POULTRY PRODUCTION PRACTICES

Production systems

Prior to WWII, the majority of poultry were reared in backyard flocks on dirt-floored pens, in small sheds with natural or make-shift ventilation.

Between 1940 and 1960, advancements in nutrition and genetics allowed the broiler market to shift from being able to produce a 3-3.5 pound bird at 16 weeks to one that only took 8 weeks.

Production systems

Broilers and Layers

Production systems

Laying operations: Cage Cage Free “Barn” Free Range

Production systems

Cage Laying Operation: Indoor high intensity Fully automated (Ventilation, feed and water) Animal Welfare has influenced change in the

area of caged hen production; Caged laying is now “Enriched cages.”

Production systems

“Conventional battery cages: These cages are used to produce 95%1 of all eggs in America. Each hen is given roughly 67 sq. inches of cage space, less room than a single sheet of paper.2 The limited space and lack of enrichment in these cages does not allow for "species-specific" behaviors like nesting, which are crucial to basic welfare.”

http://www.farmforward.com/features/henhouse

Production systems

“Enriched cages: Though the standards are loosely defined, enriched cages are intended to provide features like perches, nest boxes, litter, scratching areas, and additional space.”

Production systems

Cage Free “Barn” Animals are kept in a barn or aviary setting

with the birds generally housed on the floor.

Production systems

Free Range: These operations are similar to cage-free

operations but claim to provide "access to the outdoors." However, since "free-range" is not a term that is meaningfully regulated, consumers have virtually no way of knowing if the hens that laid their "free range" eggs are any better off than birds in cage-free systems.

Production systems

Broiler Production: Due largely to changes in price versus other

meat options, demand for broilers increased dramatically. Production systems during this time (1940-1960) also underwent dramatic changes from the seasonal, small backyard sheds to large year-round naturally ventilated buildings and during some seasons, large outdoor pens.

Production systems

Broiler Production Systems: Cage housing system:

In a cage housing system the caretaker accesses the birds from outside the enclosure in which the birds are kept.

Production systems

Deep litter housing system: In a deep litter housing system the birds are

kept on floors that are is covered with bedding material.

Production systems

Slatted floor housing system: In a slatted floor housing system the birds are

kept on raised floors, on which droppings don’t accumulate but fall through.

Broiler Systems

Intensive systems: Birds are completely confined in a roofed

structure, with or without environmental control and usually at a higher stocking density than in other production systems. Birds may be kept in cages (e.g. wire or plastic floor or deep litter floor) or on deep litter, slatted floor or a combination

Broiler Systems

Semi intensive systems: Birds are confined in a roofed structure

but provided with an access to a restricted outdoor area. They may be kept in cages (e.g. wire or plastic floor or deep litter floor) or on deep litter, a slatted floor or a combination of the two.

Broiler Systems

Extensive systems: Birds are not confined in a roofed

structure and are usually kept at a lower stocking density than in intensive or semi intensive systems.

Care & Management Practices

•Feather Pecking and Cannibalism ◦Environmental factors ◦Effects of rearing environment ◦Genetic factors and strain differences ◦Nutritional factors ◦Lighting ◦Consideration of beak treatments as a

control measure

Care & Management Practices

•Bone Health ◦Nutrition ◦Management practices ◦Other factors

Care & Management Practices

•Rearing Methods ◦Facilitating pullet adaptation to adult housing ◦Reducing fear

Beak Treatment

Care & Management Practices

•Housing: Conventional, Furnished and Non-Cage Systems ◦Report by issues (e.g. – disease; foot health;

etc.) ◦What is required for hens to be able to

express natural behavior? •Housing: Space Allowance and Group

Sizes for all Systems ◦Ability to access resources and enrichments

Care & Management Practices

Animal health management means a system designed to prevent diseases occurring in a flock and provide treatment if disease occurs in order to optimize the health and welfare of the flock.

Vaccinations and other treatments administered to chickens should be undertaken with consideration of the welfare of the birds by people skilled in the procedures.

Nutritional Requirements

Feed Ingredients and Additives: A. Corn and soybean meal - Usually the most

plentiful and lowest-cost sources of energy and well-balanced protein, thus extensively used, especially in the US.

B. Fish meals and meat meals - Good sources of protein and amino acids, and also contain bone, which is a source of highly available Ca and P. Add 2 to 5% of the diet depending on their prices.

