Sausage Animal production consultancy services

22/10/2024

29/09/2024

Seven poultry rules for your farm:

Do you have passion for poultry and really wish to stay long in the business? Then, obey these rules!

A.Rule (1)
.."Only order for birds you can conveniently take care of".
This is the most important rule of all.

Instead of stocking 500 birds and then struggle to feed them or give them medication, buy 200 ,feed and give them good medication.

Trust me, you'll make more profit than keeping 500 and struggling to feed and give the medication. If this happens, you'll battle with stunted growth, recurrent morbidity or disease outbreaks and high mortality.

B.Rule (2)
.."Never borrow money to start poultry business unless you are an expert".

Of course, there is no expert in poultry business. In fact, we learn everyday. Every stock you take in will always teach you something different. However, Haven learnt from all the different characteristics displayed by each stock, you get to know more and won't be excited when challenges come. You'll know how to handle them without much damage.

C.Rule (3)
.."Be vigilant".
The little things you don't take as anything matters.

If you want to succeed in poultry, you must take it as a real business. Do you know what a business man does every morning when he gets to his store? He pray, then open the store and go round to check if everything is in its place. He take stocks of what he met there and relate with his records yesterday before closing the store.

Don't just open your Pen and start rushing to give your birds feed and water and rush out again. Check around. Watch how they behave when you came in. Check what fell and what is no longer in its place.

D.Rule (4)
.."Never ignore warning signals".

Yes, I call them warning signals.

1.Bad smell
2.Withdrawal from feed
3.Moodiness
4.Withdrawal from water

There are numerous warning signals i can't mention here. In fact, they are so many

A farmer must know how his birds behaves when they see him enter the in the morning. How they behave when he serve them feed. He should know the very active terrors and gentle lambs

If you keep these signals, you'll easily spot when something is not right.

E.Rule (5)
.."Never change feed indiscriminately!"

I know you do this. Yes, you.

When farmers talk about changing feed from this to this and that then this all in the name getting better result, I'm always scared for them.

Whether you are changing from a bad feed to a good one, you must be very careful.

Do you know every change in feed affect your bird negatively first before gradually bringing in the results you don't desire? Most of the times, you may suffer withdrawal, coccidiosis, feed wastage, stress and more.

Imagine changing from mash to Pellet indiscriminately. Do you know what that means? Have you studied the difference between mash and Pelleted feed and the process of digestion?

They may contain the same ingredients but the formulation process varies so is the digestion process.

Note:

I don't mean changing from starter to grower or finisher but changing from one commercial feed to another .e.g change from Ethiochicken / Alama to other brands.

Even whenever you need to change from starter to grower follow the rules 75% starter and 25% grower, then 50% grower and 50% starter and finally 75% grower and 25% starter. At the end you change 100% to grower feed. You can follow the same rule whenever you need to change from one phase feed to other. This one works for feed of the same brand too.

Each company use their own unique ingredients to make their feeds although they may give the same nutritional content. Before using any feed for your birds, find out first about the feed and make sure you stick with it.

F.Rule (6)
.."Never let your birds run dry of water".

Have you heard of heat stress? If it has happened to your birds then you'll understand what I'm saying.
Heat stress can wipe your entire flock. And it may leave your birds vulnerable to all kinds of infection as their immune system get weakened and may take more than 14 days to fully recover.
Your birds can survive 48 hours without feed but they can't survive 7 hours without water.
Instead of running out of water, please, run out of feed.

G.Rule (7)
.."If you can't drink that water, don't give it to your birds".

Some farmers takes chickens as they are just animals and nothing matters. Maybe they've forgotten they are dealing with delicate live animals.

Waterborne diseases are some of the deadliest disease and most difficult to control. Imagine a tiny drop of harmful substance inside the drinking water; it'll contaminate the whole water. If it was feed, it may not be that bad.

Please, if you can't drink that water, don't give it to your birds. I'm not talking about medicated

29/09/2024

There are several reasons why a beef farm may fail. Here are some common factors:

1. **Poor Management Practices**
- Lack of effective planning and organization.
- Inadequate financial management and budgeting.

