World Poultry News:

[mikey]

Friday, December 05, 2008Print This Page
What Does 2009 Hold for Feed Prices?
US - Feed ingredient prices have fluctuated considerably this past year.

 

Feed accounts for two-thirds to three-fourths of the total cost of raising pigs and poultry, and is also a significant contributor to the cost of dairy and beef operations. Slight fluctuations in feed prices, especially for corn and soybean meal, can have significant impacts on overall livestock production costs.

What does 2009 bring for feed prices, and how should producers approach and develop a plan for procuring feed ingredients for this upcoming year? These and similar issues will be addressed in an upcoming PorkCast online seminar program December 9 from 1-2 p.m. Mark Schultz, North Star Commodities, will be providing information on options and plans for buying and pricing feed ingredients in 2009.

Interested individuals can access the free program live via the Internet by clicking here.

[mikey]

 
Hong Kong culls 80,000 chickens 
[11 December 2008] Hong Kong health authorities have slapped a ban on live chicken imports and ordered a cull of 80,000 chickens after three dead birds taken from a farm in the district of Yuen Long tested positive for the bird flu virus. Chickens in a second farm located within a 3-kilometer radius of the infected farm will also face the cull, totaling about 80,000 chickens. The government has banned imports of live poultry and birds for 21 days. There are about 600,000 live chickens in local farms, but most of the daily consumed chickens came from mainland China. 
 
 
 

[mikey]

 Vietnam moves ducks into shed
[2 January 2009] Vietnam is supporting owners of free range ducks in the Mekong Delta to raise them in closed farms to improve biosecurity and prevent them from the bird flu. Livestock authorities in An Giang said the province has over 2.2 million ducks, 13% of which is farmed in sheds. An Giang  aims to increase the number of farmed ducks to 50% by the end of 2008. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the delta used to have 18-20 million ducks in its 10 provinces and most of them are raised in the open and feed on rice left-over from the paddy fields. But since the bird flu hit Vietnam in 2004, the ministry reported that over 10 million ducks in the Mekong Delta were killed by the disease or culled to contain the outbreak. 
 
 
 

[mikey]

[ December 2008] An expert from the University of Hong Kong said that misuse of the bird flu vaccine might have resulted in the latest outbreaks in Hong Kong. He warned that poultry farms in some parts of the world were using vaccines that did not provide full protection against the H5N1 virus and cannot keep up with its mutation process, adding that the virus has been mutating since it was identified in Hong Kong in 1997 with 10 strains of the virus discovered.

[mikey]

Worms in Free-Range Hens
Claire Knott, Stephen Lister and Philip Hammond, partners in Crowshall Veterinary Services in the UK, describe the most common worms in free-range poultry and how they can be controlled.



Claire Knott, BVM&S MRCVS


Stephen Lister, BSc BvetMed Cert PMP MRCVS


Philip Hammond, BVetMed MRCVS Whenever your birds have contact with their own droppings, there is a likelihood of exposure to intestinal worms. The infection starts with eggs voided in droppings and then picked up by birds eating or foraging in anything contaminated with such droppings, those eggs hatching and maturing into adults ready to lay eggs to pass out in the droppings again. Whether they then cause problems in your birds depends on the balance between challenge and control.

Answering some of the following questions will help push the balance in favour of your birds.

What can worms do to my birds?
Worm infections cause damage to the bird's gut. This may result in a variety of problems including:
Loss of shell colour and strength, yolk colour and egg size
Poor body weight gain leading to unevenness or sick birds. Affected birds may be dull and show pale combs.
Poor feed conversion
Increased cannibalism through vent pecking due to straining
Increased risk of egg peritonitis
Death, in very heavy infestations.
Which worms should I be worried about?
There are three main worms that may cause problems in free-range birds:
Roundworms (Ascaridia)
These are the biggest and the most common. They are white, up to 5cm long and may be visible in droppings in heavy infestations.
Hairworms (Capillaria)
These are much smaller (hair-like) and barely visible to the naked eye but can cause significant damage, even in moderate infestations.
Caecal worms (Hetarakis)
As their name suggests, these worms spend most of their time in the lower end of the gut, the caeca. Frequently, the cause no obvious harm in themselves but they can carry another parasite, Histomonas, into the bird. Histomonas is the cause of blackhead, and hence control of one parasite can help to control another. With the increasing incidence of histomoniasis &ndash' for which there is currently no treatment – the role of regular worming is even more important.
How do birds become infected?
Birds become infected by picking up worm eggs from grass, soil or faeces. The worm eggs need warm, moist conditions to develop outside the bird, which is why problems are frequently worse in the spring and summer, especially following a wet spring.
If we know all these answers, why does worm control so 'hit-and-miss'?
The answer probably lies in the fact that we do not spend enough time thinking about how the problem affects specific sites.