C. Ca & P - Major minerals. Only 30 to 40% of plant P is non-phytin P, which is available to poultry. Should either increase the availability somehow or supplement with inorganic sources.

Nutritional Requirements

D. Salt - 0.2 to 0.5% is added to most poultry diets. E. Supplemental lipids (up to 5% of the diet) - May

increase energy utilization through a reduced passage rate an others? Also, can reduce the heat increment.

F. Yellow pigmentation - Use as much yellow corn as possible plus good sources of xanthophyll, such as alfalfa meal or corn gluten meal, for the yellow coloration of the shanks, feet, skin, and egg yolks.

G. Non-nutritive additives are used for a variety of reasons - e.g., antibiotics (to stimulate growth & control diseases), arsenicals and nitro furans (to improve performance), antiparasitic compounds, antioxidative, and antifungal compounds.

Nutritional Requirements for Broilers

Starter Diets [e.g., See the table (Hooge, 1998)]

A. Usually fed first 2 to 3 wk to chickens and 2 to 4 wk to turkeys.

B. Higher energy and nutrient contents vs. others, especially protein/amino acids, but Leghorn-type pullets are fed diets with lower protein until 6 wk or so.

C. Include high doses of antibiotics to reduce mortality and initiate more rapid growth and also a suitable coccidiostat.

Nutritional Requirements for Broilers

Broiler Diets A. Fed as a complete feed to meat-type birds - May be

fed in crumbles or pelleted form. B. A higher vitamin supplementation to meet the added

requirements for growth under the stressful conditions encountered in the average broiler operation.

C. May contain 3 to 5% added fat to increase the energy content and the protein content is adjusted to maintain an optimum protein:calorie ratio.

D. Fortified with antibiotics and should contain a coccidiostat.

E. Generally, two types: grower diets, fed from 3 wk to 6 wk of age, and finisher or withdrawal diets, fed from 6 wk to market age.

Nutritional Requirements for Layers

Laying Diets for Leghorn-Type Chickens: 1) complete feed- mash or pelleted, and 2) mash concentrate to be fed with a specified

amount of grain or mixed with grain & soybean meal.

Increase protein and vitamins during the period of stress or slumps in egg production

Environmental Factors

Managing: Air Flow (Ventilation) Heat & Cool Housing (Protection from the elements) Feed and Water Manure Handling Adequate space

Environmental Factors

Raised Floor Housing: http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q23_3_xSN_Y Caged Housing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_

6wE0AnAXWA Free Range: http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYDuhBApNY8

Consumer Issues

Animal Welfare “Caged Chickens”

“The Birds Need More Space.” Thus favoring “Free Range”

Consumer Issues

Headlines… “U.S. Issues Warning on Salmonella

Believed to Be Linked to a Poultry Farm” How are the eggs being handled?

Consumer Issues

Additional Challenges: http://www.worldpoultry.net/Home/Gener

al/2011/5/Challenges-of-the-poultry-industry-WP008937W/

Marketing Poultry Products

Poultry as a Product: Poultry consumption offends no religious

sentiment. Its production is dependent on a wide variety of

inputs Its production and consumption is generally non-

seasonal. It is a perishable product which most usually needs

refrigeration and considerable post-harvest care. It may be sold whole or in a wide variety of

different parts. A different value can be placed on each part.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/department/meat-poultry

Cont… It is eaten as a central part of the meal. Each part may be prepared for consumption in different

ways according to a different recipe It is a basic food commodity inasmuch that it is a

supplier of proteins and essential food nutrients to the human diet.

It is not the only supplier of proteins and essential food nutrients to the human diet. It is in competition with other meats and protein sources including fish, eggs and dairy products.

Its consumption level is dependent on price, income of buyer and the price and availability of competing alternatives

Marketing Poultry Products

Great Views for Animal Welfare thus encouraging the public to continue purchasing our product:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/department/meat-poultry

Advisable Tips: http://www.apppa.org/content/12634

Marketing Poultry Products

•Direct sales from farm •Direct sales at farmers markets •Direct to niches (the NYC apartment building

delivery) •Direct via Mail order •Direct Wholesale to retailers (small) •Wholesale to regional retailers (such as

independent grocers) •Distributor (co-brands, contract production…ie

Pete and Jerry’s, Shadow Cross •CSA Partnerships (community support agriculture) •Small Poultry Cooperatives / Collaboratives