| By Big Radio News Staff |
MacFarlane Pheasants has been in the news recently after a tornado blew apart its Janesville operations Saturday and let loose about 10,000 pheasants into the city and countryside.
But MacFarlane owner Bill MacFarlane says what his employees–and his birds–have endured is more complicated than those thousands of pheasants running loose.
MacFarlane says alongside tracking down wayward birds, his farm’s workers have worked since Monday to move 90,000 young pheasants that had been trapped inside a series of collapsed brood houses and other buildings at the farm.
The brood of birds that got hit by the tornado typically would not have been moved from buildings to open-air pens until later this summer, but in a twist of luck for the pheasant farm, a MacFarlane employee had gotten a number of pens ready weeks ahead of when they’d be needed.
“He had gotten the pens set up with food, water, all the things you do to make it hospitable situation for the birds when the come out. He was five weeks ahead, so when this (tornado) happened, we had enough room weeks for five weeks of pheasants,” MacFarlane says.
The pheasant farm owner says his workers have been pulling 12-hour days moving birds out of harm’s way. The pheasants had been stuck inside brood buildings that collapsed when the tornado tore past the Highway 51 corridor through Janesville’s south side.
It took a structural engineer to determine which collapsed buildings the workers could go inside to free the trapped birds, MacFarlane says.
MacFarlane says the move of the trapped birds to safe pens comes alongside MacFarlane recovering about a third the birds that escaped.
In the immediate wake of last week’s tornado, as thousands of pheasants were escaping, MacFarlane coordinated with the Rock County Sheriff’s Office to shut down one stretch of road next to the pheasant farm.
MacFarlane says it was disheartening to watch people disregard that traffic blockade and drive right through an area where thousands of birds were moving across the road.
MacFarlane says his employees have showed a lot of heart this week. One worker who has pulled long hours moving birds was at work in one of the brood houses when the tornado ripped through and knocked the building down around the man. He escaped uninjured.
MacFarlane says he’s tried to ignore local social media commentary the last few days that has been critical of his farm, its operations and the escape of the pheasants after the tornado.
He says MacFarlane’s employees have showed great dedication to the pheasants this week. That’s not surprising to him, because he says it’s part of the company’s culture.
“Humane treatment of our birds is a huge priority for us,” McFarlane says. “I do the on-boarding for every new employee, and the main thing I tell them is the birds are defenseless. They don’t have anyone sticking up for them. So we have to treat our birds humanely. When a tornado comes along, it tests your ability to do that.”