Worm are common and almost inevitable in laying flocks unless birds are effectively wormed before moving to laying accommodation and having the luxury of moving to 'virgin' pasture.
Worming prior to the onset of lay with the only licensed wormer means that production should at least start on with a clean slate.
Worms can build up quickly on the laying site and can peak at a time when birds are reaching their peak production.
Worming in lay can remove the offending worm burden.
Worming only once during lay may not prevent worms for the pasture re-infecting birds and building up to significant levels, suggesting repeated worming may be necessary.
So how does this affect me on my farm?
If you have to ask this question, then the answer is that you need to start looking!

Undoubtedly, some producers have been in business for many years and have never identified a problem. This may be due to a combination of the the fact hat your pullet rearer has delivered you a clean flock and either by good management, pasture rotation, soil type and drainage or good old-fashioned luck, your birds have not met a challenge during lay. Alternatively, your birds may have met a moderate worm burden, which has not had a significant effect on performance. Or you just have not noticed!

How do I know if my birds are carrying worms?
Worm burdens can be most easily identified by examination of droppings for the presence of visible roundworms although this will not help for hairworms, which can be more severe in their damage to bird performance but are too small to see.

Sending droppings samples to your veterinarian gives a more informative answer. Twenty fresh samples taken from the floor slats is a good sample.

A better strategy is to submit ailing, thin or other culled birds to your veterinarian for a routine post mortem examination and health screening, when visible and microscopic tests on the gut can be done. This often picks up a burden before it become patent, i.e. when birds are pushing out large numbers of eggs that could be detected in a droppings sample.

When should I test my birds?
It is a good idea to test your birds via their droppings soon after arrival on site to check they are worm-free before they start to lay. After that, it is worth establishing a programme with your veterinarian. Clearly, if you experience a drop in production, loss of egg size or shell colour, you should follow this up with a droppings sample and sick or recently dead birds.

Even if no specific problems are experienced, peak worm egg output tends to coincide with peak egg production by the hens. So a sample taken then, proving negative, gives confidence that there is nothing wrong.

A sample late in the life of the flock also gives a benchmark for your worm control strategy, and lets you know the likely status of that paddock for the next flock.

Armed with this information, you are either comforted that all is well, or you may uncover a lurking menace. At least with latter case, you know what you are dealing with and can do something about it.

What does all this tell me about how to control worms in my flock?
Consider some or all of the following actions:

Regular worming on the basis of previous experience and discussion with your veterinarian.
Effective paddock rotation to reduce worm build-up, and put off land becoming 'fowl sick'.
Use well drained land - or try to improve the drainage.
Avoid access to poached, muddy areas that encourage worms (and other pathogens).
Use stones in the area close to the pop-holes to help clean the birds' feet and allow droppings passed there to dry, break up and be exposed to ultraviolet sunlight, which is lethal to worms.
Keep pasture cut short, especially close to the houses, again to allow sunlight access to droppings.
Regular worm egg counts to monitor the success of your chosen strategy.
Submit birds for post mortem at peak, mid and/or end of lay to check the worm burden.
Armed with this information, you can develop a worming strategy and pasture management that suit your specific enterprise and conditions, and helps to avoid pasture problems before they affect your flock – and your pocket.

[mikey]

 
New processing plant opens in Vietnam
[15 January 2009] Phu An Sinh Food Processing Co has opened a chicken processing plant in Vietnam’s southern province of Ba Rai Vung Tau costing VND 40 billion (USD 572,246). The plant covers 30,000 square metres and is equipped with modern processing equipment from Europe that has a 20,000 birds/hour capacity. It will process over 300,000 birds/day for Ho Chi Minh City during the coming Vietnamese New Year.

