The new poultry demonstration houses at the Hill Farm Research Station near Homer are in operation and the first flock of chickens has reached the target weight and has been processed by House of Raeford. Raeford’s goal for this flock was a 9 lb bird in 8 weeks. The flock reached that goal 3 days early with an average bird weight of 8.93 lbs and a feed conversion of 2.04. The total number of birds processed from the two houses was 40,961.

(Distributed 03/30/07) Louisiana and its neighboring states have the potential to raise nonfood crops for biofuels because they have suitable available land and a long growing season, according to Dr. Michael Blazier, assistant professor of forestry at the LSU AgCenter’s Hill Farm Research Station near Homer.