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For many years, there has been a growing trend in meat markets for produce from livestock and birds that have been raised in above standard conditions. One need only look at the increased demand for free range eggs and organic produce, to see that animal welfare is a key priority for shoppers.

But now it seems that consumer demand has taken this to the next level, with a growing number of restaurant chains promising to source their meat products more carefully. This trend took a big step forward in December 2016, when the cafe chain, Pret a Manager, pledged on their website that, “by 2024 we’ll ensure 100% of our chicken is produced using Global Animal Partnership (GAP) standards.”

More recently, household names, such as Subway and Ruby Tuesday, also declared their intentions to source chicken meat from birds that have been more ethically raised. This includes improved living conditions for poultry, such as better lighting, and lower density living, as well as more humane slaughter techniques. But more significantly for poultry feed suppliers and manufacturers, as the industry journal Farmer’s Weekly reports, is the desire, “to introduce slower growing chicken breeds.”

‘Slower growing’ has been defined by the Global Animal Partnership (GAP), as a rate of growth “equal to or less than 50 grams of weight gained per chicken per day averaged over the growth cycle,” this is compared to the current industry average of approximately 61 grams per day.

The idea to switch to slower growing breeds is, as the GAP states, “[Because] rapid growth rate has significant impacts on the welfare, including health, of chickens.” However, they also note that, “Since birds do not gain weight linearly, thresholds for maximum daily weight gains may not be an effective measure.” They also warn that more research is needed.

While many people both inside and outside the poultry industry agree that improved standards for birds is a positive step, there are concerns that the increased farming of slow growing broiler hens has too many disadvantages to be called ‘progress’.

For example, Ashley Peterson, Ph.D., senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at the National Chicken Council (NCC) in America, said recently that, “These improvements must be dictated by science and data – not activists’ emotional rhetoric – which is why we support further research on the topic of chicken welfare and growth rates.”

Meanwhile, Fabian Brockotter , editor of the industry journal Poultry World, quotes the NCC research in stating that, “In assessing a transition to a slower growing breed, the environmental impact is an important component often left out of the equation. If only 1/3 of broiler chicken producers switched to a slower growing breed, nearly 1.5 billion more birds would be needed annually to produce the same amount of meat currently produced – requiring a tremendous increase in water, land and fuel consumption.”

The industry experts Watts, also reported on the NCC study, outlining that, “The additional land needed to grow the feed (corn and soybeans for 1.5 billion extra birds with longer lives) would be 7.6 million acres/year, or roughly the size of the entire state of Maryland.” They also add that, “5.1 billion additional gallons of water per year [would be needed] for the chickens to drink (excluding additional irrigation water that would be required to grow the additional feed).” And that, “Slower growing chickens will stay on the farm longer, producing 28.5 billion additional pounds of manure annually.”

Most importantly for feed suppliers, however, is that a lot of additional feed would be needed. In fact, the NCC commissioned study by Elanco Animal Health estimates that the feed required would be, “Enough to fill 670,000 additional tractor trailers on the road per year.”

And while the report does not give a dollar value for this amount of feed, it does estimate that the total cost of rearing slower growing breeds to the chicken farming industry in America would be $9 billion. If only half of this total was spent on feed, then feed manufacturers and suppliers may be on the verge of a golden age of production growth.

While this might cause panic to any chicken farmer reading this, the likelihood is that most or all of this cost would be passed on to the consumer. And with 1.5 billion extra chickens needed for the US market, there will be plenty of opportunities for poultry farmers, chicken breeders, and animal feed suppliers to make extra profit.
Public perception of the livestock farming industry has been on a downward spiral for some time. Animal rights groups release videos of some shocking conditions that farm animals are kept in, which negatively impacts the reputation of the entire industry. While public opinion of these conditions may be far from the true way that most animals are reared, it is significant that major restaurant chains are taking the public step and extra cost to source slower growing broilers.

If this trend continues, then it is possible that all birds eaten in the future will be from slower growing breeds, which should be good news for everyone in the industry. If consumers are willing to pay for improved bird conditions with longer lifetimes, then more farmers will be needed to rear the greater number of birds needed to meet demand. More feed will be needed for each bird, as they will live longer, and perhaps most importantly, the birds will be happier for living longer in improved conditions.

Happy, healthy birds lead to a happy, healthy poultry industry, which provides for a happy, healthy animal feed market.

 

 

 

Photo credit: YouTube & Becky’s Homestead

 

A recent study by fertilizer experts from the University of Western Australia has shown that there is a direct link between crop residue and nitrogen availability in crops. While the study analysed only nitrogen application and uptake in wheat, it is likely that a similar effect takes place across all crop types.

The research paves the way for farmers and fertilizer manufacturers to develop techniques and application methods that could prevent nitrogen fertilizers from coming into contact with plant residues. This would increase efficiency, limit waste and by reducing run off, be better for the environment.

