a little different, 'cause it seems to be working, so. And we've changed that up on blocks, and we say, okay, this ain't working, let's change this a little bit. - Sure. - And you say it differently. - We read it, the mulch, it's so about expert, and the mulch, and we were, had a guy came through an older man, said the best thing that you can put on your farm, crops, whatever, is your shadow. - Oh, yeah. - And that sounds like, especially this moving target, and you're having to go, "Oh, this is what we did last fall." And we better change it with this block, is just pay in the attention. - You've got what's going on. - You've got to live within two weeks. - When, how does that year form here that that arch, a couple months, you had rigs up on your sprayer, and you had all this stuff. Hey, that's when you told me you were an engineering tree. I'm like, what is something probably that you do in engineering wise? I know I didn't, kind of, warn you on this work. - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - But it just makes me think something like it, is there something you've engineered, maybe, that has been a, you know, maybe nothing. It's just like, everybody out there has done something. - Yeah, and I think that's much apart of farming, is it is engineering. - Yeah. - If you're a farmer, and like we are, you know, money ain't always there, and you know, always, so you figure stuff out. And I learned that from my dad, from my grandpa. And I think God has truly blessed us. My family, that I got to work with my grandpa. As a little boy, you know, building fences in the chicken house, and he taught me how to do friends. You know, I worked with my dad. Max worked with my dad. And we learned from each other, and you learned that, okay, this is broke. You go by and you, and you know, we better fix it. Or this ain't work in the way we want it to work. - Yeah. - Then, okay, well, let's modify it. And the knowledge, yes, the knowledge that I got from engineering helped, the experience I had, you know, learning how to do things, it's like electrical stuff, you know, we put in our own controllers, and you have. - That saves you a lot of money, share. And that's one of the biggest things, is trying to do your own maintenance, trying to do your own stuff, and trying to teach the ones behind you how to do that. Because when you start having a pay fee, when you come fix everything, it gets expensive. - Sure. - This is what I think I love about what I do. Is dealing with people who, fourth generation, third generation, it's family. It's depending upon God. - Yeah. - I mean, the web, you know, my right pay, brain, crops growing, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, one thing we talk about around here, and we just did a video not too long ago about how to take care of you, and that's with your family. And so, obviously, four generations, y'all know how to work, family, keep family probably. So, give me just a couple of thoughts, maybe, how do you deal with working with dad, and some things like that. I mean, what is success to making sure? (laughing) - It's a good day, so he saves us a question. But, I don't know, you can ask my mom, my wife, me and him, to fight with each other. - Sure. - All the time. - Yeah. - And then we get over it. - Yeah. - And I think that's one thing, you just gotta, especially with us, we get mad at something, and half the time, it's about how we're doing something. I think we should do a different part of the day does, and so we get in five. - But-- - Not a fair spot. - Not a fair spot. - I mean, we're already with the chair. - Sure. - But, five, ten minutes later, we're back, kinda. - Yeah. - You can't let little stuff get in the way of something, like what we do, and it's what we both look. And, I mean, we've had the conversation, if it wasn't something I loved, I would not have built two new chicken hats. - Yeah. - 'Cause it's a commitment. - Yeah, yeah. I mean, that ties me down financially for years. - But it's something I love. - And it's something I'm willing to work for, and we're both willing to work for, and so we work through the bad days. - Yeah. - And then we still have the good days. - Yeah. - Very mad, but. (laughing) - To hear a son say that is really a tribute to a father. I don't know. So how have you balanced family and not made a son despise what you do? How do you balance that? - God. - Yeah. - And I'm just gonna be totally honest with you. What makes our family, what our family is, is our faith in God, and our trust in Him. Has there been bad times in our life? - I've said the heads. And me and Max try to start every day, y'all, in our Bible and doing devotion. I believe that God give us what we get. God give us our faith. God give us the blessings we have, and can He take more? Yes, He can. But if He does, that's fine. I still got God, and we still got our family, and I believe that's what's helped us. And I didn't know this was gonna go here, 'cause more of what we're gonna do. - Amen. - Take it. - French. - If it wasn't for our faith in God, I don't believe we could work together. Because we do have that. We do have that love that God put in us when He saved our soul. That we share with one another, and we can always turn to Him. And we can pray about Him. We can figure things out, and He helps us and He guides us and directs us. So how does it work? There ain't no way it could work without God. And that's what makes the world around. I mean, in the world we live in today, what can we say, "Do they need more than you think?" Yes, they've got it. If we could find, you know, people could realize the love that God has for us. And to feed on that, instead of feeding on all this other stuff, we'd be amazed at what would happen. And, you know, in some chicken dishes. It's whatever we do, you know, I ain't gonna, I pray as a little show or something. You know, you're out as directors, you don't help us. And, any will. And you say, "Well, sure, well, that seems, "why don't you ask Him to do that?" Because I believe we're supposed to talk to Him about everything. - Tell them what we do before we ask Him. - And, may not get the answer, we're always more. But, we still ask Him to still talk to Him. And I believe that's what makes it work. And that's been, and we've been blessed. I was born in a house where that dispersed, and we've tried to keep that going down the line. My ass got a little boy. I hope one day we see Him. Hey, I wanna do what y'all are gonna do. You know, it is a tribute, you know, to be a something. I've always said it, you know, even when it was, there was a time it was me and my dad and my grandma. I said, "Wow, what a privilege to be able "to spend time together." And now it's me and my dad and my son. That's a privilege. That's a privilege to be able to do it. - Everybody can't say I get to go to work every day with my family, and we can, and families, I mean, I saw family businesses that get taught, they'll turn up my family apart. - Yeah. - But to lay your head down and be a pillar at night and be a piece and know that we still love each other and if you still talk to each other. - Yeah. - That means a lot. - I don't even know where to go from there, 'cause that's why I love it, I think. So, I love it. And I think it's a great way to end it. Is seeing that that is the important thing, what's kept in this long journey. So, yeah. Okay, well, I appreciate y'all taking the time and I hope that some of these growers, that maybe you picked up some insights or some ideas or things that may have helped you. So, thanks to Troy and Matt. Appreciate y'all coming out today. And if we can help you in any way, please let us know, you can call us. 1-800-608-375-5 or email me. Have a nice Saturday morning to nix.com. And we thank you so much. - And if you haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel yet, be sure to. You'll get notifications of new videos as soon as they're uploaded and you won't have to wait for our email to bring them to your inbox. We all know emails can get cluttered pretty quickly. We're here to bring you helpful content as much as possible. (upbeat music)