2. **Insufficient Knowledge and Skills**
- Lack of experience in cattle farming.
- Limited understanding of animal husbandry and nutrition.

3. **Market Fluctuations**
- Volatile beef prices affecting profitability.
- Inability to adapt to changing market demands.

4. **Health Issues**
- Outbreaks of diseases among cattle (e.g., Bovine Respiratory Disease).
- Poor herd health management and biosecurity measures.

5. **Environmental Factors**
- Droughts or extreme weather conditions impacting feed availability.
- Poor land management leading to soil degradation.

6. **Regulatory Challenges**
- Inability to comply with local and national regulations.
- Struggles with obtaining necessary permits and certifications.

7. **Financial Constraints**
- High initial investment costs without adequate return.
- Lack of access to credit or financing options.

8. **Inadequate Infrastructure**
- Poor housing and facilities for cattle.
- Lack of proper fencing, water supply, and feeding systems.

9. **Competition**
- Increased competition from larger farms or alternative protein sources.
- Difficulty in establishing a customer base.

10. **Labor Issues**
- Difficulty in finding skilled labor.
- High turnover rates impacting operations.

11. **Poor Breeding Practices**
- Lack of genetic diversity leading to lower productivity.
- Inadequate breeding strategies for desired traits.

12. **Failure to Innovate**
- Resistance to adopting new technologies or practices.
- Lack of investment in research and development

26/09/2024

Whenever thinking of poultry farming, 7 things you must need to know:

1. Market research

It is very important to critically look at the demand that needs to be met. Is there high demand for table eggs, out grower chicken or broiler meat? Most start-up farmers go by what a friend or relative or neighbouring farmer is doing and hope to reap the benefits.

It is important that you take your time to talk to clients or potential customers and listen to them. Do a survey on restaurants, hotels, open air or takeaway eateries, supermarkets and delis and collect as much data as possible.

Ask questions about seasonal trends of products that you intend to bring into the market. Sometimes your assumptions may not match your survey results or outcome, so be ready to change your original plans and make new decisions.

2. Farm location

A poultry farm can be located on any dry land anywhere in the country as it is not dependent on any weather patterns. However, the ideal location would be outskirts of urban or peri-urban cities where there is ready market for both meat and eggs. Construct your farm where there is access to all weather road, away from riparian land that experience occasional flooding and landslide.

3. Housing system

The most common housing system in this country is deep litter, where the entire floor is covered by wood shaving and the other equipment like nest boxes, feeders and drinkers are centrally located. It is best suited for all types of birds and conforms to animal welfare requirement.

The free-range type is common for Sasso chicken with a bit of housing at night and scavenging in an open enclosure. In organic farming, the chickens are most of the time on free range scavenging and are on restricted commercial feed with no use of antibiotics and any additive.

4. Demand for building

The most ideal house in this region must be open sided rectangular shaped structure, with roof made of iron sheet or locally available waterproof material. The long side of the house must be on an East-west orientation to reduce direct sunlight on the chicks.

Side walls should be 2-3 feet high made of bricks, iron sheet or block and the rest covered by wire mesh and chicken netting at 6-7 feet high. The floor could be concreted or compacted with red soil.

5. Choice of breed and supplier

If you want to keep commercial layers, choose type of breed which is hardy with low mortality rate, fast growth rates, high peak production, long peak period and good persistence (like Bovans brown). If it is for both meat and egg production, look for a breed of high feed conversion efficiency, and of good tasty and tender quality meat (like dual purpose Sasso).

6. Optimal health protection

Threats to your flock will include but not limited to protozoal and parasitic diseases, bacteria, yeast and mold and viral infections. You will need good rearing conditions that include proper brooding, temperature control, ventilation and humidity as well as quality water and adequate feed supply all the time.

Biosecurity is pivotal to your success; the premises must be highly sanitised within and around the site with limited flock visits to only authorised personnel. Vaccination schedule must be followed to the letter and must be chosen based on efficacy and administered professionally.

7. Record keeping

Anything that cannot be counted cannot be measured. Most farmers ignore the value of good record keeping. Feed being the highest production cost in poultry production, means that it must be weighed to the level of grammes fed/bird/day, and weight sampling must be done on weekly basis to establish production efficiency.