The research was conducted by Nathan Craig, in a study supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), a government funded research foundation that aims for, “improvements in production, sustainability and profitability across the Australian grains industry.”

Reporting on the breakthrough, the industry journal Agronomist and Arable Farmer stated that, “The aim of the study was to quantify the supply of nitrogen to wheat crops from the soil and crop residue and determine the effect on grain yield and grain nitrogen uptake – in a monoculture wheat rotation and a chickpea-canola-wheat rotation.” Adding that, “Research was conducted at the Western Australia No-Tillage Farmers Association (WANTFA) long-term no-tillage trial site at Cunderdin in WA’s central grainbelt.”

Craig’s study showed the clear benefits of applying nitrogen fertilizer, when it concluded that, “Across the three seasons tested, there was an overall benefit of applying nitrogen fertilizer to monoculture wheat, which increased grain yield and grain nitrogen uptake in most years, and effectively closed the yield gap between wheat grown in monoculture and wheat grown in rotation with legume crops and with no nitrogen fertilizer added.” However, Mr Craig also added that, “The application of nitrogen fertilizer actually reduced the mineralisation of nitrogen in the soil in the monoculture wheat system, whereas in the rotated wheat system there was less effect.”

But most interesting in the study, was the impact that the left over plants and pieces of crop from previous seasons had on nitrogen levels in the soil. Something that Craig outlined when he said, “While retaining crop residue is known to improve nutrient recycling in no-tillage systems in the longer term, the potential for nitrogen to be immobilised in the short term during decomposition by microbial activity could provide significant competition for plant available nitrogen in the soil during the growing season.”

Craig also added that, “More importantly, when soil mineral nitrogen levels were low at seeding, and the crop residue carbon-to-nitrogen ratio was high, there was a high risk of immobilisation of nitrogen in both of the wheat systems.”

If the research results hold true, then there is a clear opportunity for farmers to reduce nitrogen fertilizer needs by adapting new crop management techniques, or by applying the fertilizer in a different, more effective way, so that it avoids contact with crop residue, or avoids the soil surface where mineralisation of nitrogen is concentrated.

One such technique that Craig himself suggested was, “An annual sampling program could be conducted at the start of each growing season to determine the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of the crop residue mix left on the soil surface, and the amount of nitrogen in the soil to a depth of 10cm. From this, you could estimate the potential for immobilisation of nitrogen following fertilizer application.” This could, Craig claims, “be achieved using existing technology where additional nitrogen fertilizer is applied at seeding and ‘banded’ below the seed at a depth greater than 5cm, rather than an in-crop broadcast application during the season.”

Craig believes that this would increase the efficiency of uptake of nitrogen in crops, meaning that less fertilizer would be needed.

While there has already been a great deal of study in the fertilizer industry to find more efficient ways to apply agriproducts, this discovery will further increase pressure on nitrogen fertilizer suppliers and manufacturers to find a more effective way to get nitrogen products to crops. The three year analysis of mineralization and nitrogen uptake in wheat gives a key insight into exactly where and how so much nitrogen fertilizer is being wasted.

By analysing exactly where in the soil nitrogen is most available for crops, then perhaps the industry will also be able to develop a more effective method of applying such a vital product. However, if this research is accepted fully by the fertilizer industry, then one question remains: should fertilizer manufacturers develop an improved application method to help crops absorb more nitrogen, or is it purely the farmer’s role to consider the effect of crop residue on nitrogen fertilizers?

 

 

 

Photo credit: Grains Research and Development Corporation

The International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE) is billed as, “the world’s largest annual poultry, meat and feed industry event of its kind.”A bold claim, yet one that is well lived up to, with the 2017 conference attracting more than 31,000 visitors from key industry institutes such as the North American Meat Assoc., the US Poultry and Egg Assoc., and the American Feed Industry Assoc., as well as some of the most influential commercial enterprises.

In addition to the sales and marketing side of the event, it is interesting to note the importance of R&D in the expo’s proceedings, as it includes the International Poultry Scientific Forum. A collection of experts in the field of poultry health, egg and meat production science, and animal feed innovations, who get to share new ideas and discuss the challenges facing the livestock industry.

A key part of this is the publication of the Abstracts from the forum. This year’s edition was notable for the discussions held on the reduction, and where possible replacement, of antibiotics in animal feed. As the keynote speaker, Charles Hofacre, from the Dept. of Avian Medicine at the University of Georgia, notes, “There are many reasons broiler companies may choose to no longer routinely feed antibiotics in their broiler diets. There are also the new FDA regulations that remove the label claim for many antibiotics for performance enhancement, however, the labels allow for use in disease prevention. All of these changes may result in less routine use of in feed antibiotics.”

