an egg business as well as growing milo for poultry feed
and potatoes, which are sold primarily through farmer’s
markets. Andrew and Judy help in their sons poultry
business through a labor exchange arrangement.
Some 13,000-hybrid chickens roam the Boone
County spread while another 7,200 are kept inside an
automated poultry barn complete with feed, water and
temperature control.
Cageless, those housed birds are still considered free
range. Eggs are laid in a central nest before being carried
by conveyor belt to an adjacent room where they are
washed, sorted, graded and packaged for shipping.
which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Thinking about quitting the farmer’s market scene,
by the fourth week the brother’s sold 40 dozen.
From that meager beginning, Stanton Brothers’ egg
business has evolved through networking opportunities
like the farmer’s market. “It helps us meet the grocery
store manager, the restaurant owner, the consumer,”
Dustin says. “We meet people there that help us get our
foot in the door at nursing homes and grocery stores.”
Preparing and packaging eggs to sell is a family affair for the
Stantons. Brothers Austin (l) and Dustin (r) package eggs after
they’ve gone through an automatic washer while dad Andrew
(bottom) sorts and grades them. Mom Judy (background) handles
most of the deliveries. About 500 dozen eggs are shipped off the
Stanton farm every day.
Dustin Stanton recalls a 4-H incubation project as being
the spark that ignited the fire under Stanton Brothers’
poultry business.
Devastated that he wasn’t the youngster to receive
those baby chicks from the project, Dustin’s uncle
bought the boy his first chickens. “They were a Cornishcross, meat chicken, though,