300,000 birds per day,big operation.
 
 
 

[mikey]

Friday, January 16, 2009Print This Page
Study: Hen Mortality Affected by Housing System
SWEDEN - Free-range and barn-housed (litter-based) layers were more likely to have bacterial infections and parasites, and to suffer from cannibalism than birds kept in battery cages. These are the main conclusions of a recently published paper by Fossum and colleagues at the National Veterinary Institute in Uppsala investigating the causes of mortality in Swedish layer flocks.



The husbandry systems for laying hens were changed in Sweden during the years 2001 to 2004, and an increase in the number of submissions for necropsy from laying hen farms was noted. Hence, this study was started to compare causes of mortality in different housing systems for commercial laying hens during this change.

Methods
Based on results from routine post-mortem examination of 914 laying hens performed at the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) in Uppsala, Sweden between 2001 and 2004, a retrospective study on the occurrence of diseases and cannibalism, i.e. pecking leading to mortality, in different housing systems was carried out.

Using the number of caged flocks in which important categories of diseases were diagnosed as the baseline, the expected number of flocks with a certain category of disease in the other housing systems were estimated having regard to the total number of flocks.

Whether the actual number of flocks significantly exceeded the expected number was determined using a Poisson distribution for the variance of the baseline number, a continuity correction and the exact value for the Poisson distribution function in Excel 2000.

Results
Common causes of mortality in necropsied laying hens included colibacillosis, erysipelas, coccidiosis, red mite infestation, lymphoid leukosis and cannibalism. Less common diagnoses were Newcastle disease, pasteurellosis and botulism.

Considering the size of the populations in the different housing systems, a larger proportion of laying hens than expected was submitted for necropsy from litter-based systems and free-range production than hens in cages (P<0.001).

The study showed a significantly higher occurrence of bacterial and parasitic diseases in laying hens kept in litter-based housing systems and free-range systems than in hens kept in cages (P<0.001).

The occurrence of viral diseases was significantly higher in indoor litter-based housing systems than in cages (P<0.001).

Cannibalism showed a significantly higher occurrence in birds kept in litter-based housing systems and free-range systems than in caged birds (P<0.001).

Conclusions
The results of the present study indicated that during 2001 to 2004 laying hens housed in litter-based housing system, with or without access to outdoor areas, were at higher risk of infectious disease and cannibalistic behaviour compared to laying hens in cages.

Future research should focus on finding suitable prophylactic measures, including efficient biosecurity routines, to reduce the risk of infectious diseases and cannibalism in litter-based housing systems for laying hens.

Reference
Fossum O., D.S. Jansson, P.E. Etterlin and I. Vagsholm, 2009. Causes of mortality in laying hens in different housing systems in 2001 to 2004. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 2009, 51:3doi:10.1186/1751-0147-51-3.

[mikey]

Kenyan poultry farmers in trouble 23 Jan 2009
Poultry farmers in Kenya may be forced to reduce their flock due to the high price of feed.  Some have opted out of commercial poultry farming due to low returns from sale of bird products after spending so much on rearing them.
"Getting feeds has become a nightmare and many farmers are opting out of the poultry business. There will be a crisis very soon," said Ms Wairimu Kariuki, chairlady of the Kenya Poultry Farmers Association.

The association says the high prices of feeds prompts a reduction of birds reared, a move that may trigger a shortage or a price increase of poultry products in the market.

The hardest hit are commercial farmers rearing exotic layers and broiler breeds who rely heavily on manufactured feed.

Manufacturers of poultry feed have been in talks with the government to allow import of raw materials and to release part of the strategic grain reserve for animal feeds. The government has appointed four firms—Mombasa Maize Millers, Corn Products Corporation, Pembe Flour and Nouis Pryefus, an international commodities dealer— to import a million bags of yellow maize.

Mr Kinoti says the imports will help ease pressure on the high prices of poultry feeds as they can sustain the industry for three months. Players are, however, hopeful that with the start of the long rains due in three months there will be enough supply of raw materials, pushing down the prices of all feeds down.

