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Pheasant Farm: It's All About Not Putting Your Eggs in One Basket

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

Aug. 21--IPSWICH -- The bird population at Gisi Pheasant Farm keeps getting closer to the human population in South Dakota, and could very well surpass it one of these years.

The farm hatched nearly 650,000 pheasant eggs this year. South Dakotans number about 750,000.

Unlike the state, the farm has experienced a population explosion in the past decade. In 1996, about 9,000 chicks pecked their way out of shells every week during the April-through-June hatching season at the farm east of town. This year, it was about 50,000 per week.

It's the largest pheasant farm in the state. It never planned to be. "Orders just keep growing," said Loretta Gisi. "Dad can't tell people 'No.' "

Her father, Gary Gisi, 62, started with about 1,000 pheasants in 1985, as a hobby. He was a conventional farmer at the time.

"My goal is to raise a pheasant that compares to any bird in the wild," Gary said. "And I am very close to it."

Pen-raised pheasants have been criticized because some contend they have poor survival rates once released into the wild. Some studies indicate that's true , but those studies are out of date, Gary said.

"Let's do another study," he said. Years ago, it was common to raise pheasant chicks in pens that did not resemble their natural habitat. Gary said he goes to great lengths to raise his birds in spacious areas with lots of tall vegetation and with the same foods pheasants eat in the wild, such as corn.

The farm features almost 100 acres of net-covered pens in which pheasants are free to roam extensively.

Gary said some customers tell him his pheasants are wilder than those born in the wild. He and his employees catch pheasants in the netted pens for delivery to customers. "They don't want to see a human around after they've been caught once," Gary said. And that makes them pretty wild after they've been released in the wild and see people, he said.

The farm's customers include hunting preserves and landowners, particularly those who invite out-of-staters to hunt pheasants, Loretta said. Almost all customers are in South Dakota, and the farm delivers its products instead of shipping them.

The farm has orders for more than 125,000 mature roosters for delivery this fall; 80 percent of these will be delivered from September through November.

Most of the birds hatched on the farm are sold as chicks for customers to raise themselves.

Besides providing preserves and landowners with birds, the pheasant farm also has created jobs. Ten people work there full time, and another 30 or so are seasonal, part-time workers. Many of the latter are retired people or youths still in school.

The family business has grown to the point that Gary understands the wisdom of the old cliche warning against putting all eggs in one basket.

He said he spreads things out in case a tornado, hail or other disaster should strike. The netted pens are at various locations, as are the five laying barns and 14 brooder barns.

Also, there are Gisi-supplied satellite sites in Gan Valley, Kimball, Pierre and Wessington Springs, run by people who live in these areas. Landowners in these areas feel more comfortable buying pheasants from someone they know than from someone they don't know in Ipswich, Gary said.

Chicks are taken from the Ipswich business to the satellites, which do not have laying barns or incubators.

It can be a risky business, and though the federal government has numerous programs that protect farmers from disaster, no such program exists for pheasant farmers. And insurance is not justified because it's too expensive, Loretta said.

Even with the risks, success seems to follow her father, she said. "People say everything he touches turns to gold," she said.

Maybe that's because of his attitude, Loretta added. "He believes that you work, and you work hard, and that if you give more than you take, life will be good," she said.

Loretta joined the business four years ago, returning to the area where she grew up from Grand Junction, Colo., where she was a social worker for the Grand Junction school district.

Gary said his biggest wish in life is that he were younger. "There are so many endless, new ideas out there."

Loretta contends he is still very young in his mind. "He's 62, but he thinks like a 20-year-old. He is very progressive. Dad is always four steps ahead of the rest of us."

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Copyright (c) 2005, American News, Aberdeen, S.D.

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Source: American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)

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