Free Chickens After A Major Poultry Company Closes, Hurting Wisconsin Farmers

MADISON, Wis. (CIVIC MEDIA) – The lives of hundreds of thousands of chickens are in limbo as of last Friday, and several local farms have been hung out to dry after the sudden closure of an Iowa-based poultry company.

It’s a complicated story that spans multiple states, but it is affecting people right here in Wisconsin.

Pure Prairie Poultry is a business based out of Iowa. It started up in 2021 and sold many different chicken products. The business had contracts with farmers that are located in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to raise their chickens to later be processed. These contracts not only gave them the chickens to raise, but also the food and reimbursement for their bedding and heating.

That all came to a stop last week.

Since April, the poultry company stopped paying for the loans that were given to them. Pure Prairie Poultry then tried to file for bankruptcy in September, which was denied.

Now, the company has dissolved, leaving our local farmers stranded. Since last week, the contracted farms have been left with no food, no money, and hundreds of thousands of chickens. With no help from the state.

Farmers are left with no choice, having to unload thousands of chickens and fast. Currently, they are giving away as many chickens as possible as donations, simply because they can’t afford to keep them and feed them.

You can swing by these barns to get free chickens, now.

• N14654 Sonsalla Road, Trempealeau, WI, Saturday, October 12 from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• W166 Highway 10, Mondovi, WI

There’s a GoFundMe set up for Filla Farm , if you’d like to pitch in and help in other ways.

As Wisconsin State Agencies and advocates try to find relief for farmers, the local farms will continue to do what they can to get by. 

The state of Iowa was given an emergency court order to help the farmers affected there. Nearly 1.3 million chickens are under the state’s care. In Wisconsin, however, there has been no federal help for the birds as of yet.