[mikey]

Brunei, too, had recently expressed interest to export poultry and chicken eggs to Singapore, and is now in talks with AVA, the authority said yesterday.
The moves are part of Singapore's plans to cast the food net wider, and keep rising food prices in check.

[mikey]

European Turkey Industry in Difficulties, Says AVEC
The 2008 Annual Report from AVEC, the Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU Countries, includes an overview of the turkey industry. Welfare and the reduction in Salmonella contamination are seen as particularly difficult issues for the future of the sector.


The European turkey producers are in a difficult situation: on the one side, they are under pressure from the retailers who want to increase their margins and on the other side, they are faced with the imports supplying the processing industry. In this very competitive environment, European production in 2007 was 1.848 million tonnes (EU-25), representing a decrease from 2006 of 2.5 per cent.

After strong restructuring in 2006 (-4.1 per cent in EU-15), there was no recovery in 2007 as new decreases are noted everywhere with the exception of Germany retaining its 2006 level. Poland maintains its positive development within the EU and further develops its production especially for other European markets.

High prices for agricultural products especially soybean make the European turkey sector even more vulnerable because of the turkeys' feed conversion rate. The perspectives for the turkey are especially more difficult as the pork meat sector has not compensated the costs of production to the retailers because the markets have been unbalanced.

It is also important to mention that sales of fresh products are decreasing and sales of processed products increase. The changed consumer behaviour favours imported meat from third countries where exporters profit from quotas with reduced tariffs.

The world turkey consumption has remained stable at an estimated 2 million tonnes. Germany has passed France with a per-capita consumption of 6.5 kg to France's 6.2 kg whereas the Italians consume 5.1 kg. Consumers buy mainly fresh or prepared products.

Targets for the Prevalence of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium
Regulation (EC) No. 584/2008 of 20 June 2008 sets the community targets for the reduction of the prevalence of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium in turkeys. The percentage of flocks of turkeys for fattening positive with the two serotypes must be reduced to a number of less than or equal to one per cent before 31 December 2012.

Such a reduction is important since the strict measures that concern fresh meat from infected turkeys from 12 December 2010 also must comply with the rules of Regulation (EC) 2160/2003 that is – fresh meat from poultry including turkeys cannot be marketed for human consumption if the meat does not meet the criterion for 'absence of Salmonella in 25 g'.

The European producers must carefully watch the feasibility of this community target, taking into consideration the recently published results of an EFSA survey on the prevalence of Salmonella in flocks of turkey in 2006/2007. It is difficult to establish such strict criteria for the marketing of meat before it has been possible to evaluate the progress reached within the transitional period to 31 December 2012.

Turkey Welfare
The working group on the welfare of turkeys has adopted the research programme on 18 June 2008. The aim of the project is to improve the competitive position of the European turkey producers by investigating the development and causative factors of foot pad dermatitis (FPD) in turkey and consequences on health, welfare and performance under experimental and field conditions. First, a uniform methodology for scoring the lesions discovered has to be established then the risk factors and the corrective measures must be developed. The main outcome will be to find techniques to improve the litter quality of the birds through their lifetime.

A multi-disciplinary approach to study the problems has been established with experimental and field conditions. Six research institutes participate in the study initiated by professionals from five avec member countries.

If the financial conditions are approved, the study will run over 36 months from 2010. The study will be funded 70 per cent by the EU and with 30 per cent from professionals.

[mikey]

DDGS in Feed Could Affect Meat Fatty Acid Content
The production of Dried Distillers' Grains with Solubles (DDGS) has increased dramatically in the US recently because of the focus of the country on the production of ethanol, writes ThePoultrySite senior editor, Chris Harris.


DDGS production is just going to keep on increasing as ethanol production from corn increases, according to R.E. Loar II from Mississippi State University in a presentation to the International Poultry Science Forum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The rise in the cost of corn for feed, which is being pushed up by the biofuels industry and its desire for more and more corn for ethanol, means that the by-product from the ethanol industry, DDGS, is becoming more readily available to integrators.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
As ethanol pushes feed corn prices up a biofuel by-product distillers' dried grains with solubles can be substituted in poultry feed. 
However, he told the Forum that while some research has been carried out into the effects of DDGS on pig meat quality, little work has been conducted on the effects on broiler meat.