However, it is also interesting to see the large amount of research being conducted in the field of phosphate and zinc oxide feed additives. Especially given global concerns over uncertain phosphate supply chains, and increasing demands for sustainable livestock feed. Together these problems are making animal rearing efficiency a key challenge for the feed industry as a whole.

With this in mind, here are some of the main discoveries presented at the expo for poultry feed phosphate and zinc oxide additives.

1. The effects of dietary bee venom on growth performance, meat quality, immune response and gut health in broiler chicks.

This exciting piece of research was carried out by a team from Konkuk University in Seoul, the Korean Rural Development Administration, and the Eagle Vet Tech. Co., with aims to study the effect of bee venom as a feed additive for broiler hens. From a total of 700 male broiler hens, the experiments were carried out over 35 days, with four variations. As the study’s authors note, “A corn-soybean meal base diet was used as the control diet, and the experimental diets were formulated by adding honey bee venom (BV) into the basal diet to reach 10, 50, and 100μg BV per kg of diet.”

Interestingly, while the bee venom did not effect, “ileal sIgA concentration, intestinal morphology and cecal short-chain fatty acids,” it did have an impact on other key areas. As the authors note, “feed conversion ratio and weight gain were improved linearly at 1-21 days and at 1-35 days as the BV level in diet increased. Relative breast meat yields also increased linearly at 21 days with the increasing BV levels in diets.”

This led them to conclude that, “Taken together, dietary BV increased growth performance, and breast meat yields in broiler chicks.”

2. The importance of the source of zinc oxide in broiler hens.

“The objective of the study was to evaluate Zn bioavailability in three sources of zinc oxide (ZnO): two sources available on the European (ZnE) and the American (ZnA) market and a novel source (ZnHZ, HiZox®), using ZnSO4 monohydrate (ZnS) as a reference. A low-Zn basal diet was formulated in which plant feedstuffs were the only source of Zn (22 ppm). Twelve other diets were then prepared by adding to the basal diet 7, 14 or 21 ppm of Zn for each source.”

The results indicated that there is a significant link between how zinc is processed and the amounts of zinc that are absorbed by hens. But perhaps even more surprisingly, is that the researchers also found a link to where zinc as a dietary additive is sourced, and the amount of zinc the birds ingested. Clearly there are significant differences between American and European sourced zinc, and that has a real impact on bird health.

Additionally, similar research by Xi Wang, Timothy John from the University of Minnesota, and Wei Zhai from Mississippi State University, concluded that, “… extra zinc supplementation may inhibit the growth of Clostridium pathogens in broilers.”

3. The importance of sourcing organic or inorganic feed supplements for zinc, copper and manganese.

A study by a team from Zinpro, a supplier of performance minerals, aimed to find the importance of organic or inorganic feed supplements in broiler hens. By testing out a variety of combinations of organic and inorganic feed supplements, and comparing it to bird health, the researchers discovered that, “The feed conversion ratio was affected by diet and broilers fed with only organic minerals exhibited the worse production efficiency factor.”

4. Effect of potassium and available phosphorus in broiler breeder diets on fecal and egg characteristics at the onset of lay.

A study conducted by Dinabandhu Joardar, Coltin Caraway, and John Brake, all of North Carolina State University, analysed the problem of wet feces in chickens. This may affect egg laying ability as, “Hydrogen (H) ions, produced during egg shell calcification that are not buffered by the phosphate system in the kidney, are excreted in the form of water utilizing the bicarbonate buffer system.”

By adjusting the amount of available potassium and phosphate in the diets of broiler hens at the age of 22 weeks, the researchers were able to lower the moisture content in the faeces. However, raising the level of available phosphate had a negative effect on the birds.

As the report states, “A 0.3% Available Phosphate grower diet increased the weights of the second egg and its albumen.” Before adding that, “These findings could be beneficial in controlling excess litter moisture during onset of lay in broiler breeders.”

The Impact of Poultry Feed Additive Research.

While the impact of each of these individual pieces of research may be small, it is interesting to note the depth of analysis to which the animal feed additive industry is going to optimise both animal health and profitability. Continuing study on typical feed additives, such as zinc oxide and phosphate, is still making discoveries, and showing us how much more we need to learn to perfect feed mixtures. Analysis of new feed additives, such as bee venom, show us how complex the animal feed industry can be.

But if any of this research is to have an impact then cooperation between animal feed suppliers and livestock farmers will be vital. Forming closer ties between users and suppliers will ensure that animal feed additives are applied timely, and with the correct quantities, allowing the industry to maximise its potential. This will prevent wasting product as well as improving animal welfare.

Discoveries like these, show how much the industry cares about minimising waste, and therefore costs, and how much it cares about maximising animal welfare, and therefore profit. But which of these four studies on broiler hen feed additives will have the biggest impact?

 

 

Photo credit: CountrysideDaily