Not bad for a farm that raises more than 92,000 chickens at one time in four separate houses. Marrow, a retired science teacher, is proud of the fact that his poultry operation doesn't smell like a chicken farm. Aside from the four metal houses a ways down the driveway, it really doesn't look like a chicken farm either.
Marrow Farms recently was given the Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.
Marrow's farm is one of five family farms across the country to have received the award at this year's International Poultry Expo. The award recognizes farms that find ways to manage waste created by chickens, enhance the natural wildlife habitat around their farms and participate in outreach and education programs.
Poultry companies sued
While an Oklahoma farmer is being recognized for his environmentally friendly efforts, Oklahoma's Attorney General Drew Edmondson is suing 14poultry companies he claims were polluting a watershed in northeast Oklahoma by applying too much chicken waste on more than a million acres in the Illinois River watershed.
The lawsuit was filed in June 2005. Poultry producers in northeastern Oklahoma and Arkansas are paying companies to haul the waste away from their watershed.
Most aspects of poultry production are regulated by state and federal agencies. Farmers must comply with restrictions to ensure phosphorus-rich waste created by chickens isn't polluting soil and running off into lakes, rivers and streams.
Too much phosphorus in the water can promote the growth of algae that dies and becomes food for bacteria. With more food available, bacteria multiply, using up oxygen. This kills fish and plant life that rely on oxygen to survive.
For some, restrictions can be bothersome. For Marrow, improving the habitat around his farm is something he enjoys. He's sprouted native grasses, and planted turnips and ryegrass for whitetail deer that live on the 670 acres of Marrow's farm amid wooded plots of pine trees, prairie grass and wildflowers.
Marrow and his wife, Jean, can name the flowers that grow in their meadow plots: black-eyed Susans, Indian paintbrushes and a smattering of bluebonnets that have appeared over the years.
"Every poultry grower appreciates good water and wholesome food and fresh air. I love nature just as it is," Marrow said. "But we have to make a living in it."
Waste piles up high
Where there are thousands of chickens, there are millions of tons of chicken waste that need to be disposed of. Many producers, like Marrow, use the phosphorus-rich litter to fertilize pasture and crop land. In good years, chicken waste helps boost Marrow's production of hay, or greens up pasture land for the cattle the graze on.
In fact, Marrow, 71, became a chicken producer with two poultry houses in 1992 so he would have access to a cheap fertilizer. Two more houses were added in 2005, after Marrow's son Benny joined the operation full-time.
"Ironically, they were added to provide more economic nutrients to the soil in addition to diversifying the farm's income," Marrow wrote in his application packet for the environmental award.
Chicken litter is piled up nearly 8 feet high in the two open-air store houses near Marrow's poultry houses. It's crumbly and flaky and nearly odorless as Marrow steps across a pile of the litter. A federal conservation program helped pay for the storage barns. With the litter barns, Marrow and his son can clean out the poultry houses and store the chicken waste until conditions are right to put it on fields. The barns also keep the litter dry. Marrow also can use the litter to compost the carcasses of dead chickens.
Using chicken litter as a fertilizer isn't an easy process. Producers don't just spread the waste out over the land and hope for the best, said Kenneth Risenhoover, district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Poteau. Producers test their soil and adjust the amount of chicken litter they put on the land, he said.
In central Le Flore County, where Marrow has his farm, about 85 poultry producers live in the Lake Wister watershed, Risenhoover said. The lake also is where most people in the area get their drinking water.
"I think the fact that poultry producers drink the water of Wister Lake, they're just as concerned as anybody about protecting their water," Risenhoover said.
Time to practice
Inside one of Marrow's poultry houses, thousands of chickens crowd around feeders placed on the ground and scurry each time Marrow takes a step farther into the barn. He's slipped a special plastic boot over his brown leather cowboy boots in hopes of keeping germs out of the house filled with young chickens. Viruses spread easily among the birds and can take out a whole flock if gone untreated.
Each poultry house is equipped with a computer system that regulates the temperature and ventilation of the barn. Too much ventilation and too much wind can cause the odor of the chicken house to drift to near by homes, something Marrow doesn't want to happen.
Marrow is modest about being recognized for his environmental practices.
"I'm older, and I've had more years to practice and enhance the environment in our area," Marrow said. "This is an award about who did the most. I don't really think of myself as an environmental expert."