Mr Loar said that for pigs it had been shown that there were material effects on the meat quality when DDGS was 20 per cent of the feed, but little or no effect was seen when fed at an inclusion level of 10 per cent.

He said that recently, associated feed costs have reached record highs due to recent increases in ingredients used in diet manufacturing for broilers. As a result, there has been a gradual shift towards the use of alternative feedstuffs such as DDGS.

The research carried out by the University of Mississippi evaluated the effects of feeding DDGS on meat quality and the consumer acceptability of broiler breast meat.

The study looked at the meat colour and how the pH of the meat changed with the addition of DDGS to the diet. It also looked at tenderness and shear force of the meat and two consumer panels of between 35 and 50 people tested it for flavour, taste texture and palatability. Finally, the study also looked at the effects the DDGS had on the fatty acid content of the broiler breast meat.

Mr Loar said that the birds, Ross × Ross 708 males, were grown on diets that contained either zero or eight per cent DDGS.

At 42 days old, the birds were processed and boneless skinless breast meat and thighs were collected for evaluation from birds within each treatment group.

Fatty acid profile and lipid peroxidation (TBARS) tests were performed on the thigh meat while the breast meat samples were evaluated for pH, colour (CIE L*, a*, b*), cooking loss, shear force and taste panel data.

Mr Loar said that there were no differences found in breast meat between treatments between the control birds and those fed the DDGS with regard to pH, cooking loss, shear force, breast meat colour and consumer acceptability of texture.

He added that as far as flavour and overall acceptability were concerned, consumers preferred the control treatment over the DDGS treatment.

He said the meat from the two test samples was also equal in contents of calcium, phosphorus and amino acids.

However, in the sensory test, consumers could not distinguish between the DDGS and control treatments.

"The consumer panels rated the control higher than the birds fed the DDGS, but there was not that large a difference," said Mr Loar.

"The use of eight per cent DDGS had limited effect on the thigh and breast meat quality, despite the consumer panels feeling there was a slight difference in acceptability."

However, he added that the DDGS treatment showed some differences in fatty acid composition of the thigh when compared to the control.

With higher percentages of linoleic and total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), it is possible that the DDGS treatment may be more susceptible to oxidation. He said that the control had more saturated fatty acids and there was a greater amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the DDGS-fed birds.

Mr Loar added that overall, the inclusion of eight per cent DDGS in the diet did not adversely affect the resulting broiler meat, and both treatments resulted in high quality breast and thigh meat. However, he added that there was a need for more research into the changes in the fatty acid content of the meat from the birds fed DDGS.


February 2009

[mikey]

21 January 2009] Thai broiler processors and exporters are seeking more export markets in an attempt to boost overseas sales amid the global economic slowdown. Negotiations are on with Iran, Hong Kong and the Philippines regarding raw meat exports, according to the Thai Broiler Processing Exporters Association. Thailand expects to ship around 15,000 tonnes of raw chicken meat overseas in 2009.

[mikey]

Termites as poultry feed 16 Feb 2009
Backyard poultry farmers in India practice the method of feeding termites to feed poultry birds.
The practice has been documented by late Dr. Mariadass, a Tiruchi (Tamil Nadu) based veterinary doctor.
 
Farmers fill a mud pot with old jute sacks, paddy straw, maize husk or any available dried crop stubble and dried cow dung . This has to be moistened with water and the pot placed upside down in the field.
 
If the inverted pot is opened the next day it will be full of termites and can be given as feed for the birds.
Feeding termites has been found to improve nutrition in poultry birds.

[nemo]

There was a thesis in De La Salle- Araneta about maggots being used a protein source for layer.

I think the result was promising.

[mikey]

[4 March 2009] With rising food costs quickly becoming a cause for concern amongst consumers in Singapore, some food retailers are trying to ease that burden. Supermarkets like Giant and NTUC FairPrice are selling frozen chicken for SGD 1.99, almost half of the price each chicken normally costs.However, industry watchers say continuing to sell at a loss will only hurt industry players in the long run.